Early Childhood Care and Education Bill Referred to Commission
VACo supports legislation that would bolster early childhood care and education in Virginia. HB 2538 (Bulova) cleared the House of Delegates on a vote of 71-28, but was passed by indefinitely by the Senate Finance and Appropriations with a letter of referral to the Early Childhood Care and Education Commission. As introduced, the bill would […]
Public Meeting Agenda Legislation Referred to FOIA Council
Legislation that would have imposed additional constraints on public meeting agendas has been tabled and referred to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Council. SB 876 (Ebbin) was unanimously laid on the table by the House General Laws Committee’s Procurement/Open Government Subcommittee on a vote of 7-0 with a referral from the chair to the […]
Collective Bargaining and Binding Arbitration Bill Statuses
VACo urges opposition to HB 2764 (Tran) / SB 917 (Surovell), which would undermine the existing local option local governments have to engage in collective bargaining agreements with their employees and require local governments to engage in collective bargaining should their employees so choose. The bills create the Public Employee Relations Board, which shall determine […]
Update on Finance Bills of Interest to Local Governments
With only a few days remaining in the 2025 regular session, legislative action on many tax- and finance-related bills is complete, although several bills are headed to conference committees. Following is an update on the status of several bills of interest to local governments. Affordable housing assessment: As reported earlier in the session, HB 2245 […]
Bill to Mandate Statewide Standards for Solar Facilities Fails
HB 2438 (Mundon King) failed to report out of the Senate Commerce and Labor Committee by a vote of 7 yes – 7 no (and one abstention) on the last day for any committee action on bills. HB 2438 would have required that, unless otherwise permitted “by right,” a locality shall require a “special exception” […]
Capitol Contact ALERT! Maintain State-Local Partnership in Children’s Services Act
Please urge budget conferees to eliminate language from the introduced budget that would cap state reimbursements to local governments for CSA special education private day educational services. ACTION REQUIRED: Contact Budget Conferees today to maintain the CSA state-local partnership and eliminate the proposed cap on state reimbursements. BACKGROUND Language in the introduced budget would stipulate […]
ACTION ALERT: School Construction Financing Bill Language Needed in Budget
VACo needs your assistance to contact members of the House and Senate Conference Committee on the budget to ensure that school construction language is included in the final report of the committee. SB 1307 (McPike) passed the House of Delegates today on a vote of 62-33 after passing the Senate by a vote of 27-13. […]
ACTION ITEM: Oppose Bill to Mandate Statewide Standards for Solar Facilities
HB 2438 (Mundon King) requires that, unless otherwise permitted “by right,” a locality shall require a “special exception” (aka special use permit) for any a solar or energy storage project. ACTION REQUIRED – Contact members of the Senate Commerce and Labor Committee today to oppose HB 2438. The legislation also includes the following criteria to […]
Bill to Create “Housing Approval Board” with Authority to Overturn Local Land Use Decisions Fails
By a vote of 15 to 0, the Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee passed by indefinitely HB 2641 (Helmer). The legislation would have established a three-member Housing Approval Board with authority to overturn local land use decisions and to automatically approve such applications that will have the effect of increasing the supply of housing in […]
BPOL Legislation Converted to Study in Senate
HB 1743 (Watts), which deals with the ability of businesses to deduct gross receipts attributable to business conducted in another state or foreign country from taxation under the BPOL tax, has been amended in the Senate to convert the bill to a study directive. VACo prefers this approach to the version of the bill that […]
VACo County Pulse Podcast – Energy Landscape of Virginia Series with Joe Lerch | Episode 8
Season 5 Energy Landscape of Virginia Series with Joe Lerch Energy Landscape of Virginia Episode 8 | Virginia General Assembly Update – Legislation on Data Centers and Utility-Scale Solar Listen to the Podcast Joe Lerch and VACo Executive Director Dean Lynch provide an update on the status of legislation relating to Data Centers and Utility-Scale […]
ACTION ITEM: Oppose Bill to Preempt Local Land Use Authority
HB 2641 (Helmer) establishes a three-member Housing Approval Board with authority to overturn local land use decisions and to automatically approve such applications that will have the effect of increasing the supply of housing in a locality, if a locality has not made a “good faith effort” to meet required housing targets over a five-year […]
Post-Crossover Update: Human Services Legislation
Juvenile detention legislation: SB 1432 (Marsden), which would have required the closure and consolidation of seven juvenile detention centers by January 1, 2026, failed to emerge from committee before crossover. VACo opposed this legislation, maintaining its position that any decisions regarding consolidation should be made by the affected local governments so that the full spectrum […]
Troublesome Litigation Bond and Letter of Credit Bills Advance
SB 999 (Surovell) increases the required suspending bond amount for appeals from one year’s interest (calculated from the date of the notice of appeal) to the full value of the judgment plus two-and-a-half years of interest. Additionally, it grants appellate courts discretion in assessing attorney fees, costs, and expenses against indigent defendants when their convictions […]
House and Senate Pass Budgets
The House and Senate passed their respective budget proposals yesterday. Each budget proposal will now be reviewed by the other chamber in advance of the two proposals being placed into a committee of conference by February 12 to develop a compromise budget. The two budgets are aligned on several major items, including tax relief proposals […]
Visit Rappahannock County and the Rappahannock County Historic Courthouse
Location: 250 Gay Street / Porter StreetBuilt: 1834 – 1835Style: Greek RevivalArchitect: Malcolm F CrawfordContractor: Malcolm F Crawford and James Leake Powers Description: The building faces west and is a two-story red colored brick structure. The rectangular shaped building is located on spacious landscaped grounds in Washington. The west front has four white colored vertical […]