Local flood plain regulation bill passes House
HB 2310 (Hayes), which provides greater authority to localities to regulate flood plains, passed the House of Delegates on January 24. The bill, an Administration bill introduced by Delegate Cliff Hayes, authorizes any locality to, by ordinance, regulate the activity on, or use or development of, a flood plain in a manner consistent with any […]
Legislation helps to address problem of misassigned voters
Several bills have been introduced to address a problem that surfaced after the 2017 elections, when it was discovered that some voters may have been placed in incorrect districts. Some of these situations stemmed from human error in the manual assignment of voters to districts within the state’s voter registration system, and some were the […]
Budget Amendments Introduced at VACo’s Request
VACo worked with patrons in the House and Senate to introduce a package of budget amendments to address major priorities of local governments. All member amendments were due to the House Appropriations Committee and the Senate Finance Committee on Friday, January 11, so that staff could review them for any necessary technical corrections and prepare […]
Patricia O’Bannon
Henrico County Supervisor Q1. You’ve served on the Board of Supervisors since 1995. What are some of your “lessons learned” from your time in elected office? Has your approach to leadership changed over your time on the Board? Pat O’Bannon: I have learned to listen more to understand. The more input you have on any […]
Visit Botetourt County and the Apple Orchard Falls Trail
The Apple Orchard Falls National Recreation Trail leaves Sunset Fields at milepost 78.4 on the Blue Ridge Parkway and winds down Apple Orchard Mountain generally following the headwaters of North Creek. Hikers will follow the coursing stream, enjoying the gurgling waters hopping over and pushing through boulders as it travels down the mountain. Along the […]
Read VACo’s Capitol Contact
The 2019 General Assembly session will span from January 9 to February 23, and legislators will deliberate on many issues critical to local government, including taxes, the state budget, education funding, economic development, public safety, and other policy matters. VACo will continually provide updates during the session through Capitol Contact. To ensure that you are […]
Financial Facts
GASB is moving to provide relief to certain governments with multiple-employer defined benefit pension plans that are struggling to comply with the board’s new pension standards for state and local governments. The proposal would focus employer accounting and financial reporting requirements for pensions on information that is obtainable for those governments. The proposal would establish […]
Budget Amendments Introduced at VACo’s Request
VACo worked with patrons in the House and Senate to introduce a package of budget amendments to address major priorities of local governments. All member amendments were due to the House Appropriations Committee and the Senate Finance Committee on Friday, January 11, so that staff could review them for any necessary technical corrections and prepare […]
Legislation affecting valuation of machinery and tools set for further consideration later in the week
VACo opposes HB 2640 (Byron), which would change a long-standing interpretation of one of the methods of valuation of machinery and tools currently specified in statute. Current Code provides that machinery and tools shall be valued by means of depreciated cost or “a percentage or percentages of original total capitalized cost excluding capitalized interest.” Several […]
Oppose unfunded mandate school bus bill
On January 21, HB 1710 (Krizek), which instructs the Virginia Board of Education to make regulations requiring each new public school bus purchased to be equipped with a seat belt consisting of a lap belt and shoulder strap or harness in every seat was reported from the House Education Committee on a 14-8 vote. As […]
Local Stormwater Management Fund introduced
Legislation seeking to create the Local Stormwater Management Fund has been introduced in the House and Senate. The bills authorize any locality to provide by ordinance the creation of a Local Stormwater Management Fund for providing grants to an owner of private property or a common interest community to be used exclusively for construction, improvement, […]
Bills allowing School Boards to keep unexpended funds laid on the table
VACo spoke in opposition to HB 1969 (Delaney) and HB 1921 (Bourne) that seek to allow local school boards to retain unexpended funds appropriated to them by localities. The former bill has no other stipulations, while the latter mandates that such funding be dedicated to finance capital projects. Currently, all year-end funds appropriated to local […]
Rural stormwater bill introduced
VACo supports Senator Emmett Hanger’s bill, SB 1328 (Hanger), which seeks to tweak the current Stormwater Local Assistance Fund (SLAF) program to provide greater assistance to rural communities. The bill authorizes the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) to provide SLAF grants to smaller, rural localities that are not regulated under municipal separate storm sewer (MS4) […]
VACo opposes employment bills that hamper local grievance process
VACo opposes HB 2736 (Hugo) and SB 1783 (Boysko), which are identical and are refilings of similar bills defeated during the 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2018 legislative sessions. The bills seek to make several changes to the local grievance procedures that apply to all localities and local government employees throughout the Commonwealth. The bills as […]
Year-round adult education/high school equivalency bill defeated
VACo spoke in opposition to HB 1877 (Convirs-Fowler) that would require year-round adult education programs to be provided by local school divisions. The bill was amended in Subcommittee to require that school divisions provide High School Equivalency Programs year-round, and advanced to the full House Education Committee on a 6-2 vote. VACo expressed concern about […]
Eminent domain bills pass Senate
A series of Eminent Domain bills were heard last week with three passing the Senate and heading to the House to be heard. Senator Chap Petersen introduced SB 1403 (Petersen) and SB 1404 (Petersen). SB 1403 seeks to level the playing feel when it comes to who/what the condemning entity is. Currently, condemnors that are […]