Legislative Newsletter - January 13, 2006

Number 1

Calendar for 2006 General Assembly Session

January 14 - Inaugural ceremonies

January 16 - New Governor speaks to joint assembly

January 19 - Deadline for legislators to submit proposed budget amendments

January 20 - All bills and resolutions to be submitted

February 14 - “Crossover” day of bills

OVERVIEW

The 2006 General Assembly got off to a rowdy start, as legislators spent several hours Wednesday dealing with procedural matters. The House of Delegates debated several changes to their operating rules, including a new provision that was approved to allow subcommittees of at least five members to defeat bills, unless brought to the full committee for discussion by majority vote of the committee. Meanwhile, there was an attempt in the Senate to oust Senator Russ Potts, who ran for governor as an independent, from his post as chairman of the Education and Health Committee. However, that effort failed on a 20-19 vote, and the Senate later adopted new rules that likely will prevent another ouster attempt.

Governor Warner delivered his final State of the Commonwealth address Wednesday night. He noted the accomplishments of his administration, including bi-partisan work to address the state’s budget shortfall. He also endorsed a handful of new funding initiatives contained in his introduced budget, to include money for Chesapeake Bay clean-up efforts and funding and reforms for mental health and mental retardation services. He also highlighted the inclusion of general fund dollars for transportation projects in the next biennial budget, while noting that the funding is not intended to be a long-term solution. The Senate is expected to look to various nongeneral fund sources to pay for transportation initiatives, while the House likely will utilize general fund dollars. Numerous legislators have submitted transportation bills so far, though bills to implement recommendations of the Senate’s START task force have not shown up yet.

The latest state revenue report shows that through the first half of the fiscal year, revenues grew 11.3% over the same period a year ago. Collections increased over 10% in December alone.

House and Senate members have until this coming Thursday to submit their proposed amendments to the introduced spending plan; those proposals then will be available the following week. The House and Senate money committees then will have a month (until February 19^th) to craft their respective versions of the 2006-2008 biennial budget.

Legislators had filed over 2,300 bills and resolutions as of this writing, with the final filing deadline set for next Friday. Following are just some of the bills of particular interest to local governments in our region that have been introduced so far. Staff in your locality also may be notified of other bills of particular interest. Additional bills also will be highlighted in the next newsletter. Please note that you can click on the bill number in the first list below to be linked to the summary and text of the bill.

HB 67--provides that 50% of state recordation taxes collected from deeds and other instruments recorded be distributed to localities with PDR programs.

HB 78--permits property owners to reconstruct or restore involuntarily damaged or destroyed nonconforming real property to its original, nonconforming condition.

HB 92--changes the name of the Virginia Housing Partnership Trust Fund to the Virginia Housing Trust Fund and provides for $0.02 of the recordation tax to be transferred to the Fund, to be used for housing initiatives.

HB 93--allows localities to include in their subdivision or zoning ordinances provisions for requiring environmental site assessments prior to approval of subdivision and development plans or land use, rezoning, subdivision, or development applications (also SB 224)

HB 94—defines public uses and specifies instances in which the condemnation of real property may be used by a public entity to convey such property to a nongovernmental person or entity; this is the Housing Commission-endorsed legislation crafted with help from VML and VACo.

HB 119--replaces primary system lane miles with vehicle registrations as a factor in allocating highway construction funds, among planning districts, rather than by the current construction districts.

HB 147--provides that a locality creating a service district may contribute its general fund dollars to pay for certain governmental services, transportation and open space.

HB 184--provides that any property acquired by eminent domain pursuant to spot blight abatement provisions shall not be rezoned to a more intensive use.

HB 206--expands the powers of service districts to include accumulation and setting aside of revenue collected for road construction for a reasonable period of time to finance such construction.

HB 232—requires, to the maximum extent possible, that polling places be accessible to voters dependent on public transportation.

HB 298—eliminates the ability of airport authorities to impose off-site fees.

HB 315--provides that total real property tax revenue in a locality may not exceed 105% of the prior year’s amount, unless approved by at least a two-thirds majority vote of the local governing body.

HB 340—makes various changes to “dog law” statutes, including requiring localities to regulate dangerous and vicious dogs (also SB 200).

HB 366—makes various changes to the statutes governing mopeds and allows localities to adopt ordinances regulating noise from mopeds and motorized scooters and skateboards.

HB 400—allows the Governor's Development Opportunity Fund to award grants or loans for increasing the capacity of high-speed or broadband Internet access to rural areas.

HB 411--requires all publicly owned sewage treatment facilities to meet their nutrient loading allocation for limiting discharge of nitrogen and phosphorus by July 1, 2010.

HB 426--requires children's residential facilities to be Medicaid providers in order to be eligible for reimbursement.

HB 427--requires the CSA office to establish statewide or regional contracts for residential treatment services paid from state pool funds.

HB 463—requires local government-owned cars bearing “local government use” license plates to be marked by the locality seal or emblem.

HB 568—implements telecommunications tax reform, applying a statewide, five percent communications sales and use tax to retail communication and video services; the redistribution of taxes and fees is intended to be revenue neutral to localities.

HB 639--requires local emergency directors and coordinators to be certified in emergency management.

HB 647—revises solid waste management statutes to allow more flexibility in meeting the annual municipal solid waste recycling rate.

HB 665--establishes a statewide standard for vegetation control, including inside cities (SB 87).

HB 688--prohibits land application of sewage sludge beginning January 1, unless it is applied in the same locality in which it is generated.

HB 781--provides that all local government employees have the right to express their opinions to state or local elected officials about public matters.

HJR 53--establishes a joint subcommittee to study whether localities should have an option to impose a local income tax in lieu of all other currently utilized local tax sources.

HJR 101--requests the Departments of Conservation and Recreation and Environmental Quality to study the impact of the land application of biosolids on the quality of the state’s waters.

SB 57—requires that local and regional solid waste planning units maintain a minimum 15% recycling rate and a target rate of 25% (the current required rate).

SB 85--excludes from the sales price of meals, all gratuities or service charges for purposes of calculating the sales tax and local meals tax.

SB 106--requires local governing body consent before the SWCB issues, modifies, amends or renews a waste discharge permit.

SB 219--requires a locality to calculate and publish in its budget, a revenue-neutral tax rate in years in which real property has been reassessed.

SB 311--gives a locality a lien on property declared a nuisance when the locality, not the owner, abates or removes the nuisance at its expense.

SB 358--authorizes localities to partially exempt from taxation new structures located in redevelopment, rehabilitation or conservation areas.

Bills requested by or introduced on behalf of several of our PDC localities have been submitted and include the following:

HB 333 (Albemarle) directs VRS to perform long-term planning strategies to avoid sudden, significant increases in employer contribution rates;

HB 779 authorizes Nelson County to increase the lodging tax on certain rentals; HB 998 and SB 202 are proposed changes to the Charlottesville city charter related to affordable housing; HB 999 authorizes localities to utilize an administrative hearing office in grievance cases; SB 142 requires the filing of a corrective deed or other instrument recorded if it is found to contain an incorrect tax map reference numbers (Nelson).

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)