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2013 SESSION

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Senate Committee on Finance

Chairman: Walter A. Stosch

Clerk: Patty Lung, Cheryl Law
Staff: Nicole Brenner, L. Wallmeyer
Date of Meeting: January 22, 2013
Time and Place: Tuesday, 9:00 a.m. - Senate Room B

S.B. 692 Income tax, corporate; eliminates tax for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2014.

Patron: Martin

Elimination of the corporate income tax. Eliminates the corporate income tax for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2014, by setting the rate of the tax at zero percent.

S.B. 710 Local taxes; interest on refunds and delinquent taxes, report.

Patron: Hanger

Local taxes; interest on refunds and delinquent taxes. Authorizes a locality to not pay interest on refunds owed to a taxpayer that are due to willful errors made by the taxpayer. The bill also directs the Chairmen of the House and Senate Committees on Finance to convene a working group to consider the feasibility and fiscal impact on local governments of establishing uniform methods of assessing interest earned on overpayment of taxes or charged for underpayment of taxes and uniform criteria for evaluating the timely repayment of taxes.

S.B. 740 Mandatory judicial retirement; increases age under Judicial Retirement System from 70 to 73 years.

Patron: Petersen

Mandatory judicial retirement. Increases the mandatory retirement age under the Judicial Retirement System from 70 years of age to 73 years of age.

S.B. 748 Building Revitalization Grant Fund; created, report.

Patron: Stanley

Building Revitalization Grant Fund. Establishes the Building Revitalization Grant Fund administered by the Department of Housing and Community Development to award grants of up to $100,000 to businesses that make a capital investment of $1 million in revitalizing or retrofitting existing buildings to serve as a new place of business.

S.B. 749 Income tax, state; tax credits for donations to STEM programs at qualified schools.

Patron: Stanley

Tax credits for donations to science, technology, engineering, or math educational programs at qualified schools. Establishes a tax credit beginning in taxable year 2014 through taxable year 2018 for donations made to STEM organizations. The tax-credit-derived funds must be used by the STEM organization to support STEM education at public schools in the Commonwealth with a high concentration of students eligible for free or reduced lunch. The credit would equal 65 percent of the donation made by the taxpayer and may be carried forward for five years. The program would have a cap of $25 million per year. The Department of Education would administer the program.

S.B. 767 Retail sales and transient occupancy taxes; taxes on room rentals based upon charges for use, etc.

Patron: Wagner

Retail sales and transient occupancy taxes on room rentals. Provides that retail sales and hotel taxes on transient room rentals are computed based upon the total charges or the total price paid for the use or possession of the room. For those cases in which a hotel or similar establishment contracts with an intermediary to facilitate the sale of the room and the intermediary charges the customer for the room and such facilitation efforts, the bill requires the intermediary to separately state the taxes on the bill or invoice provided to the customer and to collect the taxes based upon the total charges or the total price paid for the use or possession of the room. The effective date of the bill is January 1, 2014.

S.B. 787 Health insurance; credits for retired school division employees.

Patron: Marsden

Health insurance credits for retired school division employees. Provides that the health insurance credit currently being provided to retired teachers would also be provided to all retired employees of the local school division at the option of the local school division and as a cost borne by the local government.

S.B. 799 Real property tax; special valuation for land preservation.

Patron: Garrett

Real property tax; special valuation for land preservation. Adds Goochland County to the list of localities that are permitted certain variations in administering the special valuation of real property for land preservation purposes. The bill also adds real property in service districts to that which the listed localities may exclude from special valuation and permits such localities to exclude such real property from the imposition of roll-back taxes.

S.B. 831 Income tax, state and corporate; tax credit for hiring veterans.

Patron: Puller

Tax credit for hiring military veterans. Establishes beginning January 1, 2013, but before January 1, 2018, an individual and corporate income tax credit for taxpayers hiring returning or disabled military veterans into new jobs paying an annual salary of at least $50,000. Returning military veterans are persons who served on active duty on or after September 1, 2001, but not including any person who first served on active duty on or after January 1, 2015. Disabled military veterans are persons who are rated by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs as having at least a 50 percent service-connected disability and who were unemployed for at least six months in the calendar year immediately preceding the date on which they were hired into the new job. The tax credit would equal $500 each year for five years for returning military veterans holding the new job continuously throughout the year and $1,000 each year for five years for disabled military veterans holding the new job continuously throughout the year. No credit would be allowed for any year in which the number of full-time employees of the taxpayer is less than the average annual number of full-time employees of the taxpayer in the immediately preceding three years.

S.B. 838 State employees; option of converting accumulated sick leave into service credit under VRS.

Patron: Carrico

State employees not participating in Virginia Sickness and Disability Program; purchase of state service. Provides state employees who commenced employment or were rehired before January 1, 1999, and elected to not participate in the Virginia Sickness and Disability Program the option of converting accumulated sick leave into service credit under the Virginia Retirement System. Such option would be available from May 1, 2013, to June 30, 2013. The bill contains an emergency clause.

