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2005 SESSION
056695484Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:
1. That § 15.2-934 of the Code of Virginia is amended and reenacted as follows:
§ 15.2-934. Displacement of private waste companies.
No locality or combination of localities shall displace a
private company providing garbage, trash or refuse collection service without
first: (i) holding at least one public hearing seeking comment on the
advisability of the locality or combination of localities providing such
service; (ii) providing at least forty-five 45 days'
written notice of the hearing, delivered by first class mail to all private
companies which that provide
the service in the locality or localities and which that
the locality or localities are able to identify through local
government records; and (iii) providing at least 45
days' written notice of the hearing, delivered by first class
mail to all establishments engaged in business operations, including, without
limitation, stores, markets, restaurants, office buildings, shopping centers
and multi-family rental properties that are serviced by such private companies
providing garbage, trash or refuse collection and that the locality or
localities are able to identify through private
companies' records; (iv) providing public notice of the hearing; and
(v) making a written finding of at
least one of the following: (a) privately-owned
refuse collection and disposal services are
not available; (b) the use of privately-owned
and operated services has substantially
endangered the public health or created a public nuisance; (c) privately-owned
services, although available, are incapable of
providing needed services in
an efficient and cost-effective manner; or (d) displacement is necessary to
provide for the development of a regional system of refuse
collection and disposal for two or
more localities. Following the final
public hearing held pursuant to the preceding sentence, but in no event After
making the findings required by this
subsection, and not longer than one year after the final
public hearing, the locality or combination of localities may
proceed to take measures necessary to provide such service and to protect public
health. A locality or combination of localities shall provide five
years' notice to a private company before the locality or combination of
localities engages in the actual provision of the service that displaces the
company. As an alternative to delaying displacement five years, a locality or
combination of localities may pay a displaced company an amount equal to the
company's preceding twelve 12 months'
gross receipts for the displaced service in the displacement area. Such
five-year period shall lapse as to any private company being displaced when
such company ceases to provide service within the displacement area.
For purposes of this section, "displace" or
"displacement" means a locality's or a combination of localities'
provision of a service which prohibits a private company from providing the
same service and which the company is providing at the time the decision to
displace is made. Displace or displacement does not mean: (i) competition
between the public sector and private companies for individual contracts; (ii)
situations where a locality or combination of localities, at the end of a
contract with a private company, does not renew the contract and either awards
the contract to another private company or, following a competitive process
conducted in accordance with the Virginia Public Procurement Act, decides for
any reason to contract with a public service authority established pursuant to
the Virginia Water and Waste Authorities Act, or, following such competitive
process, decides for any reason to provide such collection service itself;
(iii) situations where action is taken against a private company because the
company has acted in a manner threatening to the health and safety of a
locality's citizens or resulting in a substantial public nuisance; (iv)
situations where action is taken against a private company because the company
has materially breached its contract with the locality or combination of
localities; (v) situations where a private company refuses to continue
operations under the terms and conditions of its existing agreement during the
five-year notice period; (vi) entering into a contract with a private company
to provide garbage, trash or refuse collection so long as such contract is not
entered into pursuant to an ordinance which displaces or authorizes the
displacement of another private company providing garbage, trash or refuse
collection; or (vii) situations where at least fifty-five 55 percent
of the property owners in the displacement area petition the governing body to
take over such collection service.