Legislative Newsletter No. 2— January 24, 2005

Calendar for 2005 General Assembly Session

February 6 House and Senate budgets released
February 8 "Crossover"day
February 26 Adjournment

Budget

Lawmakers received news last week that revenue projections for the first half of the current fiscal year are running 13% above projections, boosted by nearly 20% growth in the month of December and strong sales tax collections since an increased sales tax took effect in September. At a meeting of the Senate Finance Committee, this news prompted budget writer Sen. William Wampler to reiterate that one-time, nonrecurring expenses should be the focus of the committee. Sen. Walter Stosch also asked Secretary of Finance John Bennett, who was explaining ramifications of the governor's proposed budget amendments related to the car tax, that if additional revenue was available, would the Administration support reimbursing localities for the nearly $230 million the state eliminated from FY06 car tax reimbursement payments. Bennett responded it would be a good one-time use of funds. Later in the week, Stosch submitted a budget amendment to restore the funding, and at least one similar amendment is expected on the House side. Budget amendments requested by legislators will be available by mid-week; lawmakers are expected to make hundreds of budget requests totaling in the billions of dollars.

Legislation

Action was taken this past week on a perennial bill of concern to local governments. HB 1760 would have established a $1/ton solid waste tipping fee, with half the money to be retained by local governments, with the remainder to be sent to the state for solid waste and water quality programs. The bill was defeated in the House Agriculture Committee. There was some discussion of removing the fee part of the bill and leaving in the solid waste and water funds it created. This was somewhat ironic, given that just last year, the legislature voted to eliminate the Landfill Closure and Clean-up Fund, which was established in the late 1990’s and never funded.

            Action on several other bills listed in the last newsletter includes: HB 1823, which required localities to assess and plan transportation improvements before approving a related zoning change, was defeated in committee. HB 1851, which provided for transfer of development rights, was amended to apply only to Arlington County (which requested the bill). HB 1889, which revises and clarifies advertisement requirements for enactment of certain fees, was approved in committee.

            A House committee has approved HB 2523, which clarifies that local governments can charge insurers for ambulance services provided to anyone covered by an insurance policy that provides coverage for ambulance services (some localities are now charging for such services). Another emergency medical services bill impacting localities is HB 2521, which states that each locality shall be responsible for ensuring that emergency medical services are maintained on a 24-hour continuous basis throughout the locality.

             When the dust settled after last Friday’s filing deadline, legislators had filed about 2,600 bills and resolutions. All legislation must be considered in its house of origin in the next two weeks, which will be very busy for committee and subcommittee action. Here are more bills of interest to local governments:

HB 2238—requires the Dept. of Health to provide training for emergency medical services personnel and collect and report emergency response times.

HB 2296—extends the mandate for CSA services to children whose parents were considering relinquishing custody in order to obtain mental health services (the bill is expected to be amended to eliminate the local fiscal impact and to concentrate only on obtaining a Medicaid waiver to serve these children).

HB 2346—allows local impact fees for education, transportation, parks, or public safety.

HB 2356 and HB 2432—provide for increases in the motor vehicle fuel tax.

HB 2476—allows localities to assess impact fees on new residential development to pay part or all costs for school facility improvements attributable to the development.

HB 2624—authorizes localities to require biosolids to be injected into the soil.

HB 2694 and HB 1240—require local governments to impose a $52/year “flush tax” to be deposited into the Water Quality Improvement Fund, then most would be distributed through grants to localities for upgrading sewage treatment plants.

HB 2865—allows localities to require developers to extend and connect to abutting or adjacent public water or sewer systems.

HB 2880—revises the taxation of communications services, including elimination of local taxes on various communications services (as discussed over the past two years) in lieu of a 5% across-the-board tax, plus taxation of voice over internet protocol and satellite video, and converting the cable franchise fee to a 5% tax and charging a cable rights-of-way fee.

HB 2888—requires localities accepting cash proffers to begin or cause the start of construction of improvements for which the cash payment was proffered with five years of its receipt.

HJ 655—directs JLARC to study fiscal autonomy for elected school boards.

HJ 661—directs JLARC to study the functions and operations of Commissioners of Revenue, Treasurers and Finance Directors.

HJ 680—directs the Housing Commission to study the feasibility of authorizing user fees for new single and multifamily residential construction projects.

HJ 719—directs the Housing Commission to study local authority to provide incentives to developers to preserve the supply of affordable single and multifamily housing.

SB 1056—expands the Chesapeake Bay Act boundaries to include the entire Bay watershed.

SB 1075--allows localities to provide for the transfer of some or all specified development rights.

SB 1223—allows a 60 mph speed limit on nonlimited access, multilane, divided parts of Rt. 29, subsequent to a traffic engineering study.

SB 1245 and SB 1325—protection for money in several state transportation funds for transportation purposes only.

SJ 362—allows localities to determine real estate tax relief programs for the elderly and disabled.

General Assembly Contact Numbers for David Blount, TJPDC Legislative Liaison

804-644-3702 (phone)

804-783-8226 (fax)

979-7310 x350 (Charlottesville voicemail)

(Richmond email)