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2013 SESSION

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Senate Committee on General Laws and Technology

Chairman: Frank M. Ruff, Jr.

Clerk: Michael Adams, Jocelyn Lance
Staff: Amigo Wade
Date of Meeting: February 18, 2013
Time and Place: Monday, 45 minutes after Senate adjourns, Senate Rm A, GAB

H.B. 1363 Private security services businesses; exempts certain employees and representatives from training.

Patron: Fariss

Private security services businesses; exemption. Exempts employees and sales representatives of an electronic security equipment retailer where they (i) sell the equipment at a store location, online, or by telephone, but not at the end user's premises; (ii) are not electronic security technicians; and (iii) do not have access to end user confidential information regarding the end user's electronic security equipment.

H.B. 1615 Virginia Residential Property Disclosure Act; disclosure of methamphetamine laboratory.

Patron: Gilbert

Virginia Residential Property Disclosure Act; disclosure of methamphetamine laboratory. Requires the owner of residential property or a landlord of residential dwelling unit who has actual knowledge that the residential property was previously used to manufacture methamphetamine and has not been cleaned up in accordance with the Department of Health guidelines, to provide a written disclosure when selling or renting the property. The bill gives a tenant certain remedies if such disclosure is not provided when required.The bill contains a technical amendment and has a delayed effective date of July 1, 2014.

H.B. 1639 Virginia Freedom of Information Act; exempts correspondence of members of General Assembly & aides.

Patron: Greason

Virginia Freedom of Information Act; correspondence of legislative aides exempt. Clarifies by defining "member of the General Assembly"  that the working papers and correspondence of the legislative aides of members of the General Assembly are not subject to the mandatory disclosure provisions of FOIA when the aides are working on behalf of the member.

H.B. 1823 Public procurement; posting by local public bodies of procurement opportunities.

Patron: Villanueva

Public procurement; posting by local public bodies of procurement opportunities. Requires local public bodies to post required certain procurement notices on the Department of General Services' central electronic procurement website and makes newspaper publication or posting on other appropriate websites optional. Currently, only state public bodies are required to post procurement notices on the Department of General Services' central electronic procurement website. The bill provides, however, that no local public body shall be required to post on the Department of General Services' central electronic procurement website for reverse auctioning for goods and nonprofessional services if (i) the amount of such contract is expected to exceed $100,000 and (ii) the local public body has a website for the posting of such notices and provides the website address to the Department of General Services for posting on its central electronic procurement website. The bill also requires the Department of General Services to (a) provide an electronic data file of the using agency's business opportunities at no charge to any requesting newspaper or other print publication with circulation in Virginia using the comma-separated values (CSV) format and (b) send the data file automatically via electronic mail on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis as agreed to by the parties. The bill specifies the information to be included in the data file.

H.B. 1890 General Services, Department of; public access to standard vendor accounting information.

Patron: LeMunyon

Department of General Services; standard vendor accounting information. Requires the Division of Purchases and Supply of the Department of General Services and the State Comptroller to adhere to the adopted data standards and match all purchases of goods, commodities, and other services to the related payment activity and make the matched information available on the Commonwealth Data Point pursuant to subdivision H 3 a of § 30-133. The bill requires that this information be available at a transactional level and be in sufficient detail to make clear what an agency has purchased, when the purchase was made, the vendor from whom the purchase is made, the amount purchased, if applicable, and how much was paid. The bill further requires that by July 15, 2013, the Governor must direct the Division and State Comptroller to take the steps necessary to modify their systems to accomplish the requirements of the bill.

H.B. 1994 Virginia Public Procurement Act; contract pricing arrangements.

Patron: Massie

Virginia Public Procurement Act; contract pricing arrangements. Provides that the award of a public contract may be made on the basis of cost plus a percentage of the private investment made by a private entity in cases of the procurement of commercial or financial consulting services related to a qualifying transportation facility under the Public-Private Transportation Act or a qualifying project under the Public-Private Education Facilities and Infrastructure Act, where the commercial or financial consulting services are sought to solicit or to solicit and evaluate proposals for the qualifying transportation facility or the qualifying project. The bill defines "private entity," "qualifying transportation facility," and "qualifying project."

H.B. 2005 Virginia Housing Partnership Revolving Fund; renamed Virginia Housing Trust Fund.

