Virginia Regulatory Town Hall

Legislative Mandates

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What is a legislative mandate?

A legislative mandate occurs when a law is passed by the General Assembly and that law explicitly or implicitly requires that a regulation be amended or that a new regulation be promulgated.
Examples of a legislative mandate: (1) a law establishes a new regulatory program and mandates that an agency promulgate a regulation to implement the program, and (2) the Code of Virginia is amended so that an agency/board regulation on the subject must also be amended in order to be consistent with the Code.
Once a regulatory action is begun to implement a legislative mandate, the agency must "associate" the regulatory action and the legislative mandate so that a Town Hall user can track the implementation of a mandate from the beginning of the regulatory process to the end.

Why legislative mandates are tracked on the Town Hall

The legislative mandate feature is designed to allow agencies to better manage their regulatory work, and to provide members of the General Assembly, members of the public, and executive branch reviewers a snapshot of the progress an agency/board is making in implementing a legislative mandate.

When legislative mandates are to be added on the Town Hall

Once the General Assembly session is complete, agencies must enter all legislative mandates on the Town Hall by September of that same year.

How to add a legislative mandate on the Town Hall

How to edit a legislative mandate on the Town Hall

How to associate a legislative mandate to a regulatory action

An action can be associated with a mandate, either when creating the mandate on the Town Hall or later once the desired action has been created. See the instructions above for editing a mandate.