House Joint Resolution No. 448 (Appendix A), agreed to during the 1991 Session of the General Assembly, established a joint subcommittee to study the incentives and obstacles facing businesses when making location decisions in Virginia. The resolve clause in the resolution directed the subcommittee to:

• Evaluate the incentives offered by the Commonwealth to encourage businesses to locate in the Commonwealth, compare these incentives to those offered by other states, and recommend legislation necessary to ensure that the Commonwealth is competitive with the other states;

• Review the various permitting processes involved in establishing businesses in Virginia to identify ways in which those processes may be streamlined and expedited and, to the extent possible, recommend appropriate legislation to expedite the permitting process; and

• Review laws related to business operations as they affect the expansion of existing facilities.

The subcommittee consisted of ten members as follows: four members of the House of Delegates appointed by the Speaker; three members of the Senate appointed by the Senate Committee on Privileges and Elections; two citizens of the Commonwealth appointed by the Governor; and a designee of the Attorney General.

The subcommittee completed its work as it relates to Virginia's economic development activities and issued an interim report, House Document No. 54, 1992, which chronicles the 1991 activities and findings of the subcommittee.

House Joint Resolution No. 41, agreed to by the 1992 Session of the General Assembly, continued the subcommittee created pursuant to HJR No. 448 to (i) examine and evaluate the effectiveness of changes proposed by the Secretary of Natural Resources to expedite the permitting process and (ii) consider, further, related issues necessary to develop specific recommendations to streamline the environmental permitting process and enhance Virginia's overall economic development efforts.