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2017 SESSION

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Senate Committee on Local Government

Chairman: William M. Stanley, Jr.

Clerk: John Garrett, Alex Elwood
Staff: Jeffrey Sharp, David Barry
Date of Meeting: January 17, 2017
Time and Place: 1/2 Hour after Adjournment Senate Room B

S.B. 786

Patron: Hanger

Charter; Town of Grottoes. Authorizes the town council to appoint a member to the office of vice-mayor, to serve in the event of the mayor's absence or inability to act.

S.B. 802

Patron: Stanley

Special use permit; camping in tent or recreational vehicle. Prohibits any locality from barring or requiring a special use permit for camping by a landowner and his family or nonpaying guests in a tent or recreational vehicle on the landowner's property for a total of no more than two months per year.

S.B. 842

Patron: Lucas

Charter; City of Portsmouth. Repeals the Civil Service Commission established under the City of Portsmouth charter.

S.B. 901

Patron: Marsden

Park authority liability; immunity. Grants immunity from liability in any civil action to park authorities created pursuant to the Park Authorities Act (§ 15.2-5700 et seq.) for damages caused by ordinary negligence on the part of any officer or agent of such park authority in the maintenance or operation of any such park, recreational facility, or playground.

S.B. 919

Patron: Edwards

Removal of blight; building collapse; emergency. Authorizes localities to immediately remove, repair, or secure any building in the event that an emergency is deemed to exist, as certified in writing by the local building code official, without complying with prescribed notice requirements.

S.B. 926

Patron: Petersen

Noise violations; civil penalty. Allows localities to authorize the chief law-enforcement officer in the locality to enforce a uniform schedule of civil penalties for violation of that locality's noise ordinance.

S.B. 936

Patron: Favola

Constitutional officers; local leave benefits. Authorizes constitutional officers who have contracted with a county or city to be granted vacation and sick leave under the locality's benefits leave policy instead of the state required leave policy as long as the leave amounts are not less than the state required policy.

S.B. 964

Patron: Hanger

Running bamboo; cutting by localities; ordinance prohibiting spread; designation of certain plants as noxious weeds. Authorizes any locality to adopt ordinances requiring proper upkeep of running bamboo and prohibiting the spread of running bamboo from a landowner's property, with violations punishable by a civil penalty of $50. The bill includes running bamboo in the "other foreign growth" that current law allows localities to regulate and in some cases to cut. The bill also directs the Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) and the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (VDACS) to develop a model running bamboo ordinance and, with the Department of Forestry, to enter into a Memorandum of Understanding that clarifies the roles of the VDACS noxious weeds regulations and the work of the Virginia Invasive Species Working Group. Finally, the bill directs VDACS and DCR to examine the eligibility of certain plants for designation as noxious weeds.

S.B. 992

Patron: Dance

Charter; City of Hopewell; water renewal commission. Changes the membership of the Hopewell Water Renewal Commission (the Commission) from a total of eight members appointed by the city council, five of whom are nominees of five manufacturers, to an unspecified total, three of whom shall be a member of the city council, the city manager, and the city attorney, and the remainder of whom shall be appointed by the city council from nominees each submitted by a manufacturer who shall provide a capital contribution in an amount determined by the city council. The bill removes the city council's authority to provide for additional nominees to the Commission by manufacturers not involved in planning assistance and requires the Commission to assist in the maintenance and expansion of the city's regional wastewater treatment facility.

S.B. 1001

Patron: Locke

Fort Monroe Authority Board of Trustees; membership; terms. Adds three nonlegislative citizen members to the Fort Monroe Authority Board of Trustees, to be appointed by the Governor. The bill also (i) changes the Secretary of Commerce and Trade and the Secretary of Natural Resources from voting to nonvoting ex officio members, (ii) removes the Lieutenant Governor from membership, and (iii) re-staggers the terms of the eight nonlegislative citizen members appointed by the Governor to have four appointed in 2018 and four appointed in 2019.

S.B. 1073

Patron: Obenshain

Charter; Town of Bridgewater. Updates the town's charter and sets out various powers that are typically exercised by towns. The bill also shifts town elections from May to November and increases the term of the mayor from two to four years.

S.B. 1083

Patron: Wexton

Charter; Town of Herndon. Amends the town's boundary description.

S.B. 1084

Patron: Wexton

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

S.B. 1134

Patron: Mason

Charter; City of Williamsburg. Expands membership on the redevelopment and housing authority from five members to up to seven members, no more than five of whom shall be members of the city council.

S.B. 1135

Patron: Mason

Inoperable vehicles; James City County. Authorizes James City County to prohibit any person from keeping, unless shielded or screened from view, on any property zoned or used for residential purposes, or on any property zoned for commercial or agricultural purposes, any inoperable motor vehicle, trailer, or semitrailer.

S.B. 1225

Patron: Barker

Arts and cultural districts. Provides that arts and cultural districts may be created jointly by two or more localities.