Biography
On January 8, 2003, Bill Howell was sworn in as the 54th Speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates. He leads a nearly 400-year old institution, the oldest continuously elected law-making body in the New World. First elected a delegate in 1987, he represents the 28th House District which includes parts of Stafford County and the City of Fredericksburg.
Speaker Howell Presides over the House of Delegates
Speaker Howell performs a number of important duties as presiding officer of the 100-member chamber. He assigns all bills to House committees and appoints the chairmen and all members of each of the 14 standing committees of the House. The Speaker names delegates to all House-Senate conference committees, including the one for the biennial state budget, and appoints lawmakers and citizens to various state boards and commissions. Speaker Howell is the chairman of the House Rules Committee and the Joint House-Senate Rules Committee.
Under Howell’s leadership, Virginia has adopted fiscally responsible state budgets with investments in education, public safety, mental health and other core services while avoiding higher taxes and creating costly new programs. In 2011 and 2007, Howell took the unprecedented step for a Speaker of sponsoring and successfully enacting a comprehensive transportation plan with significant VDOT reforms, historic land use changes that combat sprawl and over $3 billion in statewide and regional funding for roads, rail and transit. A strong supporter of restoring the Chesapeake Bay, he also led the effort to enact Virginia’s national model program for open-spaces land preservation using free-market principles. He also has championed improving access to health care and Medicaid along with greater choice, better quality and cost savings.
Speaker Howell is the first House leader to create a non-partisan, independently funded research, education and advocacy organization, the Virginia Reform Initiative (VRI), which he chairs. Through VRI, Howell spearheads a broad-based effort to transform Virginia state government. Priorities include improving the delivery of government services, maximizing the return on taxpayer investments, and minimizing the costs of government wherever possible.
Howell is involved in many legislative leadership and historic preservation activities. In 2010, Governor McDonnell names Speaker Howell as Co-Vice Chairman of the Governor’s Commission on Government Reform and Restructuring. In 2009, Howell served as National Chairman of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), the nation’s largest nonpartisan individual membership association of state legislators. He’s been on the ALEC Board of Directors since 2003 and, in 2001, they honored him as State Legislator of the Year. The Civil War Preservation Trust named Howell as the 2005 and 2007 recipient of their State Leadership Award for his success in promoting innovative land conservation tax credits. Prior to being speaker, Howell chaired the House Courts of Justice Committee and led the Virginia Code Commission.
Business and civic groups also have benefited from Bill Howell’s life-long commitment to public service. He is a former director of the Virginia State Chamber of Commerce, a past president of the Fredericksburg Regional Chamber of Commerce, a former president and campaign chairman of the Rappahannock United Way, and a past vice-chair of the board of directors of Mary Washington Hospital. Howell leads a voluntary, weekly Bible study when the General Assembly is in session, serves as a Sunday school teacher, and is a strong supporter of Young Life, a non-profit Christian organization making a positive impact upon the lives of children and young people.
A student of history, Howell patroned legislation for and serves as chairman of the Virginia Sesquicentennial of the American Civil War Commission, which is preparing to mark the 150th anniversary in 2011 of Virginia’s participation in that important chapter of America’s past. In addition to overseeing the first total renovation in 100 years of the historic State Capitol in Richmond, Howell was a leader in organizing the successful commemoration in 2007 of America’s 400th Anniversary at Jamestown, which was attended by the President of the United States and Queen Elizabeth II of England.
Howell earned his Juris Doctorate from the University of Virginia School of Law and his bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from the University of Richmond. The University of Richmond Alumni Association honored Howell in 2005 by presenting him their Distinguished Service Award.
A citizen-legislator, Bill Howell practices trust and estate law in a log cabin that he had restored and which overlooks the Rappahannock River near his home in historic Falmouth. He and his wife, Cessie, have been married for over 40 years, have two sons, and enjoy seven energetic grandchildren.