VIRGINIA CONSTITUTION
ARTICLE IV
LEGISLATURE
Art. IV §1 | LEGISLATIVE POWER
Art. IV §2 | SENATE
Art. IV §3 | HOUSE OF DELEGATES
Art. IV §4 | QUALIFICATIONS OF SENATORS AND DELEGATES
No person holding a salaried office under the government of the Commonwealth, and no judge of any court, attorney for the Commonwealth, sheriff, treasurer, assessor of taxes, commissioner of the revenue, collector of taxes, or clerk of any court shall be a member of either house of the General Assembly during his continuance in office; and his qualification as a member shall vacate any such office held by him. No person holding any office or post of profit or emolument under the United States government, or who is in the employment of such government, shall be eligible to either house.
Art. IV §5 | COMPENSATION; ELECTION TO CIVIL OFFICE OF PROFIT
Art. IV §6 | LEGISLATIVE SESSIONS
The Governor may convene a special session of the General Assembly when, in his opinion, the interest of the Commonwealth may require and shall convene a special session upon the application of two-thirds of the members elected to each house.
The General Assembly shall reconvene on the sixth Wednesday after adjournment of each regular or special session for the purpose of considering bills which may have been returned by the Governor with recommendations for their amendment and bills and items of appropriation bills which may have been returned by the Governor with his objections. No other business shall be considered at a reconvened session. Such reconvened session shall not continue longer than three days unless the session be extended, for a period not exceeding seven additional days, upon the vote of the majority of the members elected to each house. The General Assembly may provide, by a joint resolution approved during a regular or special session by the vote of the majority of the members elected to each house, that it shall reconvene on a date after the sixth Wednesday after adjournment of the regular or special session but no later than the seventh Wednesday after adjournment.
Notes
The amendment ratified November 6, 2012, and effective January 1, 2013 — In paragraph three, after "...upon the vote of the majority of the members elected to each house.", added the remainder of the paragraph.
Art. IV §7 | ORGANIZATION OF GENERAL ASSEMBLY
Art. IV §8 | QUORUM
Art. IV §9 | IMMUNITY OF LEGISLATORS
Art. IV §10 | JOURNAL OF PROCEEDINGS
Art. IV §11 | ENACTMENT OF LAWS
(b) it has been printed by the house in which it originated prior to its passage therein;
(c) it has been read by its title, or its title has been printed in a daily calendar, on three different calendar days in each house; and
(d) upon its final passage a vote has been taken thereon in each house, the name of each member voting for and against recorded in the journal, and a majority of those voting in each house, which majority shall include at least two-fifths of the members elected to that house, recorded in the affirmative.
No bill which creates or establishes a new office, or which creates, continues, or revives a debt or charge, or which makes, continues, or revives any appropriation of public or trust money or property, or which releases, discharges, or commutes any claim or demand of the Commonwealth, or which imposes, continues, or revives a tax, shall be passed except by the affirmative vote of a majority of all the members elected to each house, the name of each member voting and how he voted to be recorded in the journal.
Every law imposing, continuing, or reviving a tax shall specifically state such tax. However, any law by which taxes are imposed may define or specify the subject and provisions of such tax by reference to any provision of the laws of the United States as those laws may be or become effective at any time or from time to time, and may prescribe exceptions or modifications to any such provision.
The presiding officer of each house or upon his inability or failure to act a person designated by a majority of the members elected to each house shall, not later than three days after each bill is enrolled, sign each bill that has been passed by both houses and duly enrolled. The fact of signing shall be recorded in the journal.
Notes
Art. IV §12 | FORM OF LAWS
Art. IV §13 | EFFECTIVE DATE OF LAWS
Notes
Art. IV §14 | POWERS OF GENERAL ASSEMBLY; LIMITATIONS
The General Assembly shall confer on the courts power to grant divorces, change the names of persons, and direct the sales of estates belonging to infants and other persons under legal disabilities, and shall not, by special legislation, grant relief in these or other cases of which the courts or other tribunals may have jurisdiction.
The General Assembly may regulate the exercise by courts of the right to punish for contempt. The General Assembly's power to define the accrual date for a civil action based on an intentional tort committed by a natural person against a person who, at the time of the intentional tort, was a minor shall include the power to provide for the retroactive application of a change in the accrual date. No natural person shall have a constitutionally protected property right to bar a cause of action based on intentional torts as described herein on the ground that a change in the accrual date for the action has been applied retroactively or that a statute of limitations or statute of repose has expired.
The General Assembly shall not enact any local, special, or private law in the following cases:
(2) Providing a change of venue in civil or criminal cases.
(3) Regulating the practice in, or the jurisdiction of, or changing the rules of evidence in any judicial proceedings or inquiry before the courts or other tribunals, or providing or changing the methods of collecting debts or enforcing judgments or prescribing the effect of judicial sales of real estate.
(4) Changing or locating county seats.
(5) For the assessment and collection of taxes, except as to animals which the General Assembly may deem dangerous to the farming interests.
(6) Extending the time for the assessment or collection of taxes.
(7) Exempting property from taxation.
(8) Remitting, releasing, postponing, or diminishing any obligation or liability of any person, corporation, or association to the Commonwealth or to any political subdivision thereof.
(9) Refunding money lawfully paid into the treasury of the Commonwealth or the treasury of any political subdivision thereof.
(10) Granting from the treasury of the Commonwealth, or granting or authorizing to be granted from the treasury of any political subdivision thereof, any extra compensation to any public officer, servant, agent, or contractor.
(11) For registering voters, conducting elections, or designating the places of voting.
(12) Regulating labor, trade, mining, or manufacturing, or the rate of interest on money.
(13) Granting any pension.
(14) Creating, increasing, or decreasing, or authorizing to be created, increased, or decreased, the salaries, fees, percentages, or allowances of public officers during the term for which they are elected or appointed.
(15) Declaring streams navigable, or authorizing the construction of booms or dams therein, or the removal of obstructions therefrom.
(16) Affecting or regulating fencing or the boundaries of land, or the running at large of stock.
(17) Creating private corporations, or amending, renewing, or extending the charters thereof.
(18) Granting to any private corporation, association, or individual any special or exclusive right, privilege, or immunity.
(19) Naming or changing the name of any private corporation or association.
(20) Remitting the forfeiture of the charter of any private corporation, except upon the condition that such corporation shall thereafter hold its charter subject to the provisions of this Constitution and the laws passed in pursuance thereof.
Notes
The amendment ratified November 7, 2006, and effective January 1, 2007 — Deleted the last paragraph relating to charters of incorporation to churches.
Art. IV §15 | GENERAL LAWS
No general or special law shall surrender or suspend the right and power of the Commonwealth, or any political subdivision thereof, to tax corporations and corporate property, except as authorized by Article X. No private corporation, association, or individual shall be specially exempted from the operation of any general law, nor shall a general law's operation be suspended for the benefit of any private corporation, association, or individual.
Art. IV §16 | APPROPRIATIONS TO RELIGIOUS OR CHARITABLE BODIES
Art. IV §17 | IMPEACHMENT
Art. IV §18 | AUDITOR OF PUBLIC ACCOUNTS
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