HB 1823 advances on House floor: contact your delegates now!

House Bill 1823, introduced by Del. Ronald Villanueva (R-Virginia Beach), had its second reading today on the House floor. This bill would require local public bodies to post required procurement notices on the Department of General Services' central electronic procurement website and would make newspaper publication or posting on other appropriate websites optional. Full text of the bill before the House is available online at http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?131+ful+HB1823H1

Attention, VPA members: If you haven't already done so, please take some time today and contact your delegate(s) to request that they vote NO on HB 1823! NOW is the time to contact every House member.

If you need your delegate's contact information, here is a link to the General Assembly members' page, a list of General Assembly members with links to contact information, including email addresses and office phone numbers: http://lis.virginia.gov/131/mbr/MBR.HTM

Here is a downloadable position paper for additional background information on this bill: http://www.vpa.net/images/pdf/position1823.pdf

If you need additional information, beyond the position paper, please download VPA's Public Notice Talking Points, http://www.vpa.net/images/pdf/PublicNoticeTalkingPoints.pdf, and Questions and Answers, http://www.vpa.net/images/pdf/PublicNoticeQ&A.pdf.

Update on Senate Bill 765, the other public notice bill opposed by VPA: It is now in the Senate General Laws and Technology Committee, where it is expected to be heard on Monday. As with the other public notice bills opposed by VPA, please contact committee members ASAP -- a list with links to contact information is online at http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?131+com+S12 -- and ask them to vote NO on SB 765. Again, here is a downloadable position paper on this bill: http://www.vpa.net/images/pdf/position765.pdf

Additional information about bills and legislators, including contact information, may be found online via the Virginia Legislative Information System at http://lis.virginia.gov. Bills of interest to VPA members, dealing with public notice and FOIA issues, have already been identified and added to VPA's online legislative charts at http://www.vpa.net/index.php/association/legislation/, which are updated on a daily basis as VPA staff monitors legislative activity.