The Virginia 2022 Legislative session was 60 days long, starting in January and ending in March. This year’s session began on January 12th and ended on March 12th. 

The 2022 session is the first session of a two year cycle. Prefiling for all proposed bills began on November 15, 2021. All drafts of legislation had to be introduced by the Virginia Senate and House of Representatives by November 29, 2021. After the session began on January 12th, the House became limited to introduce only 5 more bills, while the Senate was limited to introduce only 8 more bills. January 21st was the last day they coud introduce any new legislation. 

Currently, there are 48 Democrats and 52 Republicans in the House of Representatives. In the Senate, there are 21 Democrats and 19 Republicans. When there is a tied vote for a bill in the House, the bill fails. When there is a tied vote in the Senate, Republican Lieutenant Governor Winsome Sears casts the breaking vote.

The Senate has 11 Standing Committees while the House of Representatives has 14 Standing Committees. Standing Committees were created as specialized groups that could more accurately analyze the impact of proposed legislation. 

Bills started off either in the Senate or the House of Representatives, introduced by either a senator or delegate to a staff attorney. The staff attorney then checked the laws of the state and the proposed legislation’s constitutionality. Bills were then introduced on the floor as “House Bill (number)/HB #” or “Senate Bill (number)/SB #”. 

The Session leaves a lot of room for citizens to comment their opinion on the proposed legislation. Citizens can sign-up ahead of time to speak their mind at a House Meeting (but not everyone who signs up gets to speak due to time constraints). Citizens can also leave online comments, which will be scanned and then posted, during the House live stream. Senate Meetings occur on Zoom, where citizens can “raise their hand” to join the speaking queue. 

On February 15th, 2022, the bill crossover happens, where Senate takes House Bills and chooses to pass some of them with amendments, and where the House takes Senate Bills and passes them with ceratin amendments. All the proposed legislation then go to the Governor to be signed and passed. 

For more information, visit https://lis.virginia.gov/SiteInformation/LIABNewTraining.pdf.