Adopted by the 2000 Session of the General Assembly, Senate Joint Resolution No. 173 and House Joint Resolution No. 187 established a joint subcommittee to study the regulatory responsibilities, policies and activities of the State Corporation Commission. The joint subcommittee is required by the resolution to complete its work and submit its findings and recommendations to the Governor and the 2002 Session of the General Assembly.

The 1902 Constitution of Virginia created the State Corporation Commission (SCC) as a separate department of state government vested with legislative, executive and judicial functions. Pursuant to its constitutional mandate, the SCC exercises executive, legislative and judicial powers, a departure from the separation of powers doctrine that serves as the basis for the role and organization of state government in most other instances. Though initially established with three basic powers (granting charters of incorporation in Virginia and administering corporate laws, regulating rates and services of railroads and telephone and telegraph companies, and regulating certain other transportation companies), within a few years the General Assembly began to add several statutory duties and responsibilities to the sec. This statutory expansion of the original constitutional mandate served to give the SCC authority to exercise executive, legislative and judicial powers over public utilities, banks, insurance companies, securities, motor carriers, pipelines and railroads. It is this growth in the SCC's regulatory responsibility and the concurrent increase in the impact of the SCC's regulatory policies on the state's economy and its citizens that are the basis of the joint subcommittee's charge.

At the outset of its deliberations, the joint subcommittee determined that the enormous scope of SCC's regulatory authority necessitated the need to develop a focus on issues that would be most appropriate to include in the study. The joint subcommittee adopted a comprehensive document titled "Issues for Consideration," encompassing the issues for inclusion in the study. The joint subcommittee adopted a study work plan that provides a detailed yet flexible method for achieving the study objectives.

The joint subcommittee also determined that securing an independent consultant would greatly assist in achieving the objectives of the study. At its last meeting, the joint subcommittee hired the School of Public Policy at George Mason University as a consultant. The report of the consultant will be due on August 31, 2001, and is anticipated to be an important component of the joint subcommittee's deliberations in the second year of the study.