EMERGENCY

S.B. 848 Tax credits; donations to organizations providing scholarships to certain students.

Patron: Edwards

Tax credits for donations to organizations providing scholarships to certain students attending Virginia two-year colleges. Creates a 65 percent tax credit for donations to scholarship foundations to pay for qualified educational expenses for students enrolled in an associate degree program at a Virginia two-year college based on science, technology, engineering, math, education, or nursing. Scholarship foundations eligible to receive such donations would be preapproved by the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia.

S.B. 854 Virginia Retirement System; benefits for certain local employees.

Patron: Petersen

Virginia Retirement System; benefits for certain local employees. Allows that a political subdivision may by resolution irrevocably declare that persons employed as firefighters, emergency medical technicians, or law-enforcement officers shall be considered to have 60 months of creditable service as of January 1, 2013, for purposes of the Virginia Retirement System. Current law allows political subdivisions to declare that such employees are not considered persons who became members on or after July 1, 2010, for purposes of the Virginia Retirement System. The bill also declares that if the political subdivision adopts such a resolution, those employees shall not be eligible to participate in the new hybrid retirement program.

S.B. 861 Retail Sales and Use Tax; entitlement of City of Bristol to certain revenues.

Patron: Carrico

Entitlement to certain sales and use tax revenues; City of Bristol. Provides that payments of sales and use tax revenue generated on the premises of a public facility located in the City of Bristol used to pay bonds issued to construct the public facility shall begin upon certification by the governing body of the municipality that a business license has been issued to an occupant of the public facility, even though the public facility has not been completed.

S.B. 932 Landlords; tax credit for those in eligible housing area.

Patron: Vogel

Tax credit for participating landlords; eligible housing area. Allows participating landlords in any census tract in the Commonwealth in which less than 10 percent of the residents live below the poverty level to be eligible for a tax credit for renting a dwelling to a tenant participating in a housing choice voucher program. Currently, the program is confined to the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical area.

S.B. 995 VRS; technical changes regarding retirement plans.

Patron: Watkins

Virginia Retirement System. Makes technical changes to carry out provisions enacted by the General Assembly in 2012 regarding retirement plans administered by the Virginia Retirement System.

S.B. 1000 Tax credits; provides for repeal of donations to certain scholarship foundations.

Patron: Marsh

Tax credits for donations to scholarships foundations. Provides for the repeal of tax credits for donations to scholarship foundations for kindergarten through twelfth grade students attending nonpublic schools.

S.B. 1009 Neighborhood Assistance Act tax credits; makes several changes to requirements.

Patron: Stanley

Neighborhood Assistance Act tax credits. Makes several changes to the requirements that a neighborhood organization must meet in order for a proposal to be approved under the Neighborhood Assistance Act tax credit program. In order to be approved for an allocation of credits from the Department of Education, an organization must have been in existence for at least one year, and at least 50 percent of its revenues must be used to provide services to low-income persons or eligible persons with disabilities. In order to be approved for an allocation of credits from either the Department of Education or the State Board of Social Services, a neighborhood organization and any of its affiliates must meet the requirements set forth in the applicable guidelines or regulations. The bill also clarifies the requirements for a neighborhood organization to submit an annual audit, review, or compilation.

S.B. 1092 Cigarette taxes; certain bond or irrevocable letter of credit requirements.

Patron: Hanger

Cigarette taxes; certain bond or irrevocable letter of credit requirements. Provides that the bond or irrevocable letter of credit required to be filed by a wholesale dealer to obtain cigarette tax stamps without payment of the cigarette tax be in a face amount determined by the Tax Commissioner to cover possible losses from nonpayment of the tax, but not to exceed two times the anticipated average monthly amount of purchases of cigarette tax stamps by the wholesale dealer. Under current law, the face amount of the bond or irrevocable letter of credit that is required to be filed is fixed at approximately two times the anticipated average monthly amount of purchases of cigarette tax stamps by the wholesale dealer.

S.B. 1094 Retail sales and transient occupancy taxes; taxes on room rentals based upon charges for use, etc.

Patron: Hanger

Retail sales and transient occupancy taxes on room rentals. Provides that retail sales and hotel taxes on transient room rentals are computed based upon the total charges or the total price paid for the use or possession of the room. For those cases in which a hotel or similar establishment contracts with an intermediary to facilitate the sale of the room and the intermediary charges the customer for the room and such facilitation efforts, the bill requires the intermediary to separately state the taxes on the bill or invoice provided to the customer and to collect the taxes based upon the total charges or the total price paid for the use or possession of the room. The effective date of the bill is January 1, 2014.

S.B. 1206 Education Improvement Scholarships tax credit; changes to reporting of test results, etc.

