HB 862 (Cousins) and SB 391 (Stuart) are bills introduced at the recommendation of the Virginia Alcohol Safety Action Program Commission (VASAP), a legislative branch commission. The bills stem from a small working group of VASAP Commission members that met last fall and did not include local government representation. Significantly, as introduced, the bills would require localities to provide financial support for local alcohol safety action programs and require each local alcohol safety action program to have a locality serve as its fiscal agent; these are broad changes to the program that were not previously discussed with local governments. Some local governments have chosen to contribute to their local Alcohol Safety Action Program (ASAP), and some localities serve as fiscal agents for local ASAPs on a voluntary basis, but these are not requirements.
The bills also codify some regulations, reorganize certain Code sections, and set out responsibilities for local policy boards that supervise local alcohol safety action programs.
VACo is advocating that the provisions of the bills that impose these new responsibilities on localities be converted to study directives. A working group, as proposed by VACo, would provide an opportunity to consider how the program could be bolstered. VASAP’s funding structure has been stressed for some time. The state created VASAP in the mid-1980s as a program supported by fees paid by individuals referred by the courts to the program. Fees have not increased in years and judges at times waive fees for individuals they deem unable to pay. Legislation in 2024 seeking to increase program fees failed to make it through the General Assembly. No state General Funds currently support the program.
HB 862 was amended in House Courts Criminal Subcommittee on Friday afternoon to delay the requirement for a local ASAP to designate a fiscal agent locality until January 1, 2028, and to include workgroup language proposed by VACo and VML that would direct the Secretary of Health and Human Resources, in consultation with the Secretary of Public Safety and Homeland Security and the Secretary of Transportation, to convene a work group to review the sustainability of the structure and funding model for VASAP. While the bill has been improved from its introduced version, it retains the requirement for each locality that has established or participates in a local ASAP to provide financial support for the program. HB 862 will be in the full House Courts Committee on Wednesday afternoon, February 11.
SB 391 will be heard in the Senate Courts Committee on Wednesday and VACo is awaiting word on whether our proposed amendments will be offered.
VACo Contact: Katie Boyle