Problematic Bills Fail to Move Forward
SB 620 (Cosgrove), which would impose new restrictions on the local budget process, was passed by indefinitely in the Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee this morning. The original bill would have required a referendum to be held if real estate tax revenues were projected to increase by more than 101 percent over the previous year’s […]
Capitol Contact ALERT! Bill Placing Restrictions on County Budget Process to be Heard Tomorrow – Please Contact Legislators to Oppose
SB 620 (Cosgrove) would impose new restrictions on the local budget process by requiring a referendum if growth in real estate assessments would generate more than 101 percent of the previous year’s collections and the locality did not reduce the tax rate accordingly. VACo opposes this legislation, which is on the docket for the Senate […]
School Construction Financing Bills Defeated in House Subcommittee, Others Advance
On January 28, by a vote of 5-3, the House Finance Committee’s Subcommittee #3 laid three school construction local financing bills on the table, effectively ending their journey towards passage. HB 531 (Hudson) would have permitted any county or city to impose an additional local sales and use tax of up to 1 percent, if […]
VACo Opposes Bill Overriding Local Authority to Extend Land Use Approvals to July 1, 2023
During the 2020 Special Session, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the legislature passed a measure to extend to July 1, 2022, any local land use approvals, including rezonings and special use permits, which were valid as of July 1, 2020. HB 272 (Marshall) and SB 501 (Lewis) arbitrarily extend the life of these expired […]
VITA Bill Threatens Local Cybersecurity Responses
VACo needs your assistance in analyzing the impact of SB 764 (Barker) and HB 1290 (Hayes). We encourage you to consult with your Information Technology staff and risk insurance providers to analyze the potential impact of these bills to your county. SB 764 and HB 1290 would require every public body, including local governments, to […]
Cemetery Bills Add Responsibility to Localities
HB 615 (Roem), which passed a subcommittee of House General Laws and will be recommended to the full committee on February 1, provides that no cemetery owned by a county or city shall be sold to a private owner unless the county or city has made a good faith effort to ensure, prior to sale, […]
Helpful Budget Amendments Introduced
In addition to the requests made by VACo, VML, and partner organizations that were discussed in the January 21 edition of County Connections, a number of helpful budget amendments have been introduced that address county priorities. VACo appreciates the work of legislators in introducing these proposals and encourages members to contact their legislators, especially those […]
Board of Education Local Government Representative Bill Aces Subcommittee
On January 26, the House Education Committee’s Early Childhood/Innovation Subcommittee met and unanimously recommended to report by a vote of 8-0 HB 879 (Rasoul). This bill would requires the nine-member Board of Education, all of whom are appointed by the Governor, to include at least one member with experience or expertise in local government leadership […]
Helpful Public Notice Study Bill Passes Senate Rules
SB 417 (Stanley) directs the Virginia Code Commission to convene a work group to review requirements throughout the Code of Virginia for localities to provide public notice for intended actions and events, including (i) the varying frequency for publishing notices in newspapers and other print media, (ii) the number of days required to elapse between […]
Burdensome FOIA Bill Fails
VACo opposed HB 599 (Roem), which changes FOIA policy in three major ways. First, it mandates that each person in the Commonwealth including every member of a news entity receive 8 free hours of FOIA requests per month free of charge. It provides a per hour cap on fees charged on any request after the 8 […]
Capitol Contact ALERT! Several Bills Limiting County Taxing Authority to be Heard Monday – Contact Your Legislators to Oppose
Limitations on meals and transient occupancy taxes HB 75 (Ware) would place restrictions on the additional taxing authority that was granted to counties in 2020. VACo opposes this legislation. The bill would generally place a cap of 5 percent on transient occupancy taxes imposed by counties and require revenues from rates between 2 and 5 […]
Grocery Tax Elimination under Consideration
Five bills have been introduced to eliminate the sales and use tax on groceries and essential personal hygiene products. Currently, food purchased for human consumption and essential hygiene products are taxed at 2.5 percent, a reduced rate relative to the general sales tax applied to other purchases. The 2.5 percent is composed of a 1.5 […]
Legislation Providing Local Flexibility in Marcus Alert Implementation Reported from Senate Committee
SB 361 (Stuart), as reported by the Senate Education and Health Committee, would provide local flexibility for smaller jurisdictions with respect to participation in the Marcus Alert system. This system was created via legislation passed in special session in 2020, and generally seeks to ensure that the behavioral health system responds to behavioral health crises […]
Capitol Contact ALERT! School Construction Bill to be Heard Tomorrow Morning – Call House Finance Subcommittee Members to Support the Bills
HB 531 (Hudson) and HB 1099 (LaRock) 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 a local tax would be used […]
School Construction Bill Passes Senate with Bipartisan Support
On January 24, by a vote of 28-12, the Senate of Virginia voted to report SB 472 (McClellan). VACo strongly supports the measure, which 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 […]
Children’s Services Act Legislation under Consideration
SB 435 (Barker), as introduced, would have required that the parent representatives who must be members of the community policy and management teams and family assessment and planning teams that administer the Children’s Services Act (CSA) at the local level be caregivers for children with past experience with the child welfare, juvenile justice, special education, […]