Donald Garrett Testifies on Parliamentary Procedure to the Virginia General Assembly

Richmond, VA – Last Minute Meetings is proud to announce a recent advocacy victory secured by its Principal, Donald Garrett, during the 2024 Regular Session of the Virginia General Assembly. The initial wording of House Bill 723 would have prohibited nonprofit corporations’ boards of directors from entering executive session and changed other notice requirements. After reading the legislation, Mr. Garrett quickly penned a letter and educated lawmakers and staff on Robert’s Rules of Order and testified before the House Labor and Commerce Subcommittee #1 about the negative impacts this legislation would have on nonprofits throughout Virginia.

During its January 23, 2023, meeting, the Virginia House Commerce & Labor Subcommittee #1 voted to approve new language for the bill, substantially tailoring the legislation, adopting recommendations laid out by Mr. Garrett. As of January 2023, the bill still needs to be approved by both houses of the General Assembly and signed by the Governor to become law.

In response to this vote, Donald Garrett, MPA, PRP, the Principal of Last Minute Meetings said the following, “Prior to the approval of the new wording, House Bill 723 would have had unimaginable unintended consequences on incorporated nonprofits in the Commonwealth of Virginia. I am thankful for the collaborative process with the Delegates and their staff in order to fix the language of the bill and to now give clarity to HOAs in the Commonwealth.”

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Donald Garrett, MPA, PRP is a Professional Registered Parliamentarian based in the Washington, DC Metropolitan area (Northern Virginia). He received both his Bachelor of Arts (Government) and Master of Public Administration from George Mason University.
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