Legislative Newsletter - April 26, 2007

Number 7

State Budget and Revenues

Through the first nine months of the current fiscal year, state revenues grew 3.7% over the same period last year, lagging behind the 6.5% growth projected for FY07. March is not typically a significant month for revenue collections, and total revenue for the month grew less than 1% compared to March of last year. The last three months of the fiscal year, especially April and May, are big collection months. Estimated and final payments from corporations and individuals are due in April and May, while estimated payments are again due in June.

Mental Health/CSA Services

Several state agency chiefs recently issued a directive to local staff involved with the Comprehensive Services Act (CSA) program concerning state policy and local implementation of foster care prevention programs.

 The directive, issued by the Commissioners of Social Services and of Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Substance Abuse Services, and the director of the Office of Comprehensive Services (OCS), changes the state's policy regarding foster care prevention to conform it with the existing CSA statute in the Code of Virginia, requiring that additional children be eligible for CSA entitled services. In addition, this directive appears to move CSA in the direction of becoming the state's mental health system for children.

The OCS will use a workgroup of interested parties to examine eligibility/implementation issues raised by the directive. Proposed guidelines to clarify the criteria for determining eligibility for foster care prevention services funded through CSA could be presented at a future meeting of the State Executive Council for CSA. You may wish to communicate with your local social services/CSA director about the local impact of this directive.

New Secondary Street Regulations to be Developed

The 2007 General Assembly directed the Commonwealth Transportation Board (CTB) to establish new requirements for the acceptance of secondary streets into the state system. SB 1181 also stipulates that the new regulations address connectivity of road and pedestrian networks and the minimization of impervious surface area and stormwater runoff. These new Secondary Street Acceptance requirements will establish the conditions and standards to be met before secondary streets constructed by developers and localities will be accepted into the state system for maintenance by VDOT. While the new requirements are not subject to the state’s Administrative Process Act, there will be opportunities for public comment throughout their development. An initial public comment period currently is underway and runs through May 16; comments can be submitted to the VDOT Policy Office. A technical workgroup of interested parties also will be established to advise VDOT on the requirements, which will replace of the current Subdivision Street Requirements and should be in place by January.

Also pertaining to the CTB, the Board at its May meeting will receive the first draft of the latest Six-Year Plan, with adoption scheduled for June. Preliminary allocations for each construction district were presented to the Board at its meeting last week. Following release of the draft plan, the CTB plans three public hearings in late May to receive input. They are scheduled for May 22 in Salem, May 23 in Fairfax and May 29 at the Hampton Roads PDC.

Legislative Studies to Get Underway

 The Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission (JLARC) meets in early May to receive its proposed workplan for the coming year. Commission staff usually undertake any number of in-depth studies at the direction of the General Assembly. This year, lawmakers approved several studies of interest to local governments:

SJR 361 directs a two-year study of waste minimization, reuse and recycling. JLARC will evaluate the success of current programs in Virginia and other states and recommend a plan to achieve long-term waste minimization. 

SJR 395 directs JLARC to examine the impact of issues related to substance abuse on state and local fiscal expenditures.

HJR 683 directs an analysis of the cost of substance abuse to the state to determine possible savings as a result of providing treatment to offenders diverted from incarceration.

HJR 729 directs JLARC to study the Virginia Preschool Initiative, particularly its authorization, funding, cost and effectiveness.

Governor Takes Final Action on Bills

Following the April 4 reconvened session of the General Assembly, Governor Kaine had until May 4 to act on legislation returned to him from that session. However, as the governor had planned to be out of the country for economic development meetings for about two weeks the latter part of April, he took action on those bills during the week following the April 4 session (the governor returned to Virginia two days after leaving on that trip to deal with the aftermath of the shootings at Virginia Tech).

Several vetoes proposed by the governor were sustained by the legislature. This included bills extending the annexation moratorium from 2010 to 2020, concerning relocation of nonconforming billboards taken for a road project, and carving out exemptions to last year’s clustering provisions for certain localities. Lawmakers also concurred with minor amendments proposed to identical eminent domain bills (HB 2954, SB 781 and SB 1296). Those changes are intended to slightly reduce limitations the bills placed on locality efforts to address blight.

The House of Delegates rejected amendments to HB 2707 and SB 840, which among other things, prohibit localities, after July 1, from acquiring any direct recording electronic (DRE) machine for use in elections. The governor had proposed changing the date to July 1, 2008, but signed the original bill after his amendments were rejected. He also signed SB 1063, which increases from seven to 30 days the notice a locality must give of a public hearing when the locality proposes to increase its total real estate tax collections more than 101% of the prior year levies. The House had rejected an amendment to set the minimum notice at a more reasonable and workable 14 days.

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)