Chap. 137.—An ACT to authorize and require the director of the legislative
drafting bureau, if such bureau is established independent of the department
of law to collate, revise and codify the election laws of Virginia, and if such
bureau is not so established, to authorize the governor to engage the services
of an expert for the purpose; to provide for a commission to sit with the
governor to consider such revision and recommend additional changes; to pro-
vide for their report and to appropriate the sum of fifteen hundred “8 aol

[H B 63

Approved March 20, 1930

Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia:

Section 1. That the director of the legislative drafting bureau or
such other bureau created in its place, if established independent of
the department of law, shall collate, revise and codify all the laws of this
State pertaining to elections, primary and general. If such bureau is
not established, then the governor is authorized to engage the services
of an expert to collate, revise and codify such election laws. It shall
be the duty of the director of the legislative drafting bureau or of the
expert employed by the governor to make a careful study of all of the
general and primary election laws of this State, and to collate, revise
and codify all of such laws which may be in force at the time of the
completion of his work. In performing this duty the director or the
expert shall denote all contradictions, omissions, or imperfections that
he may discover in the existing law with reference to said elections and
recommend how the same may be reconciled, supplied or amended with-
out producing a radical change in the present system of the statute law
in this State with reference to said elections. The said director or expert
shall arrange all of the statutes under the proper titles and chapters with
each section assigned appropriate code numbers. The revision and codi-
fication of such election laws shall be accomplished in such manner as
will harmonize such laws and make the revision and codification as
concise and complete as possible.

section 2. The director or the expert employed by the governor
shall file the said election laws as revised and codified with the governor.
Thereupon it shall be the duty of the governor to call the commission,
hereinafter provided for, to sit with him for the purpose of considering
the revision thus made. The commission so appointed, together with
the governor, shall consider the revised and codified election laws and
recommend such additional changes and additional provisions as the
commission and the governor may deem wise, which, together with the
report of their findings shall be made to the general assembly of nine-
teen hundred and thirty-two. It shall be the duty of the public printer
to print the proposed revision and codification and the accompanying
report and to mail to each member elect of the general assembly a copy
thereof not later than December first, nineteen hundred and thirty-one.

Section 3. There is hereby created an advisory commission of nine
members, three to be appointed by the president of the senate from the
members-elect of the senate next to be elected, three to be appointed
by the present speaker of the house of delegates from the members-elect
of the house of delegates next to be elected, and three. to be appointed
by the governor, which commission shall sit with the governor as pro-
vided in section two of this act. In the event of the death of the presi-
dent of the senate or the speaker of the house, the governor shall make
the appointments vested in said officers.

Section 4. The members of the commission shall be reimbursed
their actual expenses incurred in the performance of their duties under
the provisions of this act.

Section 5. For the purpose of paying actual expenses of the mem-
bers of the commission, and for employment of the expert authorized
by this act, and for the payment of incidental expenses incurred in con-
nection with the collation, revision and codification of the Virginia
election laws, the sum of fifteen hundred dollars, or so much thereot as
may be necessary, is hereby appropriated out of the funds appropriated
to legislative department, the same to be paid by the treasurer on the
warrant of the comptroller upon the proper voucher or vouchers re-
quired by the comptroller, approved by the governor.

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