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2013 SESSION

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Senate Committee on Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources

Chairman: Emmett W. Hanger, Jr.

Clerk: Nick Galvin, Jocelyn Lance
Staff: Martin Farber, Scott Meacham
Date of Meeting: January 17, 2013
Time and Place: 1/2 Hr. After Adjournment, Senate Room B
Revised 12:25PM 1/16/13

S.B. 737 Nonmotorized vessels; freshwaters of State shall be open certain times for purposes of recreation.

Patron: Petersen

Navigation on freshwaters. Provides that the freshwaters of the Commonwealth shall be open to nonmotorized vessels for purposes of recreation between sunrise and sunset. This policy will apply regardless of whether the water body is deemed to be navigable or nonnavigable or whether the adjoining banks are publicly or privately owned.

S.B. 803 Hunting; lawful to hunt or kill nuisance species on Sunday.

Patron: Garrett

Hunting nuisance species. Makes it lawful to hunt or kill nuisance species on Sunday. Among the species that could be hunted on Sunday are blackbirds, coyotes, crows, cowbirds, feral swine, grackles, English sparrows, starlings, and those species designated as nuisance species by regulations of the Board of Game and Inland Fisheries.

S.B. 880 Nontidal waters; DGIF, et al., to inventory those in State for recreational use.

Patron: Deeds

Inventory of nontidal waters that are available for public recreation. Directs the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries and the Virginia Marine Resources Commission to cooperatively inventory nontidal waters that flow above state-owned bottomlands and that may be used by the public for recreation. The bill prohibits an agency decision regarding the listing of particular waters from constituting a legal determination or affecting land ownership.

S.B. 884 Impoundment structures; notice of increase in the flow of water, penalty.

Patron: Deeds

Impoundment structures; notice of increase in the flow of water; penalty. Prohibits a dam owner from substantially increasing the flow of water through a dam without first notifying riparian owners and local emergency service organizations within 10 miles downstream. The bill also requires a dam owner to make the dam's current emergency action plans and reservoir regulation protocols available to riparian landowners within 10 miles, as well as to property owners within the dam break inundation zone.

S.B. 909 State park master planning; Department of Conservation & Recreation to solicit comments.

Patron: Reeves

State park master planning. Requires the Department of Conservation and Recreation, in considering public comments on stage one and stage two master plans, to make a good faith effort to solicit comments and to provide timely notice of the comment period to trade associations and nearby private businesses that offer similar services, including private campgrounds, marinas, and recreational facilities.

S.B. 926 Wetlands; governmental activity.

Patron: McWaters

Adoption of wetlands zoning; governmental activity in wetlands. Removes from Virginia's standard wetlands zoning ordinance the condition that wetlands be owned or leased by the Commonwealth if a governmental activity occurring there is to be authorized. The current standard ordinance, which may be adopted by any locality and is the only wetlands zoning ordinance under which any wetlands board may operate, authorizes an otherwise-permitted governmental activity only if the wetlands in which the activity is to take place are owned or leased by the Commonwealth or a political subdivision of the Commonwealth.

S.B. 1014 Coal; repeals an obsolete chapter that regulates surface mining.

Patron: Puckett

Surface mining of coal. Repeals an obsolete chapter in Title 45.1 that regulates the surface mining of coal. The provisions of this chapter have been superseded by the Virginia Coal Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (§ 45.1-226 et seq.).

S.B. 1053 Boating safety education; exempts U.S. Navy surface warfare officers, etc.

Patron: Wagner

Boating safety education. Exempts United States Navy surface warfare officers or enlisted surface warfare specialists from having to pass a boating safety education course in order to operate a motorboat.

S.B. 1055 Disposal of infectious waste.

Patron: Black

Disposal of infectious waste. Repeals certain provisions regarding the permitting of infectious waste incinerators by the State Air Pollution Control Board and the Waste Management Board. The repeal of these sections will eliminate outdated regulations, which have been superseded by federal air emission requirements. The Virginia Waste Management Board's regulations related to medical waste incinerators would remain in place under the Board's other existing authorities.

 

S.B. 1106 Revocation of fishing licenses; privileges to fish in tidal waters during certain period.

Patron: Hanger

Revocation of fishing licenses. Authorizes the Virginia Marine Resources Commission to withdraw all privileges to fish in tidal waters during the period in which any Commission-issued license has been revoked.

S.B. 1107 Lake level contingency plans.

