Yesterday, the House of Delegates and Senate took procedural action passing differing versions of Death Tax repeal and referring both HB 40 (Tata) and SB 504 (Norment) to conference committee*. The following is a listing of conference committee members from both chambers:

Delegate Bob Tata

Delegate Joe Johnson

Delegate Lee Ware

Senator Tommy Norment

Senator John Chichester

Senator Janet Howell

Additionally, budget conferees will likely address Death Tax repeal during their deliberation. The Senate included partial repeal of the death tax in their budget. A listing of those members is as follows:

Delegate Lacey Putney

Delegate Vince Callahan

Delegate Leo Wardrup

Delegate Kirk Cox

Delegate Johnny Joannou (no email)

Delegate Phil Hamilton

Senator John Chichester

Senator William Wampler

Senator Edd Houck

Senator Walter Stosch

Senator Chuck Colgan

It is important for you to email, visit or call members of the conference committees this week to let them know your support to fully repeal the Death Tax this year. You can send an email to all conferees by clicking here and filling out the form on our website.

The conference committees are slated by the calendar of the General Assembly to complete their work by the end of next week. We will continue to update you on the progress of Death Tax repeal legislation as it proceeds through conference committee.

When the House and Senate pass different versions of the same legislation, the resolution is usually found through a Committee of Conference. The Speaker will appoint three Delegates and the Senate will appoint three Senators. It is typical for there to be two Republicans and one Democrat from each, the House and the Senate. It is also customary that the patrons of the bills serve on this committee. Senator Norment and Delegate Tata, both who support FULL repeal, are on the conference committee.

The conference committee does not "meet" typically, but members will discuss amongst themselves on the phone, via email, or in offices or in the hallways even what kind of compromise is possible. If two Senators and two Delegates agree to a compromise position, which could include agreement to support full repeal of the death tax, then the full Senate and full House will vote on the measure. It is required that a majority of conference committee members from each chamber support the legislation.