VACo opposes bill that allows 8 free hours of FOIA request search and access of records per person for each 31 consecutive day period
SB 324 (Roem) prohibits a public body from charging a requester for any costs incurred during the first two hours spent accessing or searching for requested records when the requester has made four or fewer individual record requests to such public body within 31 consecutive days. This bill would allow every person, and every representative […]
VACo Opposes Legislation Giving Religious Organizations “By-Right” Authority to Build Residential Units
SB 233 (Hashmi) and HB 1124 (Carr) permit a religious organization to construct housing on real estate owned by such religious organization, regardless of whether the proposed development is consistent with a locality’s comprehensive plan and zoning ordinance. The legislation specifically states that “… If the locality’s zoning does not permit residential uses, the housing […]
Local Financing Authority for School Capital Needs – Call Your Legislators to Support
HB 600 (Kilgore), HB 805 (Rasoul), and SB 14 (McPike) would permit any county or city to impose an additional local sales and use tax of up to 1 percent, if initiated by a resolution of the local governing body and approved by voters at a local referendum. The revenues of such local tax would […]
VACo Supports Photo Speed Enforcement in High-Risk Intersections
SB 336 (Roem) and HB 521 (Laufer) focus on the ability for localities to expand the use of photo speed monitoring within their jurisdiction but take different approaches in enabling the use of this public safety tool. SB 336 would permit a state or local law enforcement agency to place and operate a photo speed […]
State Revenues on Track as General Assembly Begins Consideration of Governor’s Budget
Secretary of Finance Stephen E. Cummings briefed members of the House Appropriations Committee on January 15 on December revenues and is scheduled to provide a similar update to the Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee on January 16. Secretary Cummings reported that state General Fund revenues are in line with the forecast embedded in the Governor’s […]
2024 General Assembly Convenes
The first day of the 2024 General Assembly session featured a mixture of continuity and change, as the many newly-elected legislators took office and both new and returning legislators settled into the recently-reopened General Assembly Building. In addition to the traditional procedural duties for the first day of the session, including the adoption of the […]
VACo Supports Expanded Local Speed Limit Authority
HB 1071 (Carr) and HB 793 (Henson, Jr.) seek to achieve a long sought-after transportation safety policy goal of localities across the Commonwealth. These bills would allow the governing body of any locality to reduce to less than 25 miles per hour, but not less than 15 miles per hour, the speed limit of highways that are part […]
Rural Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Bill Charging Ahead
HB 107 (Sullivan) would create the Electric Vehicle Rural Infrastructure Program and Fund, which would make available up to $25 million each fiscal year and assist developers by offsetting up to 70 percent of the non-utility cost of electric vehicle charging stations. According to the provisions outlined in the bills, rural Virginia localities would benefit […]
Key Dates for the 2024 General Assembly
As part of its organizational work on the first day of the 2024 session, the General Assembly adopted a procedural resolution on January 10 that sets out important dates and deadlines for the 2024 legislative session. January 10: General Assembly convened at noon. Bills that were “prefiled” were due to be submitted by 10:00 a.m. […]
VACo opposes legislation giving local land use authority to SCC for the siting of utility-scale solar, wind, and energy storage projects
HB 636 (Sullivan) and SB 567 (Deeds) propose giving the Virginia State Corporation Commission (SCC) the authority to override local comprehensive plans and zoning ordinances for the siting of utility-scale solar, wind and battery storage facilities. The legislation sets up the process for applicants to essentially bypass local planning commissions and boards of supervisors when seeking […]
2024 General Assembly Convenes Today – Look for Capitol Contact on Tuesdays and Thursdays
The 2024 General Assembly session convenes today as legislators deliberate on many issues of critical importance to local government, including the state budget, taxes, education funding, economic development, public safety, broadband, and other policy matters. VACo will continually provide updates during the session through Capitol Contact. Capitol Contact will be published every Tuesday and Thursday. In […]
VACo Analysis of Governor’s Introduced Budget
On December 20, Governor Youngkin presented his budget proposals for the upcoming 2024-2026 biennium, as well as amendments to the current biennium budget in the “caboose” budget bill. The Governor described his proposal as the “Unleashing Opportunity” budget, making a case that tax reform and investments in business recruitment and workforce readiness are necessary to […]
Visit King George County and the King George County Historic Courthouse
PHOTO CREDIT: Mojo Hand Location: 9383 Kings Highway / Rectory LaneBuilt: 1922 – 1923Style: Classical RevivalArchitect: E G Heflin of FredericksburgContractor: Unknown Description: The building faces south and is a one story red colored brick and concrete structure. The south front has a central portico with four white colored columns rising to a pediment with […]
VACo requests feedback on bill to mandate public hearings to fill interim board positions
The 2024 Virginia General Assembly will be considering legislation to require local governing bodies and elected school boards, when making an interim appointment to fill a vacancy in membership, to both publish notice and hold a public hearing on the appointment. HB 69 (Bulova) also specifies that at such meeting, “… the body or board […]
Governor’s Introduced Budget May Impact State Funding for the Virginia Preschool Initiative for Certain Localities
Governor Youngkin’s introduced budget makes several changes to how the state shares the costs of slots in the Virginia Preschool Infinitive (VPI). One such change eliminates the current cap of 0.5 on the Composite Index of Local Ability to Pay (LCI) for these programs. This has the potential to negatively alter existing funding for 27 […]
Governor’s Introduced Budget Addresses OEMS Funding Issue
As part of Governor Youngkin’s introduced budget, additional state General Funds will be used to address funding shortfalls through the Office of Emergency Medical Services (OEMS). According to the Chair of the State EMS Advisory Board, the Governor has directed the $8 million surplus that the Virginia Department of Health returned to the General Fund […]