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2018 SESSION

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Senate Committee on Finance

Co-Chair: Thomas K. Norment, Jr. - Co-Chair: Emmett W. Hanger, Jr.

Clerk: John Garrett
Staff: Lisa Wallmeyer
Date of Meeting: January 23, 2018
Time and Place: 9:00 AM Committee Room B Ground Floor Pocahontas Building

S.B. 120

Patron: Favola

Alcoholic beverage control; substance abuse prevention; Virginia Institutions of Higher Education Substance Use Advisory Committee established. Directs the Board of Directors of the Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control Authority (Board) to establish and appoint members to the Virginia Institutions of Higher Education Substance Use Advisory Committee (Advisory Committee). The bill provides that the goal of the Advisory Committee shall be to develop and update a statewide strategic plan for substance use education, prevention, and intervention at Virginia's public and private institutions of higher education. The bill provides that the Advisory Committee shall consist of representatives from Virginia's public and private institutions of higher education, including students and directors of student health, and such other members as the Board may deem appropriate.

S.B. 172

Patron: Stanley


Education Improvement Scholarships tax credits; pre-kindergarten eligibility. Expands the Education Improvement Scholarships tax credits program by including, as eligible scholarship recipients, children enrolled in or attending nonpublic pre-kindergarten programs. The maximum annual scholarship that a child admitted to, enrolled in, or attending a nonpublic pre-kindergarten program will receive is the lesser of the child's actual educational expenses or the state share of the grant per child under the Virginia Preschool Initiative for the locality in which the child resides.

Under current law, tax credits are awarded to individuals and businesses making donations to nonprofit scholarship foundations using the donated funds to award scholarships to certain students in grades K-12 attending nonpublic schools. Eligible scholarship recipients are students in grades K-12 with a finalized individualized education program (IEP) in place or whose annual household income is not in excess of 300 percent of the federal poverty guidelines.

The bill defines an eligible pre-kindergarten child and a nonpublic pre-kindergarten program and includes several other curriculum and administrative requirements that must be met by a nonpublic pre-kindergarten program in order for children attending the program to be eligible to receive scholarships under the tax credit program. Under the bill, VCPE or the Virginia Early Childhood Foundation will certify nonpublic pre-kindergarten programs meeting such curriculum and administrative requirements.

S.B. 192

Patron: Peake

Virginia Lottery; interception of lottery prizes. Requires that if the winner of a Virginia Lottery prize of $25,000 or greater has received cash assistance through the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program in the immediately preceding five years, the Department of Social Services shall be credited the amount of such assistance from the prize. The Department of Social Services shall use any such credited funds for programs aimed at assisting low-income Virginians in their efforts to become self-sufficient. The bill authorizes the Director of the Virginia Lottery to adopt rules or regulations to implement the provisions of the bill.

S.B. 230

Patron: Hanger

Commonwealth's tax code; conformity with federal law; emergency. Advances conformity of the Commonwealth's tax code with the federal tax code to December 1, 2017. The bill contains an emergency clause.

EMERGENCY

S.B. 255

Patron: Dance

License taxes; interest rate for certain refunds. Authorizes a locality to establish the interest rate for a tax refund due to a taxpayer's overstatement of gross receipts for purposes of determining the amount due for a business license tax at a rate lower than that required for interest on delinquent taxes. Current law requires that the interest rate for a refund of any local tax be at the same rate as set for interest on delinquent taxes.

S.B. 268

Patron: Dunnavant

Personal property tax; computer equipment and peripherals used in data centers. Creates a separate classification of tangible personal property, for valuation purposes, for computer equipment and peripherals used in a data center. The classification specifies that the computer equipment and peripherals shall be valued by means of a percentage or percentages of original cost.

