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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) (iv) ] 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 not
able to provide needed services in a reasonable and cost-efficient manner ]
; or (d) displacement is necessary to provide for the development [ or
operation ] of a regional system of refuse collection [ and
or ] 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.