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 […]
VACo supports municipal net metering for renewable energy projects
HB 2792 (Tran) and SB 1779 (Ebbin) establishes a six-year pilot program that allows a locality to use excess energy generated by a renewable energy project to be credited towards electric bills for other municipal accounts. Under the program a county could install solar panels or wind turbines “… located on airports, landfills, parking lots, […]
School bus advertising bill advances
HB 2222 (O’Quinn), which would permit local school boards to display advertising material on the school buses, advanced out of the House Education Committee by a 20-2 vote on January 21. The bill permits local school boards to display commercial advertising material on the sides of school buses between the rear wheels and the rear […]
Bills mandate COIA and FOIA training for local elected officials
SB 1430 (Obenshain) and SB 1431 (Obenshain) mandate FOIA and COIA training for local elected officials by December 31,2019, and thereafter biennially. SB 1430 requires the Conflicts and Ethics Advisory Commission to provide the training. In addition, this bill prohibits an attorney for the Commonwealth from also serving as a county, city or town attorney. […]
Performance based assessment bill defeated
VACo spoke in support of SB 1138 (Favola) that would allow local school boards that have applied to be designated as a School Division of Innovation to apply to replace certain standardized tests (SOLs) with performance based assessments. VACo’s legislative position supports changes to educational programs and standards that rely less on standardized testing and […]
VACo President Tim Reeves Testifies in Support of Cigarette Taxing Authority
Bills to allow counties authority to levy cigarette taxes were unsuccessful in both chambers on January 16 – albeit narrowly in a subcommittee of House Finance, where HB 1946 (Campbell) failed on a tie vote. HB 1946, as amended in subcommittee, would have provided broad authority for counties to levy cigarette taxes at a rate […]
Problematic Constitutional amendments introduced
A pair of Constitutional amendments, HJ 676 (Filler-Corn) and SJ 278 (Reeves), provide that one motor vehicle owned by a veteran of the U.S. armed forces or the Virginia National Guard who has a 100 percent service-connected, permanent disability will be exempt from state and local taxation. Current Virginia Code classifies a motor vehicle owned […]
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 […]