New website for Virginia’s legislative information system

The office inside Virginia’s General Assembly charged with providing information about and access to the legislative branch has unveiled a new version of the main public interface.  

“By design, [the Division of Legislative Information Services is set up to serve and support the General Assembly, its agencies, and the public where appropriate,” reads the website for the division.

The new version of the Legislative Information System (LIS) has the same look as the previous one, but has a more modern feel. The site went live and only offers information about bills from this year’s special session and the 2025 session that will get underway in three and a half months on January 8. 

“Hundreds of users come to this site daily to stay current on bills and resolutions, search the database, track new legislation, follow the activities of their Delegates and Senators, and generally stay current with the Virginia General Assembly,” reads the training page for the new system. 

According to the statistics page, three bills have already been filed for the next session in addition to over 350 that have been carried over from the last session.

• HB1548 from Delegate Lee Ware (R-72) would require high school graduates to pass the citizenship test administered to people to qualify for naturalization
• SB738 from Senator Stella Pekarskey (D-36) would carve out some exemptions to the Virginia Department of Education’s new policies banning student use of cellphones
• HB1549 from Delegate Chad Green (R-69) would make clarify language about the illegality of knowingly allowing a minor to operate a motor vehicle on public roads 
• SB739 from Senator Mamie Locke (D-23) would clarify that a certified nurse anesthetist needs to be supervised by a doctor
• SB740 from Senator Locke would require the Board of Medicine to require unconscious bias and cultural competency training as part of continuing education for license renewal

The front page of the legislative information system now includes a calendar of upcoming events. That includes training sessions next week on how to use the new system and updates to existing features such as the “lobbyist in a box” system. 

Before you go: The time to write and research of this article is covered by paid subscribers to Charlottesville Community Engagement. In fact, this particular installment is from the September 26, 2024 edition of the newsletter. It took a bit to transfer to this archive site. To ensure this research can be sustained, please consider becoming a paid subscriber or contributing monthly through Patreon.