Water and Wastewater Facility Compliance and Modernization Bill Passes Subcommittee
HB 220 (Orrock) would establish a new protocol for an unexpected vacancy of the licensed operator position for water treatment facilities and wastewater treatment facilities. The bill also permits remote monitoring of the facility by the licensed operator upon a demonstration of adequate monitoring technology. Specifically, the bill provides regulatory framework for the facility to […]
Unpaved Road Improvement Bill Amended in VACo’s Favor
SB 644 (Perry) would clarify that the upgrading of unpaved secondary roads includes improvements other than paving. The bill states that the improvements that could be made to unpaved secondary roads include improving materials, drainage upgrades, enhancing the highway profile, as well as other improvements that would increase safety, reduce maintenance costs, or enhance the […]
Capitol Contact ALERT! School Construction Financing Bill to be Heard Tomorrow – Call Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee Members to Support
SB 14 (McPike) would permit any county or city to impose an additional local sales and use tax of up to 1 percent, if initiated by a resolution of the local governing body and approved by voters at a local referendum. The revenues of such local tax would be used solely for capital projects for […]
Visit King William County and the King William County Historic Courthouse
PHOTO SOURCE: King William County Historical Society Location: 227 Courthouse Lane / Horse Landing RoadBuilt: 1725 – 1726Style: GeorgianArchitect: UnknownContractor: Unknown Description: The building faces south and is a one story red colored brick laid in Flemish bond and wood structure. The building is “T” shaped. The south front has five arches along the arcade. […]
House Version of Line of Duty Act (LODA) Benefits for Campus and Private Police Bill Falters
HB 232 (Campbell), which provides employees of contributing nonprofit private institutions of higher education and contributing private police departments with the benefits granted to employees of participating employers under the Line of Duty Act, failed to recommend reporting in the House Public Safety Committee’s Public Safety Subcommittee by a 4-2 vote. VACo supported the legislation. […]
VACo Supports Swatting Reimbursement to Localities
Legislation supported by VACo, which aims to allow localities to obtain a reimbursement of a “reasonable expense” for any cost incurred in responding to terrorism hoax incident, bomb threat, or malicious activation of fire alarm, was recommended to report from Subcommittee #2 of the House Counties, Cities, and Towns Committee by a vote of 7-1. […]
Finance Bills Begin to be Heard
The House Finance Committee began to consider legislation on January 16 with a meeting of its Subcommittee #2, which deals with local taxes, followed by the full Committee’s meeting on January 17. Three bills were reported by the Committee and are headed to the House floor: HB 226 (Cherry) was introduced at the request of […]
Privileges and Elections Committees Begin to Consider Elections Bills
The House and Senate Privileges and Elections Committees began considering elections legislation this week. In the Senate, several bills that would have reversed or limited certain policy decisions enacted in recent years to expand voting access were defeated, including SB 42 (Peake), which would have reduced the absentee voting in person period from 45 to […]
VACo opposes bill that allows 8 free hours of FOIA request search and access of records per person for each 31 consecutive day period
SB 324 (Roem) prohibits a public body from charging a requester for any costs incurred during the first two hours spent accessing or searching for requested records when the requester has made four or fewer individual record requests to such public body within 31 consecutive days. This bill would allow every person, and every representative […]
VACo Opposes Legislation Giving Religious Organizations “By-Right” Authority to Build Residential Units
SB 233 (Hashmi) and HB 1124 (Carr) permit a religious organization to construct housing on real estate owned by such religious organization, regardless of whether the proposed development is consistent with a locality’s comprehensive plan and zoning ordinance. The legislation specifically states that “… If the locality’s zoning does not permit residential uses, the housing […]
Local Financing Authority for School Capital Needs – Call Your Legislators to Support
HB 600 (Kilgore), HB 805 (Rasoul), and SB 14 (McPike) would permit any county or city to impose an additional local sales and use tax of up to 1 percent, if initiated by a resolution of the local governing body and approved by voters at a local referendum. The revenues of such local tax would […]
VACo Supports Photo Speed Enforcement in High-Risk Intersections
SB 336 (Roem) and HB 521 (Laufer) focus on the ability for localities to expand the use of photo speed monitoring within their jurisdiction but take different approaches in enabling the use of this public safety tool. SB 336 would permit a state or local law enforcement agency to place and operate a photo speed […]
State Revenues on Track as General Assembly Begins Consideration of Governor’s Budget
Secretary of Finance Stephen E. Cummings briefed members of the House Appropriations Committee on January 15 on December revenues and is scheduled to provide a similar update to the Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee on January 16. Secretary Cummings reported that state General Fund revenues are in line with the forecast embedded in the Governor’s […]
2024 General Assembly Convenes
The first day of the 2024 General Assembly session featured a mixture of continuity and change, as the many newly-elected legislators took office and both new and returning legislators settled into the recently-reopened General Assembly Building. In addition to the traditional procedural duties for the first day of the session, including the adoption of the […]
VACo Supports Expanded Local Speed Limit Authority
HB 1071 (Carr) and HB 793 (Henson, Jr.) seek to achieve a long sought-after transportation safety policy goal of localities across the Commonwealth. These bills would allow the governing body of any locality to reduce to less than 25 miles per hour, but not less than 15 miles per hour, the speed limit of highways that are part […]
Rural Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Bill Charging Ahead
HB 107 (Sullivan) would create the Electric Vehicle Rural Infrastructure Program and Fund, which would make available up to $25 million each fiscal year and assist developers by offsetting up to 70 percent of the non-utility cost of electric vehicle charging stations. According to the provisions outlined in the bills, rural Virginia localities would benefit […]