Visit Loudoun County and the Loudoun County Historic Courthouse
Location: 18 East Market Street / Church StreetBuilt: 1894 – 1895Style: Greek RevivalArchitect: William C WestContractor: Norris Brothers Description: The building faces west and is a two story red colored brick structure. The building is located on landscaped grounds in the center of Leesburg. The west front of the rectangular shaped building has a large […]
Bill Impacting Local Authority to Regulate Short-Term Rentals Amended to Address VACo Concerns; Another Bill Opposed by VACo Awaiting Governor’s Approval
As introduced, HB 1461 (Mundon King) would have prohibited a locality from barring an operator, as defined in existing law, who is a lessee or sublessee of property from offering such property as a short-term rental provided the property owner has granted permission for its use as a short-term rental. At the request of VACo […]
Problematic Water Withdrawal Permitting Bill Goes Down the Drain
SB 673 (Stuart), as amended, would direct the Department of Environmental Quality and the State Water Control Board to prioritize the preservation of water for human consumption and food production in all permitting and regulatory processes related to groundwater and surface water resources. VACo sought member input on how SB 673 would impact member counties […]
Concerning Revenue Sharing Program Budget Amendment Not Included in General Assembly Budgets
Item 438 #1h (McQuinn) and Item 438 #2s (Marsden) are budget amendments that seek to rewrite the current Revenue Sharing Program prioritization process that would adversely affect county governments. VACo sought member feedback on how the proposed budget amendments may affect your locality and the impacts this could have on county-wide infrastructure. VACo is happy to report that […]
Health and Human Services Roundup
Behavioral Health Several bills under consideration this session resulted from a 2023 JLARC study of the state psychiatric hospital system, several recommendations of which were also endorsed by the Behavioral Health Commission: HB 314 (Hope)/SB 179 (Favola), as introduced, would have required state hospitals (rather than CSBs) to conduct discharge planning for individuals who are […]
PFAS Testing Bill Amended in VACo’s Favor Sent to the Governor
HB 1085 (Rasoul) and SB 243 (McPike), as introduced, would have required municipal wastewater and drinking water plants to monitor PFAS (also known as “forever chemicals”) levels in effluent, influent, and biosolids at least quarterly and report all such data on an applicable discharge monitoring report required by federal regulations. VACo initially opposed the bills […]
Unpaved Road Flexibility Bills Unanimously Approved by General Assembly
SB 644 (Perry) and HB 74 (Reid) would clarify that the improvement of nonsurface treated secondary highways includes modifications other than paving. These improvements, include but aren’t limited to, drainage upgrades, enhanced design of the highway profile, or any positive changes to increase safety, reduce maintenance cost or enhance the historic qualities of the road in question. The […]
Water and Wastewater Facility Compliance and Modernization Bill Passes Through General Assembly
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 stay […]
Photo Speed Enforcement in High-Risk Intersection Bill to be Sent to Governor
SB 336 (Roem), as amended, contains much of the same language as the introduced but makes the bill narrower in its application. The current version of SB 336 defines a “high-risk intersection segment,” as, “… any highway or portion thereof located not more than 1,000 feet from the limits of the property of a school […]
Bill to Preempt Local Authority to Regulate Short-Term Rentals Passes
By a vote of 52 to 38, the House of Delegates passed SB 544 (Bagby). The legislation prohibits a locality from adopting a local ordinance that requires a special exception, special use, or conditional use permit be obtained for the use of a residential dwelling as a short-term rental where the dwelling unit is also […]
Information Technology Access Act Bill Carried Over and Sent for Study
HB 1355 (Tran) would have made numerous organizational changes to the Information Technology Access Act. The bill defines “information and communications technology” as it relates to digital accessibility, defined in the bill, for all persons with disabilities. The bill permits the head of each covered entity, defined in the bill, to designate an employee to […]
Bills of Note Dealing with Transparency, Freedom of Information, and Public Notice Advance through Process
Transparency and Public Notice HB 69 (Bulova) requires the local governing body or elected school board making an interim appointment to fill a vacancy in the membership of such body or board to hold a public meeting at least seven days prior to making such appointment. The bill specifies that at such meeting, the body […]
Finance Legislation Roundup
Meals taxes: Bills introduced in response to issues with meals tax collection in the City of Richmond were passed by indefinitely in Senate Finance and Appropriations on February 27. HB 1483 (McQuinn), as initially introduced, applied to all localities and contained provisions that would have hampered local tax collections, but as amended prior to crossover, […]
Update on Elections Legislation
Ranked choice voting: The two remaining bills dealing with ranked-choice voting were heard in the House after crossover. SB 270 (Subramanyam), which would have allowed for presidential primaries to be conducted via ranked-choice voting, at the option of the political party, subject to a feasibility determination by the state, was continued to 2025 in House […]
Bill Preempting Local Authority on Siting Solar and Battery Storage Facilities Fails
In light of strong opposition from Virginia counties, a subcommittee of House Counties, Cities and Towns voted to carry over to the 2025 legislation session, SB 697 (VanValkenburg). At the request of the chair of the full committee, the Commission on Electric Utility Regulation will review the bill. The legislation mandates that any local ordinance […]
School Construction Financing Bills Fly through Senate and House
SB 14 (McPike) and HB 805 (Rasoul) have passed their respective houses after crossover, and will soon advance to Governor Youngkin. On February 26, the House passed SB 14 (McPike) on a 68-28 vote, and on February 23, the Senate passed with a substitute, HB 805 (Rasoul), on a vote of 27-12. As previously reported, […]