VACo County Pulse Podcast | 2019 General Assembly Edition | Part 1
LINK TO THE 2019 GENERAL ASSEMBLY EDITION | PART 1 VACo Lobbyists Joe Lerch and Chris McDonald join Executive Director Dean Lynch to talk about the start of the 2019 General Assembly Session. The trio discusses issues such as solar, proffers, procurement, I-81, water quality, agriculture, and much more. VACo Contact: Dean Lynch, CAE
Grocery bills introduced; House bill stalls while Senate bill advances
VACo supports legislation seeking to create the Virginia Grocery Investment Fund (VGIF), which was introduced in House and Senate committees to varying results on January 16. In the Senate, Senator Rosalyn Dance and Senator William Stanley introduced SB 1189 (Dance) and SB 999 (Stanley), respectively, which they elected to roll together. The Senate Finance Committee […]
VACo supports grow your own teacher pilot programs
VACo spoke in support of HB 1724 (Krizek) on the floor of the House Education Committee’s Subcommittee #2 on January 16. The bill establishes a pilot program fund administered by the Department of Education to award grants to local school boards to establish Grow Your Own Teacher Pilot Programs. These programs would provide scholarships not […]
VACo supports using GIS for voluntary boundary line adjustments
HB 1649 (Fowler) and SB 1594 (Dunnavant) allow all localities to make voluntary boundary line adjustments using Geographic Information System (GIS) surveys. This streamlined process to address situations in which census boundaries do not align with locally drawn or commonly adhered to boundaries is less costly than completing an expensive “metes and bounds” survey. HB […]
VACo unrestrained in concern over Seat Belt Bill
VACo spoke in opposition to HB 1710 (Krizek) on the floor of the House Education Committee’s Subcommittee #2 on January 16. The bill instructs the Virginia Board of Education to make regulations requiring each new purchased public school bus to be equipped with a seat belt consisting of a lap belt and shoulder strap or […]
WQIF and SLAF bill moves on
Delegate David Bulova’s Water Quality Improvement Fund (WQIF) and Stormwater Local Assistance Fund (SLAF) began its journey through the 2019 session in the House Committee on Agriculture, Chesapeake, and Natural Resources on Wednesday morning. HB 1822 (Bulova), which VACo supports, does three key things: First, it authorizes the Director of the Department of Environmental Quality […]
Helpful bill to assist with jail costs advances
VACo spoke in favor of SB 1040 (Peake), which would require the state to compensate local jails in accordance with the actual cost of housing state-responsible inmates (individuals convicted of felonies who have been sentenced to one year or more in a state correctional facility), as calculated by the Compensation Board. Currently the state provides […]
Several Bills Introduced to Enhance County Taxing Authority
SB 1127 (Favola), introduced at VACo’s request, would provide counties with the same taxing authority currently granted to cities and towns, effective July 1, 2020. In the intervening time, the Division of Legislative Services would be directed to convene a stakeholder group to recommend any additional statutory changes that would be necessary; this provision is […]
Proffer bills seek to address impacts of residential growth
Changes made by the 2016 General Assembly to Virginia’s law on cash and in-kind proffers has severely limited the ability of localities to address the fiscal impacts of new development when considering a rezoning application. Multiple bills working their way through the legislature attempt fixes to this problem. SB 1373 (Favola) and HB 2342 (Thomas) […]
Senate Finance Committee prepares to hear presumption legislation
The Senate Commerce and Labor Committee referred to the Senate Finance Committee two pieces of legislation impacting worker’s compensation for firefighters and other public safety employees. SB 1030 (Cosgrove) adds cancers of the colon, brain, or tests to the existing list of conditions currently presumed to be an occupational disease when developed by firefighters and […]
Troublesome FOIA bill reintroduced
VACo opposes SB 1554 (Surovell), which is the reboot of last year’s SB 630 (Surovell). This bill provides civil penalties against public officials in their individual capacity in addition to any penalties currently imposed under the Freedom of Information Act. Specifically the bill provides that if a court finds that any officer, employee, or member […]
Oppose bill mandating training of School Resource Officers by the Virginia Center for School and Campus Safety
VACo opposes SB 1130 (Locke) that seeks to mandate that all School Resource Officers (SROs) receive job-entry and in-service training administered by the Virginia Center for School and Campus Safety (VCSCS) in addition to any existing law-enforcement training and broadens the type of training required for both SROs and School Security Officers (SSOs). Action Required […]
Oppose bills allowing School Boards to keep unexpended funds
VACo opposes HB 1969 (Delaney) and HB 1921 (Bourne) that seek to allow 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. Action Required – Contact your Delegates and express opposition to HB […]
Several bills related to Children’s Services Act introduced
VACo has historically supported efforts to enhance the capacity of local school divisions to serve children with higher-level needs within the local school division when possible, recognizing that private day placements may be the best option for some students. VACo supports several helpful bills that allow access to state pool funds provided through the Children’s […]
School Behavior Analyst staffing requirement advances
The Senate Education and Health Committee reported and referred to the Senate Finance Committee legislation requiring local school boards to employ one full-time equivalent licensed behavior analyst or licensed assistant behavior analyst per five schools within a local school division. Licensed Behavior Analysts try to teach students more effective ways of behaving and making changes […]
Bill to increase minimum wage advances
On January 14, the Senate Commerce and Labor Committee voted 6-4 to report SB 1200 (Dance), which incrementally increases the minimum wage from current federally mandated level of $7.25 per hour to $15 per hour effective July 1, 2021. The first increase would raise the minimum wage to $10 per hour effective July 1, 2019. […]