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2004 SESSION

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Senate Committee on Privileges and Elections

Chairman: Stephen H. Martin

Clerk: Patricia J. Lung
Date of Meeting: February 10, 2004
Time and Place: 4:00 p.m. - Senate Room A

H.B. 37

Patron: Putney

Constitutional amendment (voter referendum); succession to the office of Governor. Provides for a referendum at the November 2004 election on approval of an amendment to revise provisions concerning succession to the office of Governor. The amendment expands the list of successors to the office of Governor that presently includes the Lieutenant Governor, Attorney General, and Speaker of the House of Delegates, in case of an emergency or enemy attack that prevents the House of Delegates from meeting to elect a governor. The additional successors would include successor speakers, the President pro tempore of the Senate, and the majority leader of the Senate. The successor would be Acting Governor until the House of Delegates convened to elect a Governor. The amendment also includes authority for the General Assembly, by law, to provide for a waiver of certain eligibility requirements for the Attorney General and Speaker to succeed to the office of Governor in the event of an emergency or enemy attack upon the soil of Virginia.

H.B. 316

Patron: Cosgrove

Senatorial districts. Makes a technical change in the boundary between the Fifth and Fourteenth Districts within the City of Chesapeake to eliminate a confusing situation where the Senate line follows a nonvisible precinct line. The adjustment moves the Senate line to visible roads and follows a new precinct line that the City is establishing. The two districts remain within the two percent population deviation followed in the 2001 redistricting.

H.B. 317

Patron: Ebbin

House of Delegates districts. Makes a technical change in the boundary between the Forty-seventh and Forty-ninth Districts within Arlington County to place all of the Barcroft Precinct in the Forty-seventh district. The precinct was divided between the two districts in the 2001 redistricting plan. The population deviation for both districts remains within the two percent guideline applied in the 2001 redistricting.

H.B. 373

Patron: Lingamfelter

Distribution of information on local referenda. Allows local governing bodies to disseminate neutral explanations of pending local referenda by any means, not just by publication or printing. The bill deletes the limitation on the length of the explanation to 500 or fewer words. It also prohibits the use of public funds for any advertisement or material advocating the passage or defeat of a referendum.

H.B. 682

Patron: Rapp

Campaign Finance Disclosure Act; information required of candidates, campaign committees, and other persons and committees. Deletes the requirement, or possibility of an administratively mandated requirement, that campaign committees and other persons and committees provide the account number for the depository account for campaign or committee funds. The law would continue to require the name of the financial institution where the account is held.

H.B. 767

Patron: Hurt

Elections; requirements for polling places. Authorizes the distribution on election day of campaign materials on the property where a polling place is located, except to the extent prohibited by law. For example, Code § 24.2-604 prohibits the distribution of campaign materials within 40 feet of the entrance to a polling place.

H.B. 850

Patron: Jones, S.C.

Campaign Finance Disclosure Act; filing schedules. Provides that candidates for public office who have not filed a final report closing their past campaign are required to file reports on an election year schedule in succeeding election years for the same office. The bill also provides for semi-annual nonelection-year reports in municipal elections and clarifies reporting requirements pertaining to certain last-minute pre-election expenditures by persons and committees other than candidates.

H.B. 1266

Patron: Jones, S.C.

Voter registrars; appointment, term, and removal. Provides for an annual performance review by each local electoral board beginning with the year ending June 30, 2006, of the work of the general registrar using the format and forms developed by the State Board of Elections in consultation with representatives of the Virginia Electoral Board Association and Voter Registrars Association of Virginia and available by July 1, 2005. The bill provides for terms of general registrars to begin July 1 rather than April 1. It also clarifies provisions pertaining to the removal of a general registrar by the local electoral board and on petition of the State Board of Elections to the circuit court in certain situations.

H.B. 1282

Patron: Cole

Virginia voter registration cards. Provides that the cards are issued for the information of the voter and are not to be used as evidence of identity or residence for in-state tuition privileges, insurance agents' licenses, or driver's licenses. The bill preserves the use of the cards for certain election law purposes such as evidence of registration and identity at the polls on election day and other purposes specifically authorized by law.

H.B. 1320

Patron: Drake

House of Delegates districts. Makes a technical adjustment in the boundary between the Eighty-seventh and Ninetieth House of Delegates districts within the City of Norfolk by moving one census block in order to eliminate a split precinct. Both districts remain within the two percent population deviation established for the 2001 redistricting plan.

H.B. 1321

Patron: Brink

Campaign Finance Disclosure Act; required filings and penalties. Provides for a civil penalty of up to $200 for the failure to file, or the late filing, of candidate or committee statements of organization. The bill also gives the State Board of Elections or local election official 21 days, rather than seven days, to notify the filer of a campaign disclosure report that the report is incomplete and requires additional information.

H.B. 1340

Patron: Alexander

Voting by persons under age 18. Clarifies that persons who will be 18 by the November presidential election may vote in the presidential primary (and other primaries held on the date of the presidential primary) held in advance of the presidential election. The bill restates the current law that is set out in the provisions on presidential primaries and adds this provision to the laws on voter registration.

H.B. 1363

Patron: Jones, S.C.