Patron: Lopez

Virginia Housing Partnership Revolving Fund. Renames the Virginia Housing Partnership Revolving Fund to the Virginia Housing Trust Fund and codifies language in the latest appropriations act in which $7 million was appropriated to the Fund. The bill provides that The Department of Housing and Community Development shall (i) work in collaboration with the Virginia Housing Development Authority (HDA) to provide loan origination and servicing activities as needed to carry out the purposes of the Fund, with the costs of such services to be considered an eligible use of the Fund; and (ii) use, through HDA, at least 80 percent of the moneys from the Fund to provide flexible financing for low-interest loans through eligible organizations. Such loans shall be structured to maximize leveraging opportunities. All such funds shall be repaid to the credit of the Fund. Loans may be provided for (a) affordable rental housing to include new construction, rehabilitation, repair, or acquisition of housing to assist low or moderate income citizens, including land and land improvements; (b) down payment and closing cost assistance for homebuyers; and (c) short-term, medium-term, and long-term loans to reduce the cost of homeownership and rental housing. The bill also allows the Department to use up to 20 percent of the moneys from the Fund to provide grants through eligible organizations for targeted efforts to reduce homelessness, including (1) temporary rental assistance, not to exceed one year; (2) housing stabilization services in permanent supportive housing for homeless individuals and homeless families; (3) mortgage foreclosure counseling targeted at localities with the highest incidence of foreclosure activity; and (4) predevelopment assistance for permanent supportive housing and other long-term housing option for the homeless. The bill contains technical amendments.

H.B. 2038 Fort Monroe Authority; payments in lieu of real property taxes.

Patron: Jones

Fess in lieu of real property taxes; Fort Monroe. Modifies the method of determining the amount of fees in lieu of real property taxes owed by the Fort Monroe Authority by ensuring that properties at Fort Monroe that would be taxed by the City of Hampton if privately held will be charged a fee in lieu of taxes, but that properties at Fort Monroe that would not be taxed by the City if privately held will be exempt from the fee. The bill also permits the Fort Monroe Authority to appeal the assessed value of its property used in calculating the fee.

H.B. 2073 Real estate brokers and salespersons; liability of false advertising and false information.

Patron: Yancey

Liability of real estate brokers and salespersons; false advertising and false information. Clarifies that a licensed real estate broker or salesperson shall not be liable for providing false information under certain circumstances, which includes any civil action or regulatory action brought under the real estate licensing laws. The bill specifies that its provisions shall apply unless the licensee has been convicted of a violation of § 18.2-216 and the plaintiff suffered a loss as provided in § 59.1-68.3.

H.B. 2079 VA Public Procurement Act; process for competitive sealed bidding and negotiation.

Patron: Jones

Virginia Public Procurement Act; methods of procurement. Reorganizes the definitions of competitive sealed bidding and competitive negotiation. The bill also adds a definition of job order contracting.

H.B. 2128 Virginia Public Procurement Act; small procurements.

Patron: Byron

Virginia Public Procurement Act; small procurements; localities. Provides that local public bodies are not required to post on the Department of General Services' central electronic procurement website for small purchase procurements.

H.B. 2178 Charitable gaming; authorizes network bingo.

Patron: Albo

Charitable gaming; network bingo. Authorizes the conduct of a new charitable game known as network bingo. The bill sets out the terms and conditions under which network bingo may be conducted, provides for the licensing of network bingo providers, and sets the maximum prize amount for network bingo. The bill defines the terms "network bingo," "pari-mutuel play," and "network bingo provider." With the exception of the provision requiring the Board of Charitable Gaming to establish regulations, the bill has a delayed effective date of January 1, 2014. The bill also contains technical amendments.

H.B. 2280 Virginia Freedom of Information Act; exempts records of disaster preparedness plans and policies.

Patron: Ward

Virginia Freedom of Information Act; exempt records; disaster preparedness plans. Expands the exemption from mandatory disclosure for plans to prevent or respond to terrorist activity to include the same for disasters, including records that reveal disaster preparedness plans and policies required by law or regulation.

H.B. 2295 Intergovernmental Affairs, Office of; duties of Assistant to Governor.

Patron: Landes

Office of Intergovernmental Affairs; duties of the Assistant to the Governor. Provides for the Assistant to the Governor for Intergovernmental Affairs to convene at least annually a meeting of the Virginia Congressional Delegation and a delegation representing the General Assembly.

H.B. 2302 Electronic security sales representatives; shall possess valid registration issued by DCJS.

Patron: Cosgrove

Department of Criminal Justice Services; electronic security sales representatives. Provides that an electronic security sales representative shall possess a valid registration issued by the Department before selling or offering for sale any electronic security equipment in the Commonwealth.