The Subcommittee on Procurement and Open Government advanced a FOIA clarification bill 9-0 after stripping a redundant enactment clause, carried a Boyd-Graves Conference FOIA bill over to 2027 for further study by the FOIA Council, and passed over a third bill for the day.
+ 2 more actions
Delegate Simon described a pre-hearing disagreement between the FOIA Council's interpretation of the existing FOIA expedited hearing process and the Office of the Executive Secretary's interpretation: OES told the FOIA Council that 'we don't actually think that the law says what you guys think it says. You need to fix this with a bill.' This disagreement was described in testimony, not as a live floor dispute.
+ 1 more controversy
“This is one of those bills where we all thought that the law already said something. We asked for some guidance to the judges, the circuit court judges and the district court judges weren't enforcing it the way we all thought it was meant to be done. Thought maybe that was a problem with the benchbook, that they used to tell them how to handle certain motions. And the Office of the Executive Secretary wrote back and said, well, we don't actually think that the law says what you guys think it says. You need to fix this with a bill.”
+ 4 more quotes
Subscribe to see all key actions, controversies, quotes, and what's next.
Sign in to subscribeThe meeting of the Subcommittee on Procurement and Open Government of the House General Laws Committee will come to order. Members will indicate their presence by pressing Green on the electronic voting board. All right, thank you, members. The quorum is present. Thank you, and welcome to the first subcommittee of the 2026 session. It is my privilege to serve as chairwoman of the subcommittee, and I'm looking forward to working alongside all of my colleagues as we take up important legislation this session. The docket today is relatively light, as you have seen, and includes two bills from a member of our subcommittee that we'll hear today. But first, Delegate Cohen has asked that HB463 go by for the day. So. So I'll entertain a motion. So moved. Second. It's been moved and properly second. That the bill go by for the day. All those in favor say aye. All Those opposed? No. HB463 is bye for the day. First up, we have Delegate Simon, HB159. Thank you, madam Chair, and with your permission, I'll present from my seat. Is that okay? Absolutely. All right. Thank you, Madam Chair, member of the subcommittee. So House Bill 159 comes from…
Subscribe to unlock the full transcript, summary, and search across all Virginia committee hearings.
Sign in to subscribe