Patron: Stanley

Education Improvement Scholarships Tax Credits. Eliminates the requirement that schools with students who receive scholarships from tax-credit-derived sources report achievement test results to the Department of Education, and that the Department of Education publish aggregated data about such students and their test results on the Department's website. Instead, the schools will be required to report achievement test results to the foundation awarding the scholarship to the student. The bill also clarifies that a scholarship foundation meets the requirement that it was established to provide financial aid for the education of students residing in the Commonwealth if the foundation's articles of incorporation or bylaws so state.

S.B. 1225 RS & UT; adds City of Fredericksburg.

Patron: Stuart

Entitlement to sales and use tax revenues; City of Fredericksburg. Adds the City of Fredericksburg to the list of localities that are permitted to retain sales and use tax revenue generated within a public facility to pay off bonds issued for the construction of the public facility.

S.B. 1227 Nonprofit organizations; tax credits for donations to those providing asst. to low-income families.

Patron: Stanley

Tax credits for donations to nonprofits providing assistance to low-income families. Makes several changes to the Neighborhood Assistance Act Tax Credit and Education Improvement Scholarships Tax Credits program including (i) allowing tax credits for donations of marketable securities under the Education Improvement Scholarships Tax Credits program, (ii) changing reporting requirements to the Department of Education, changing the time frame for scholarship foundations to disburse moneys for scholarships, and changing the penalties for failing to make such reports and disbursements under the Education Improvement Scholarships Tax Credits program, (iii) for both programs, establishing $125,000 as the maximum annual amount of donations by an individual for which tax credits may be issued, and (iv) for both programs, extending the expiration date through the 2027 taxable year. The bill also makes several other technical changes.

S.B. 1236 Personal property tax; advertising signs.

Patron: Watkins

Personal property tax; advertising signs. Specifies that outdoor advertising signs are included in the class of tangible personal property used in a trade or business, and requires localities to tax such signs as personal property, not as real property. The bill also prohibits such signs or income generated by such signs to be considered in assessing the value of real property. The bill states that an emergency exists and it is in force from its passage. The bill applies to tax years beginning on or after January 1, 2013.

 

EMERGENCY

S.B. 1244 Virginia Retirement System benefits.

Patron: Colgan

Virginia Retirement System benefits. Provides for an increase, beginning July 1, 2013, of the monthly retirement allowance payable to any person who retired with at least 15 years of creditable service before January 1, 1990, under the Virginia Retirement System or the State Police Officers' Retirement System (or predecessor retirement systems).

S.B. 1251 Retirement System; law-enforcement officer retirees hired as school board security personnel.

Patron: Barker

Virginia Retirement System; retirees hired as school security officers. Provides that retired law-enforcement officers may be hired as local school board security personnel without interruption of their retirement benefits under certain conditions.

S.B. 1270 Marina operators; includes state & local agencies among those required to file lists of boat owners.

Patron: Ruff

Marina operators to file lists of boat owners. Includes state and local agencies among certain operators of marinas or boat storage places that must file with the commissioner of the revenue a list of boat owners and the name and number of the boats in the marina.

S.B. 1286 Taxation of solar energy equipment.

Patron: Deeds

Taxation of solar energy equipment. Exempts solar energy equipment facilities and devices from state and local taxation.

S.B. 1289 Entitlement to sales and use tax revenues; development of regional impact.

Patron: Carrico

Entitlement to sales and use tax revenues; development of regional impact. Adds the County of Washington as a locality entitled to retain certain sales and use taxes generated on the premises of a development of regional impact located in the County, to pay bonds issued for the development. The bill also eliminates the requirement that the locality have an unemployment rate at least three percentage points higher than the statewide average.

S.B. 1296 Unclaimed tax credits; report.

Patron: Stosch

Unclaimed tax credits; report. Declares a tax credit obsolete if it has not been claimed by any taxpayer during the preceding five calendar years, and prohibits the Department of Taxation from authorizing any taxpayer to claim a tax credit once it has been declared obsolete. The Department shall report annually to the House Committee on Appropriations, the House Committee on Finance, and the Senate Committee on Finance on credits that have been declared obsolete and shall post such report on its website.

S.B. 1302 Tax credit for employees who telework.

Patron: Stanley

Tax credit for employees who telework. Creates a $500 income tax credit for employees who telework a minimum of 20 hours per week during at least 45 weeks of the taxable year. The employee would apply for tax credit to the Department of Taxation. The Department would determine whether the applicant has met the statutory requirements for the tax credit and would issue tax credits to those employees meeting such requirements. Tax credits would be issued on a first-come, first-served basis. The Department would not be allowed to issue more than $2 million in tax credits in any fiscal year. Any unused credit would not be allowed to be carried forward or carried back against the individual's tax liability. The credit would be available for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2013, but before January 1, 2018.

S.B. 1306 Neighborhood Assistance Act tax credits; eligible neighborhood organizations.

Patron: Wagner

Neighborhood Assistance Act tax credits; eligible neighborhood organizations. Provides that, in order to be eligible for an allocation of credits under the Neighborhood Assistance Act tax credit program from the Department of Social Services, at least 40 percent of the neighborhood organization's revenues must be used to provide services to low-income persons.