During the 1995 Session of the General Assembly, several legislative measures relating to charitable and During the 1995 Session of the General Assembly, several legislative measures relating to charitable and sovereign immunity were introduced and referred to the House and Senate Courts of Justice Committees. Because there was not enough time to review the immunity bills and because there was a need for analyzing in an organized and consistent manner the issues related to immunity legislation, the chairmen of the two committees decided to appoint members from their committees under the Rules of the House and Senate to study the issues presented by immunity legislation. The bills introduced during the 1995 Session were referred to this study committee for study during the 1995 interim.

The House members appointed were Delegates Joseph P. Johnson, Jr., Chairman, C. Richard Cranwell, Bernard S. Cohen, Thomas G. Baker, Jr., and William J. Howell. Delegate James F Almand served as an ex-officio member: The Senate members appointed were: Senators Joseph V. Gartlan, Jr., Vice-Chairman, Elmo G. Cross, Jr., and Joseph B. Benedetti.

The subcommittee met three times. At its first meeting the members heard from patrons of the legislation and from interested parties. At its second meeting, the subcommittee reviewed a matrix of the current immunity laws (see Appendix B) and reviewed some recent decisions of the Virginia Supreme Court. The subcommittee determined that the current laws in this area have been serving the public interest. At its last meeting, the subcommittee reviewed and approved the report and documented its findings.