The Commission shall be composed of 18 members that consist of 10 legislative members and eight nonlegislative citizen members. Members shall be appointed as follows: four members of the Senate, to be appointed by the Senate Committee on Rules; six members of the House of Delegates, to be appointed by the Speaker of the House, in accordance with the principles of proportional representation contained in the Rules of the House of Delegates; the Executive Director of Living the Dream; the President of the Foundation for the Humanities and Public Policy; three nonlegislative citizen members, of whom one shall be a representative of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference of Virginia and two shall be nonlegislative citizens at-large, to be appointed by the Senate Committee on Rules; and three nonlegislative citizen at-large members, to be appointed by the Speaker of the House of Delegates. Nonlegislative citizen members shall be citizens of the Commonwealth. Unless otherwise approved in writing by the chairman of the Commission and the respective Clerk, nonlegislative citizen members shall only be reimbursed for travel originating and ending within the Commonwealth of Virginia for the purpose of attending meetings. The Senate Committee on Rules and the Speaker of the House shall ensure, to the extent possible, that their respective appointments to the Commission reflect the demographic population of the Commonwealth.

Legislative members and nonlegislative citizen members serving by virtue of their office on the Commission shall serve terms coincident with their terms of office. Nonlegislative citizen members shall be appointed for a term of two years. Appointments to fill vacancies, other than by expiration of a term, shall be for the unexpired terms. Legislative and nonlegislative citizen members may be reappointed for successive terms. Vacancies shall be filled in the same manner as the original appointments.

The Commission shall elect a chairman and a vice-chairman from among its membership who shall be members of the General Assembly.

2003, cc. 1035, 1037; 2004, c. 1000.