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2006 SESSION

064679732
SENATE BILL NO. 676
AMENDMENT IN THE NATURE OF A SUBSTITUTE
(Proposed by the Joint Conference Committee
on March 11, 2006)
(Patron Prior to Substitute--Senator Hanger)
A BILL relating to the consolidation of the Virginia School for the Deaf and the Blind at Staunton and the Virginia School for the Deaf, Blind and Multi-Disabled at Hampton.

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1.  § 1. Consolidation of the Virginia School for the Deaf and the Blind at Staunton and the Virginia School for the Deaf, Blind and Multi-Disabled at Hampton.

Notwithstanding any other law to the contrary, the residential programs of the Virginia School for the Deaf and the Blind at Staunton and the Virginia School for the Deaf, Blind and Multi-Disabled at Hampton shall be modified as follows:

A. The Department of General Services is authorized to enter into a comprehensive agreement for the necessary renovations, additions, and new facility construction at the Staunton campus under traditional procurement procedures or the Public-Private Education Facilities and Infrastructure Act of 2002.

The Department of General Services shall develop a plan for disposing of buildings and property no longer necessary for special education purposes. The Department of General Services shall work with the City of Staunton and the Department of Historic Resources when considering proposals that may transfer ownership to or establish long-term leases with private entities. The properties shall be conveyed with appropriate historic easements at fair market value with the proceeds reverting to the general fund to offset the cost of construction of the new facility.

B. Upon receipt of a collaboratively developed facilities and land use plan by the board of New Horizons Regional Education Center and representatives, not to exceed the number of board members from the New Horizons Regional Education Center Board, of the Virginia School for the Deaf, Blind and Multi-Disabled at Hampton appointed by the Board of Education, the Governor is authorized to convey, without consideration, the real property, including all buildings and facilities located thereon, now existing and standing at the Virginia School for the Deaf, Blind, and Multi-Disabled at Hampton located in Hampton, Virginia, to the New Horizons Regional Education Center. If the New Horizons Regional Education Center dissolves or otherwise ceases to exist, the right and title to such land and any buildings or facilities located thereon shall immediately revert to the Commonwealth.

Such conveyance shall be made in a form approved by the Attorney General. The appropriate officials of the Commonwealth are hereby authorized to prepare, execute, and deliver such deed and other documents as may be necessary to accomplish the conveyance.

Such plans for the consolidation of the two schools for the deaf, blind, and multi-disabled into a single location at the Staunton campus and the conveyance of facilities and land of the Virginia School for the Deaf, Blind, and Multi-Disabled at Hampton shall also include provisions for continued funding for the state-operated facility in Staunton and the regional day program of the New Horizons Regional Education Center at Hampton.

A Scholarship Trust Fund shall be established from a portion of the moneys that may become available from any sale or long-term lease of surplus property at the Hampton site. The trust shall administer scholarships statewide to at-risk students with visual and hearing impairments to assist in vocational and academic training.

C. 1. There is hereby established the Scholarship Trust Fund as a special nonreverting fund to be administered as determined by the State Board of Education.  A portion of the sums collected pursuant to this section as specified in this section shall be deposited into the state treasury to the credit of the Fund.

2.  The Fund shall be established on the books of the Comptroller.  Any funds remaining in the Fund at the end of the biennium shall not revert to the general fund, but shall remain in the Fund.  Interest earned on the Fund shall be credited to the Fund.  Except for transfers pursuant to this section, there shall be no transfers out of the Fund, including transfers to the general fund.

3.  Money in the Fund shall be allocated to provide scholarships statewide to at-risk students with visual and hearing impairments to assist in vocational and academic training.  The revenue raised in support of the Fund shall not be used to supplant other funding to the state-operated facility in Staunton.

2.  That the capital project set forth in subsection A of § 1 of this act shall be funded in accordance with the general appropriation act passed by the 2006 Session of the General Assembly, which becomes law.