Virginia Grocery Investment Fund Unanimously Reports Out of Senate Finance
SB 37 (Stanley), the Virginia Grocery Investment Fund and Program (VGIF), reported out of the Senate Finance Committee with a unanimous vote on January 24. VACo was pleased to speak on the floor of the committee in support of Senator Bill Stanley’s important bill. SB 37 now heads to the full Senate floor. The House […]
Legislation Requiring Photographs in Electronic Pollbooks Advances with Funding Contingency Language
SB 523 (Obenshain) requires the Department of Elections to obtain photographs of registered voters from the Department of Motor Vehicles and make those photographs available to general registrars, who would be required to incorporate them into their electronic pollbooks. A voter’s photograph contained in the electronic pollbook could then be used in lieu of the […]
Bills Streamlining Local Government Processes Pass Out of Committee
VACo supports SB 108 (Lucas), which provides that an order of publication for the enforcement of a lien for taxes owed on real property that has a value of $50,000 or less need be published only once. Under current law, it is required to be published at least once a week for two successive weeks. […]
Bulova Stormwater Bills Unanimously Recommended for Reporting
The House Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources Committee’s Subcommittee #3 unanimously recommended HB 377 (Bulova) and HB 925 (Bulova) for reporting by a 10-0 vote. As highlighted in the January 23 Capitol Contact, HB 377 eliminates the requirement to obtain a Virginia Water Protection Permit from the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) when modifying stormwater […]
VACo Opposes HB 224
VACo spoke on the floor of the House Education Committee’s Subcommittee #2 on January 24 in opposition to HB 224 (Krizek) due to significant local cost concerns. The bill instructs the Virginia Board of Education to make regulations that require each new public school bus purchased to be equipped with a seat belt consisting of […]
Jail Costs Bill Defeated in Senate Finance
As reported in an earlier Capitol Contact, SB 342 (Peake) requires that the state fully compensate localities or regional authorities for the costs of housing state-responsible inmates in local and regional jails. The bill was reported from the Senate Rehabilitation and Social Services Committee on January 12 and referred to the Senate Finance Committee on […]
Service of Process for Actions Against a County
SB 14 (Petersen) changes the current law to require that only the county attorney or if there is no county attorney, the county clerk receive service for an action against a local official. Currently section 8.01-300 of the Code of Virginia requires in an action against a supervisor, county officer, employee or agent of the county […]
Problematic Deposition Bill Gone for the Year
VACo opposed SB 613 (Surovell), which provides that when a local governing body is named a deponent, it shall designate at least one member of the body to serve as a deponent on its behalf. The testimony of the designee is subject to the same duties, responsibilities, and consequences of a corporate or organizational deponent […]
Communications Sales and Use Tax Bill to be Heard Tomorrow in Subcommittee
HB 1051 (Watts), legislation that modernizes the Communications Sales and Use Tax (CSUT) to reflect the present-day telecommunications world, will be heard tomorrow afternoon in the House Finance Committee’s Subcommittee #2. Action Required – Contact Subcommittee Members today and express your support for HB 1051. VACo detailed the need to innovate the “typewriter tax” in […]
VACo Supports Local-Option Tax Incentive for Larger Industrial-Scale Solar Installations
SB 902 (Lucas) makes it a local option to provide a property tax exemption for solar facilities greater than 100 Megawatts (MW) in electric generating capacity. Under current law such facilities greater than 20 MW in generation capacity are provided a mandatory 80 percent exemption from local property tax. Action Required – Please call Senate […]
VACo Supports Delegate Bulova’s Stormwater Bills
VACo supports two stormwater bills patroned by Delegate David Bulova that have been referred to the House Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources Committee. First, HB 377 (Bulova) eliminates the requirement to obtain a Virginia Water Protection Permit from the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) when modifying stormwater management facilities that was created on dry land […]
Virginia Grocery Investment Fund Reaches Senate Finance Committee
SB 37 (Stanley), the Virginia Grocery Investment Fund and Program bill, has been docketed to be heard in the Senate Finance Committee on Wednesday, January 24. As highlighted in the January 15 Capitol Contact, SB 37 seeks to leverage public-private partnerships and provide funding for grocery stores, small food retailers, and innovative food retail projects […]
FOIA Bill Requires Localities to Waive Fees
VACo opposes HB 1603 (Roem), which requires public bodies to waive the first two hours of search and production of documents for any requestor that files 20 request or less in a 31-day period. The bill also requires that no charge over $50 may be levied unless the requestor agrees to the higher amount. The […]
At-Risk-Add-On Budget Amendment Introduced
Delegates Lashrecse Aird and Israel O’Quinn announced today a bipartisan amendment in support of economically disadvantaged urban and rural school districts. The amendment seeks to increase the At-Risk-Add-On program by $64.2 million over the next two years – $35.7 million in FY 2019 and $28.5 million in FY 2020. The amendment increases from 13 percent […]
Senate Commerce and Labor Committee Continues Work on Communications Legislation
On January 22, the Senate Commerce and Labor Committee met to consider legislation relevant to communications infrastructure. The Committee dealt with legislation that mandates an examination of the current regulatory and statutory processes utilized to identify the location and owners of certain communications infrastructure, as well as the processes for relocating such infrastructure. In addition, […]
VACo-Requested Budget Amendments Introduced
VACo worked with members of the General Assembly to introduce budget amendments that seek to address key priorities of local government. Member budget amendments were released on Thursday, January 18, and will be considered over the coming weeks as the “money committees” prepare to report their respective budgets on February 18. VACo is grateful to […]