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 […]
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 […]