30-112 - Senate and House Ethics Advisory Panels; membership; terms; quorum; compensation and expenses.
§ 30-112. Senate and House Ethics Advisory Panels; membership;terms; quorum; compensation and expenses.
A. The Senate Ethics Advisory Panel and the House EthicsAdvisory Panel are established in the legislative branch of state government.The provisions of §§ 30-112 through 30-119 shall be applicable to each panel.
B. The Senate Ethics Advisory Panel shall be composed of fivenonlegislative citizen members: three of whom shall be former members of theSenate; and two of whom shall be citizens of the Commonwealth at large who havenot previously held such office. All members of the Panel shall be citizens ofthe Commonwealth. No member shall engage in activities requiring him to registeras a lobbyist under § 2.2-422 during his tenure on the Panel.
The members shall be nominated by the Committee on Rules ofthe Senate and confirmed by the Senate. After initial appointments, allappointments shall be for terms of four years each except for unexpired terms.Nominations shall be made so as to assure bipartisan representation on thePanel.
C. The House Ethics Advisory Panel shall be composed of fivenonlegislative citizen members: one of whom shall be a retired justice or judgeof a court of record; two of whom shall be former members of the House ofDelegates; and two of whom shall be citizens of the Commonwealth at large, atleast one of whom shall not have previously held such office. All members ofthe Panel shall be citizens of the Commonwealth. No member shall engage inactivities requiring him to register as a lobbyist under § 2.2-422 during histenure on the Panel.
The members shall be nominated by the Speaker of the House ofDelegates and confirmed by the House of Delegates. After initial appointments,all appointments shall be for terms of four years each except for unexpiredterms. Nominations shall be made so as to assure bipartisan representation onthe Panel.
D. Each panel shall elect its own chairman and vice-chairmanfrom among its membership.
E. No member shall serve more than three successive four-yearterms. Vacancies shall be filled only for the unexpired term. Vacancies shallbe filled in the same manner as the original appointments. The remainder of anyterm to which a member is appointed to fill a vacancy shall not constitute aterm in determining the member's eligibility for reappointment.
F. Three members shall constitute a quorum on each panel. Avacancy shall not impair the right of the remaining members to exercise allpowers of the Panel. Meetings of each panel shall be held at the call of thechairman or whenever the majority of the members so request.
G. The members of each panel, while serving on the business ofthe Panel, are performing legislative duties and shall be entitled to thecompensation and reimbursement of expenses to which members of the GeneralAssembly are entitled when performing legislative duties pursuant to §§30-19.12, 2.2-2813 and 2.2-2825. Funding for the cost of compensation and expensesof the members of the Senate Ethics Advisory Panel shall be provided by theOffice of the Clerk of the Senate and the funding for the cost of compensationand expenses of the House Ethics Advisory Panel shall be provided by the Officeof the Clerk of the House of Delegates.
(1987, Sp. Sess., c. 1, §§ 2.1-639.42, 2.1-639.43, 2.1-639.44,2.1-639.51; 1992, c. 443; 2001, c. 844; 2004, c. 1000; 2010, c. 876.)