We are elected by the people and serve the people so it is important that we make the legislative proceedings easily accessible to the public. With the advent of the Internet, we have many more tools available to promote transparency. This year, a number of Democratic and Republican members introduced legislation to bring legislative proceedings into the 21st century. Thanks to their hard work, we have implemented a number of recommendations this session. Final votes from each of the House and Senate standing committees are placed online before the bill comes to the floor for consideration. The House of Delegates completed a test run of a new system to live stream committee hearings this session, with the intent of making this available to the general public in the 2011 legislative session.

Legislation passed with unanimous bipartisan support to require local elected officials to meet or exceed the State ethics laws relating to financial disclosures and conflicts of interest. Prior to enactment of this bill, each county and municipality enacted their own standards which may or may not have been as stringent as State laws