Campaign advertisements; requirements for radio and television advertisements. Provides that the additional disclosure statement required for candidate-sponsored radio and television advertisements that "I am (or "This is ..........) [name of candidate], candidate for [name of ] office, and I (or "my campaign') sponsored this ad." will not apply to advertisements that support the sponsoring candidate and that do not oppose a clearly identified opponent candidate.

H.J.R. 9

Patron: Putney

Constitutional amendment (second resolution); succession to the office of Governor. Expands the list of successors to the office of Governor that presently includes the Lieutenant Governor, Attorney General, and Speaker of the House of Delegates, in case of an emergency or enemy attack that prevents the House of Delegates from meeting to elect a governor. The additional successors would include successor speakers, the President pro tempore of the Senate, and the majority leader of the Senate. The successor would be Acting Governor until the House of Delegates convened to elect a Governor. The amendment also includes authority for the General Assembly, by law, to provide for a waiver of certain eligibility requirements for the Attorney General and Speaker to succeed to the office of Governor in the event of an emergency or enemy attack upon the soil of Virginia.

H.J.R. 275

Patron: Ingram

Appointments; Board of the Virginia Office for Protection and Advocacy. Confirms appointments to the Board by the Speaker of the House of Delegates of Waja Grimm and Dink E. Schackleford for four-year terms ending June 30, 2007.

H.J.R. 276

Patron: Ingram

Appointments; Board of Directors of the Virginia Commonwealth University Health System Authority. Confirms appointments by the Speaker of the House of Delegates to the Authority Board of Steven Andrew Markel and Ann S. Fulcher, M.D., for three-year terms ending June 30, 2006.

S.B. 268

Patron: Potts

Campaign Finance Disclosure Act; in-kind contributions and penalties. Requires written authorization by a candidate for in-kind contributions to the candidate in support of his campaign. The bill also provides for the assessment of a civil penalty of $50,000 for any failure to report the making or receipt of an in-kind contribution with a value of $1,000 or more and for public notice of the failure and of the identity of the candidate, person, or committee involved.

Subcommittee: 3

S.J.R. 3

Patron: Deeds

Constitutional amendment (first resolution); Virginia Redistricting Commission. Establishes the Virginia Redistricting Commission to redraw Congressional and General Assembly district boundaries after each decennial census. Appointments to the 13-member Commission are to be made in the census year as follows: two each by the President pro tempore of the Senate, Speaker of the House of Delegates, minority leader in each house, and the state chairman of each of the two political parties receiving the most votes in the prior gubernatorial election. The 12 partisan members then select the thirteenth member by a majority vote; or, if they cannot agree on a selection, they certify the two names receiving the most votes to the Supreme Court, which will name the thirteenth member. The Commission is directed to certify district plans for the General Assembly within one month of receipt of the new census data or by March 1 of the year following the census, whichever is later, and for the House of Representatives within three months of receipt or by June 1 of the year following the census, whichever is later. The plans shall be effective for the next regular general election for the Senate, House of Delegates, or House of Representatives. Members in office when a new plan is certified complete their terms and continue to represent the district as constituted when they were elected. Vacancies occurring before the next general election for the office are to be filled, if filled, from the district as constituted when the member, whose vacancy is being filled, was elected to office. The standards to govern redistricting plans include the current Constitution's standards on population equality, compactness, and contiguity and additional standards to minimize splits of localities and to prohibit consideration of incumbency and political data.

S.J.R. 59

Patron: Whipple

Constitutional amendment (first resolution); Virginia Redistricting Commission. Establishes the Virginia Redistricting Commission to redraw Congressional and General Assembly district boundaries after each decennial census. Appointments to the five-member Commission are to be made in the census year as follows: one each by the majority and minority party leaders of the Senate and House of Delegates and a fifth member appointed by the Supreme Court. The Commission is directed to file preliminary district plans for the House of Representatives, Senate, and House of Delegates within 30 days of receipt of the federal census data. Then there is a 30-day period for filing corrections and exceptions. The Commission next files a revised plan within 20 days and a final plan 20 days thereafter. The plans shall be effective for the next regular general election for the Senate, House of Delegates, or House of Representatives. Members in office when a new plan becomes law complete their terms and continue to represent the district as constituted when they were elected. Vacancies occurring before the next general election for the office are to be filled from the district as constituted when the member, whose vacancy is being filled, was elected to office. The standards to govern redistricting plans include the current Constitution's standards on population equality, compactness, and contiguity and an additional standard to minimize splits of localities. The Commission is patterned after the Pennsylvania Legislative Reapportionment Commission.

S.J.R. 123

Patron: Norment

Constitutional amendment (first resolution); establishment of special funds. Authorizes the General Assembly to establish a special fund for specified purposes and to dedicate a revenue stream to the fund. If the General Assembly establishes a special fund and dedicates to it income, sales and use, recordation, fuels, or insurance license taxes or vehicle registration fees, the General Assembly must continue appropriating the dedicated revenues to the fund. However, by a two-thirds vote of the members in each house, such special fund may be abolished, the purposes for which such fund is established may be changed, the minimum annual appropriation to such fund may be decreased, and the proceeds in such fund may be used for purposes other than for which the fund is established.