Patron: McDougle

Lake level contingency plans. Provides that any temporary reduction in wastewater releases from power generating facilities during drought conditions will not be considered in determining discharge limits for other existing downstream permitted facilities.

S.B. 1108 Potomac River Compact; changes penalty for illegal fishing in Potomac River.

Patron: Hanger

Illegal fishing in the Potomac River; penalty. Amends the Potomac River Compact by changing the penalty for violating the fishing laws in the Potomac River from the current $1,000 maximum penalty to a maximum penalty of $3,000.

S.B. 1138 Virginia Nuclear Energy Consortium.

Patron: McWaters

Virginia Nuclear Energy Consortium. Establishes the Virginia Nuclear Energy Consortium Authority as a political subdivision of the Commonwealth for the purposes of making the Commonwealth a national and global leader in nuclear energy and serving as an interdisciplinary study, research, and information resource for the Commonwealth on nuclear energy issues. The 17-member board of directors of the Authority is directed to form a nonstock, nonprofit corporation, referred to as the Virginia Nuclear Energy Consortium. Membership in the Consortium is open to specified educational institutions, Virginia-based federal research laboratories, nuclear-related nonprofit organizations, business entities with operating facilities in Virginia that are engaged in activities directly related to the nuclear energy industry, and other persons whose membership is approved by the Consortium's board of directors. The purposes of the Consortium include carrying out the rights, powers, and duties of the Authority and conducting other activities useful in (i) making the Commonwealth a leader in nuclear energy, (ii) serving as an interdisciplinary study, research, and information resource for the Commonwealth on nuclear energy issues, and (iii) raising money on behalf of the Authority in the corporate and nonprofit community and from other nonstate sources.

S.B. 1212 Environmental Quality, Department of; provision of information, protection of trade secrets.

Patron: Stuart

Provision of information to Department of Environmental Quality; protection of trade secrets. Requires that every person who the Department of Environmental Quality has reason to believe is generating or handling waste provide the Department with information about the waste upon request. The bill exempts trade secrets contained in such information from disclosure by the Department under certain conditions while still allowing the Department to provide such information to the Environmental Protection Agency or as otherwise required by law.

S.B. 1213 Saltwater recreational fishing; allows State residents 65 and older to purchase lifetime license.

Patron: Stuart

Lifetime saltwater recreational fishing license. Allows Virginia residents 65 years of age and older to purchase a lifetime saltwater recreational fishing license for $5.

S.B. 1291 Management of the menhaden fishery.

Patron: Stuart

Management of the menhaden fishery. Establishes a total allowable landings of 144,272.84 metric tons per year for Atlantic menhaden landed in Virginia by the purse seine menhaden reduction sector, the purse seine menhaden bait sector, and the non-purse seine menhaden bait sector. This legislation authorizes the Commission to establish and administer a limited entry purse seine menhaden bait license according to specific criteria. This total allowable landings represents a 20 percent reduction from the average 2009, 2010, and 2011 landings, as mandated by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission. Any overage of the total allowable landings in the current year will result in a reduction of the total allowable landings in the following year. The Commissioner may administer the interstate transfer of menhaden landings. The total allowable landings for menhaden shall be allocated in proportion to each sector’s share of average landings in 2009, 2010, and 2011, with the Commission authorized to establish an individual transferrable quota system for any purse seine menhaden bait licensee according to specific requirements. Guidelines for the monitoring of all sectors of the menhaden fishery that may result in a closure of any or all sectors are established. Upon the closing of the non-purse seine sector, any person may possess and land up to 6,000 pounds of menhaden per day, and such landings shall be reported to the Commission but shall not count against the annual total allowable landings. All licensees of the three menhaden sectors shall report to the Commission according to the requirements established by the Commission. The Commission shall establish a biological sampling program to include development of an adult menhaden survey index from Virginia pound nets. License fees are established for the purse seine menhaden reduction and purse seine menhaden bait sectors, according to fees adjusted in 2005 as $249 for vessels under 70 gross tons and $996 for vessels over 70 gross tons. The Commission may limit the number of gear licenses or permits to fish, except for those licenses in the purse seine reduction sector. The annual menhaden harvest cap for the purse seine menhaden reduction sector shall be 87,216 metric tons, subject to annual adjustments for under-harvest or over-harvest of the cap. The bill contains a sunset date of January 1, 2015. The bill states that an emergency exists and that the bill is in force from its passage.

EMERGENCY