Remember:
If you want to watch one of the House committee meetings, click here.
If you want to watch one of the Senate committee meetings, click here.
If you want to watch a subcommittee meeting (subcommittees are where most of the real nitty-gritty work gets done in the House, though less so in the Senate), watch one of the four streams produced by Progress Virginia’s Eyes On Richmond.
And, if you want to watch the House floor session, click here.
Click here for the Senate floor session. Both convene today at noon.
Subcommittees of the House General Laws Committee were named yesterday. In some previous years, they were given subject matter names, like one for alcoholic beverage regulation, one for professions and occupations and one for FOIA. Like last year, though, the committees this year are only numbered, 1 through 4, with no indication (yet) about what types of bills each with take up. I will post that information when I get it.
While the makeup of the full committee reflects the near-even split of 51-49 Republicans and Democrats in the entire body, the 8-member subcommittees, however, each have five Republicans and three Democrats. The result is that two Republicans serve on three subcommittees, five serve on two, and three serve on one. For Democrats, only two serve on more than one subcommittee, the rest serve on only one.
Other House committees and subcommittees are similarly weighted.
The Senate committees are evenly split, with the a slight majority to Republicans to reflect their 21-19 advantage in the full chamber. The Senate General Laws Committee often has a FOIA subcommittee, also identified just by number, but that subcommittee has not yet been named.
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At the Charlottesville City Council’s regular meeting Tuesday, two days ahead of its annual retreat, the council agreed to discuss how the city could do more to involve the community in the budget development process for the fiscal year that begins July 1. The council also plans to discuss at its retreat other public issues it is seeking to address in the coming months, such as a proposal to start regular council meetings earlier in the day with a town hall-style gathering that would precede business items on the agenda.
Daily Progress
Former Central Intelligence Agency officer is accused of unlawfully retaining national defense information, according to a U.S. Department of Justice news release. Jerry Chun Shing Lee, aka “Zhen Cheng Li,” formerly of northern Virginia, was arrested Monday night after arriving at John F. Kennedy International Airport in Queens, New York. Lee is a naturalized United States citizen, who currently resides in Hong Kong, China, according to the release.
Daily Press
The Buchanan Town Council appointed local resident Craig Bryant as mayor at their Tuesday night meeting. Bryant will be taking over as mayor following former Mayor Larry Hall’s resignation, which took effect Dec. 1. Hall announced his resignation at the Nov. 27 town council meeting to the shock of the other council members. He had served as mayor of Buchanan for six years, but said the controversies in the town were causing his wife to become ill. Former Town Manager Mary Zirkle was forced to step down when the council voted to uphold a rule in the town charter that required the town manager to live in Buchanan. Zirkle was commuting from her farm in Bedford County and owned a second home in town. This and other controversies required at one point last year a mediator to assist with strained relations on the council. This year, its members say, they want to move forward.
The Roanoke Times
Follow the bills we follow on VCOG 
Decision affects participation in Voter Registration Crosscheck Program.
Citing the Flint water crisis and following how taxpayer dollars are spent, readers write in to say why FOIA matters to them.