Chap. 199.—An ACT to provide for the appointment of a special joint
committee on publications to consider and report all questions relat-
ing to the method and expense of printing and publishing books,
papers and documents, issued or used by the several departments
of the State government and by the several institutions and sub-
divisions of the State and to further consider and report the feasibility
of the printing and publishing of the same, or of any of the text-
books used in the public schools by the State, or by contracts made
by the State, and to provide compensation for such clerks, stenogra-
phers and other assistants as may be employed by said committee,
and other necessary expenses, and for the publication of such report
by the superintendent of public printing. (S. B. 76.)

Approved March 16, 1916.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That
a joint committee, consisting of five, of whom two shall be ap-
pointed from the senate by its president, and three appointed
from the house by its speaker, and to be known as the special
joint committee on publications, be and the same is hereby
created and charged with the duty of considering the present
methods and expense of printing and publishing books, papers
and documents issued or used by the several departments of
the State government, and by the several institutions and sub-
divisions of the State, and the feasibility -of the printing and
publishing the same, or of any of fhe text-books, used in the
public schools of the State, either directly by the State, or by
contract made by the State and any other matter pertaining
to the best and cheapest methods of the public printing of the
State which the committee may deem pertinent.

2. The said committee shall, as soon as practicable after
the first day of July, nineteen hundred and sixteen, organize
by the election of one of its members, as chairman, and another
of its members, as secretary, and proceed with all convenient
speed to make the inquiry and report herein provided for, and
shall thoroughly consider the whole subject of public printing
and prepare a report, with such recommendation as they may
deem proper and any bills they may think necessary to
their recommendations into effect, and the superintendent of
public printing shall cause one thousand copies of the same to
be printed and mailed to the members of the general assembly,
the officers of the State government, and to other citizens of
the State who may apply for them.

3. The said committee shall have power to employ such
clerks, stenographers and other assistants as may be necessary
to enable them to discharge in the best manner the duties hereby
imposed, to be paid by warrants of the chairman of said com-
mittee, countersigned by its secretary, drawn upon the auditor
of public accounts, and payable out of any funds that may be
appropriated for the purpose of carrying this act into effect;
but in no event shall the said committee incur any debt for, or
impose any obligation upon, the Commonwealth over and be-
yond such amount of money as may be appropriated for the
purpose of carrying out the provisions of this act. Said commit-
tee is authorized to obtain and purchase such books, reports
and written information as it may deem desirable for the study
of the printing and publishing problems, and it is authorized
to obtain from any officer of this State any information or aid
it may require.
4. The members of said committee shall be entitled to no
compensation for their services, but they shall be reimbursed
for the actual expenses incurred in attendance upon its meet-
ings and in travelling within or without the State, for the pur-
pose o1 making the investigation provided for by this act. Said
committee, or any member or members tnereof may visit other
States, or may send a representative to any place within the
United States for the purpose of collecting information it may
deem pertinent to their inquiries, and it may purchase such
books and carry on such correspondence as it may consider
necessary. All expenses mentioned in this section shall be paid
in the manner provided in section three of this act for the pay-
ment of expenses therein enumerated; but they shall not in
any event exceed the amount or amounts of money which may
be appropriated for the purpose of carrying this act into effect.

5. In case any vacancy should occur in said joint commit-
tee by refusal to serve, or for any other cause, then the vacancy
shall be filled by the same authority who made the original ap-
pointment.

6. For the purpose of carrying on the provisions of this
act, the sum of five hundred dollars, or so much thereof as may
be necessary, is hereby appropriated, to be paid out of any
funds in the treasury of the Commonwealth, not otherwise ap-
propriated.