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2016 SESSION

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Senate Committee on Local Government

Chairman: William M. Stanley, Jr.

Date of Meeting: January 19, 2016
Time and Place: 1/2 Hour After Adjournment, Senate Room B, General Assembly Bldg.

S.B. 15

Patron: Garrett

Local economic development. Provides that the Virginia income tax net revenue and sales and use tax generated by certain corporations or limited liability companies within a qualified locality be transferred to the qualified locality under certain conditions. A qualified locality is one that (i) has made application to the Virginia Economic Development Partnership Authority for a Major Employment and Investment Project Site Planning Grant and has been rejected for such grant and (ii) has expended local funds for the economic development purposes specified in the requirements for such grant provided by statute and in guidelines of the Authority. The bill provides that the total amount eligible to be returned to a qualified locality shall not exceed $5 million for any single economic development project.

S.B. 55

Patron: Locke

Distribution of disposable plastic shopping bags prohibited; local option. Allows any locality by ordinance to prohibit the distribution, sale, or offer of disposable plastic shopping bags to consumers. The bill exempts from any such prohibition reusable bags of a certain thickness; bags that are used to carry certain products, such as ice cream or newspapers; and garbage bags that are sold in multiples.

S.B. 56

Patron: Locke

Cutting of grass, weeds, and other foreign growth. Provides that in local grass cutting ordinances as applied to vacant developed property, foreign growth includes overgrown shrubs and trees.

S.B. 78

Patron: Wexton

Boundary agreement between Loudoun County and any town within Loudoun County; attachment of GIS map to petitions. Allows Loudoun County and any town located within Loudoun County, in adopting a voluntary boundary agreement, to attach to their petitions to the circuit court a Geographic Information System (GIS) map depicting the boundary change. Under current law, such use of a GIS map is permitted only regarding the boundary between the Counties of Louisa and Goochland. The bill contains a technical amendment.

S.B. 79

Patron: Wexton

Fire or rescue volunteers; mental health treatment; funding by locality. Allows any locality to fund the cost of participation in mental health treatment and counseling programs by a member of a volunteer fire or rescue company. A mental health program in which such volunteers are eligible to participate must be comparable to an employee assistance program offered to paid employees of the locality.

S.B. 80

Patron: Wexton

Tree conservation; local ordinances. Authorizes any locality in Planning District 8 to adopt certain ordinances providing for the conservation of trees during the land development process. Currently, only a locality in Planning District 8 that meets certain population density criteria and is classified as an eight-hour nonattainment area for ozone under the federal Clean Air Act is authorized to adopt such ordinances.

S.B. 103

Patron: Dance

Charter; City of Hopewell; passage of emergency measures; Hopewell Water Renewal Commission. Raises from four to five the number of city council member votes required to pass an emergency measure and changes the name of the Hopewell Regional Wastewater Treatment Facility Commission to the Hopewell Water Renewal Commission. The bill also raises from three to four the number of council member votes required for final passage of an ordinance and raises from four to five the number of council member votes required to dispense with the reading of an ordinance.

S.B. 122

Patron: Carrico

Charter; Town of Damascus. Shifts the town's municipal elections from May to November.

S.B. 134

Patron: Favola

Fire or rescue volunteers; mental health treatment; funding by locality. Allows any locality to fund the cost of participation in mental health treatment and counseling programs by a member of a volunteer fire or rescue company. A mental health program in which such volunteers are eligible to participate must be comparable to an employee assistance program offered to paid employees of the locality.

S.B. 153

Patron: Reeves

Taxes for certain local improvements; Orange County. Adds Orange County to those localities with authority to impose taxes or assessments upon the abutting property owners for the initial improving and paving of an existing street provided not less than 50 percent of such abutting property owners who own not less than 50 percent of the property abutting such street request the improvement or paving. The law provides that the taxes or assessments permitted shall not be in excess of the peculiar benefits resulting from the improvements to such abutting property owners.

S.B. 266

Patron: Dance

Sheriffs; standard vehicle markings. Allows sheriffs' offices to use marked motor vehicles painted in any solid color. Current law requires the sheriff to obtain the concurrence of the local governing body to use any color other than dark brown.

S.B. 280

Patron: Wexton

Charter; Town of Herndon. Amends the town's boundary description to reflect a recent boundary line adjustment.

S.B. 281

Patron: Wexton

Charter; Town of Herndon. Removes the authority of the mayor to take command of the police during emergencies and deputize assistant policemen to maintain order and enforce laws during such emergency.

S.B. 361

Patron: Favola

Tree conservation ordinance. Provides that the ordinance may allow a locality to post signs on private property that is proposed to be redeveloped with a single family home that notifies the public that an infill lot grading plan is pending for review before the governing body.

S.B. 407

Patron: Wexton

Onsite sewage systems; civil penalties. Provides that any locality that has a record of the location of conventional onsite sewage systems and alternative discharging systems and that meet certain other criteria may adopt an ordinance establishing a uniform schedule of civil penalties for violations of specified provisions for the operation and maintenance of such systems. Currently, the provisions apply only to alternative onsite sewage systems.

S.B. 408

Patron: Vogel

Unclaimed property; payment of property of deceased owner. Provides a means for the State Treasurer to pay unclaimed property of a deceased owner to a claimant who provides certain evidence of his entitlement to payment, including (i) a certificate of qualification as the executor or an order of appointment as the administrator or personal representative of the decedent's estate; (ii) an affidavit authorizing the claimant to be the designated successor under the Small Estate Act that names the claimant as the designated successor; or (iii) the order of distribution or the final accounting for a closed estate that reflects payment is due in whole or in part to the claimant. If no such evidence is available and the owner of the property died at least one year prior to the filing of the claim and the amount claimed is $15,000 or less, the claimant may submit an affidavit stating his claim to the property, and the State Treasurer may approve and pay such claim at his discretion.

S.B. 451

Patron: Obenshain

Charter; Town of Dayton. Removes an outdated reference to a council composed of seven members. The town's charter was amended in 2011 to reduce the size of the council from seven to six members. The bill contains an emergency clause.

EMERGENCY

S.B. 481

Patron: Ebbin

Vacant building registration. Requires either that a vacant building be vacant for 12 months or that it meet the definition of "derelict building" under § 15.2-907.1 before cities and certain towns may require the building's owner to register it and pay an annual registration fee. Current law requires that such a building comply with both the vacancy period and the definition of "derelict building."