New ways to get news about House of Delegates’ committees

Virginia House of Delegates Speaker William J. Howell announced Jan. 11 an improved House Committee notification system for meetings and committee agendas.

New technology software system will allow the public and all interested individuals to sign up for e-mail notifications for committee meetings.  The House has also created a Twitter account for each committee and many subcommittees to allow the public to follow committee meetings from their computer, tablet, or smartphone.

Via a new notification system, members of the public will receive notices of House subcommittee and committee meetings as soon as they are posted, with a link to the agenda, and will also receive up to the minute meeting date, time and cancellation notices.  A summary of the Twitter addresses can be found at http://virginiageneralassembly.gov/house/social/social.php  .

In addition, the House is releasing an improved committee agenda tool for the public that is interactive, allowing the public to choose the information about bills they wish to view and export.  These agendas are available from the House Committee pages on the Legislative Information System. 

“The House of Delegates continues to build on past efforts to be open, transparent and accessible,” Speaker Howell (R-Stafford) was quoted as saying in a press release.

“The committee system is essential to an effective and functioning legislative process.  Committees hear and act on thousands of bills each year.  This system will help the media and the public be better informed about committee meeting schedules.  It is important that we communicate on a regular basis with our constituents, and this up to the minute information provides Virginia citizens an unprecedented level of access to the actions of the legislative branch.”

Howell thanked House Clerk Paul Nardo and the entire House Information Technology staff “for their hard work creating this system.”