Transparency is in the House

During the House session yesterday, legislation was passed requiring that voting records of Members of the House of Delegates and the Virginia Senate be easily retrieved online with a vote of 86 to 13. Del. Jim LeMunyon (R-Chantilly) introduced this legislation, and it received support from both parties. All 20 first term members of the House signed on as co-patrons.

Currently, the Virginia General Assembly’s website has a feature that allows you to see a legislator’s vote on a particular bill, but it does not have a feature, where you can see how your legislators voted on issues by name. This legislation will require that the General Assembly website will allow people to search by Member name in addition to bill number.

LeMunyon said in his floor speech on Monday, “Many of us often recall the well-known words of Thomas Jefferson, ‘Whenever the people are well-informed, they can be trusted with their own government.’. House Bill 778 affords us the opportunity to reaffirm our confidence in Mr. Jefferson’s words.”