After reading Shaun Kenney’s post debating the need for continuing the part-time legislature, I was compelled to write my own response.

First and foremost, I do not think it was in our founding fathers’ mindset to create a full-time legislature. The legislature was created to keep government minimal and working on behalf of those who elected them to serve. A full-time legislature would continue to place an overwhelming influence of the government on our lives, which could create more laws that would impact our liberties. If we look around the country, a majority of state legislatures are part-time. Some even meet every other year, while some meet from January-April. Virginia meets every year from January-April, and it provides ample time for essential legislation to get pushed through for votes.

Right now, with some of the scandals (Shaun points those out in his post) in the General Assembly, shouldn’t we look at enacting reform? Would this reform push for a full-time legislature or as Shaun points out, “will we open the debate to real solutions and bold reform?”