S.B. 299

Patron: Norment

Department of Taxation; reports on sales and use tax exemptions. Requires the Department of Taxation (the Department) to report annually to the Chairmen of the House Committee on Appropriations and the House and Senate Committees on Finance regarding the fiscal, economic, and policy impact of each sales and use tax exemption. The review of each exemption shall be performed on a rotation basis. No exemption shall be reviewed more than once every five years, but the exemption for computer purchases for use in data centers shall be reviewed every three years. Taxpayers that purchase tax-exempt computer equipment or enabling software for use in a data center shall submit to the Department every three years a list of its exempt purchases, including purchase prices, made during the previous three taxable years.

S.B. 314

Patron: Ruff

Personal property tax; definition of agricultural products. Defines "agricultural products," for the purposes of the classification of tangible personal property for taxation, as any livestock, aquaculture, poultry, horticultural, floricultural, viticulture, silvicultural, or other farm crops.

S.B. 462

Patron: Reeves

Members of the Virginia National Guard; education grants. Provides that certain members of the Virginia National Guard who are enrolled at an accredited proprietary private institution of higher education are eligible to receive education grants. Under current law, only members who are enrolled at public institutions of higher education or accredited nonprofit private institutions of higher education are eligible for grants. The bill also provides that the cost of textbooks will be included in the calculation of the grant amount. The bill clarifies that the eligibility requirement of a two-year remaining obligation is from the last day of the semester or term for which the grant is awarded.

S.B. 495

Patron: Carrico

Deputy Sheriff Supplemental Salary Fund; creation and revenue source. Creates the Deputy Sheriff Supplemental Salary Fund to provide funds for qualified localities to supplement the salaries of deputy sheriffs. Twenty percent of local fines generated by a local sheriff's office would be transferred by the circuit court clerk to the Fund to pay for such supplements.

S.B. 518

Patron: Mason

Neighborhood assistance tax credits. Reduces the amount of the neighborhood assistance tax credit from 65 percent to 50 percent of the value of donations to neighborhood organizations. The reduction will be phased in over a three-year period.

S.B. 539

Patron: Hanger


Child day programs; exemptions from licensure. Removes certain programs from the list of child day programs exempt from licensure and clarifies that such programs are not considered child day programs and therefore are not subject to licensure. The bill also modifies the terms of certain child day programs that remain listed as exempt from licensure and requires that such programs (i) file with the Commissioner of Social Services (the Commissioner), prior to beginning operation of a child day program and annually thereafter, a statement indicating the intent to operate a child day program, identifying the Code provision relied upon for exemption from licensure, and certifying that the child day program has disclosed to the parents of children in the program the fact that it is exempt from licensure; (ii) report to the Commissioner all incidents involving serious injury or death to children attending the child day program; (iii) have a person trained and certified in first aid and cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) present at the child day program; (iv) comply with background check requirements established by regulations of the Board of Social Services (the Board); (v) maintain daily attendance records; (vi) have an emergency preparedness plan in place; (vii) comply with all applicable laws and regulations governing transportation of children; (viii) comply with certain safe sleep practices for infants; and (ix) post in a visible location notice that the program is not licensed by the Department of Social Services and only certifies basic health and safety requirements. The bill exempts from licensure any program offered by a local school division, operated for no more than four hours per day, staffed by local school division employees, and attended by school-age children who are enrolled in public school within such school division. The bill also modifies staffing ratios for religious-exempt child day centers. The bill directs (a) the Board to promulgate regulations to implement the provisions of the bill and (b) the Commissioner to establish a process to inspect child day programs exempt from licensure and a process to gather and track aggregate data regarding child injuries and deaths that occur at such child day programs. The bill has a delayed effective date of July 1, 2019.

S.B. 547

Patrons: Hanger, Deeds

Transient occupancy tax; eligible historic lodging properties. Authorizes a qualified county to impose, after holding a public hearing, an additional transient occupancy tax not to exceed five percent of the amount of the charge for the occupancy of any room or space occupied at eligible historic lodging properties. An eligible historic lodging property is defined as a structure that (i) contains 450 or more rooms for overnight lodging, (ii) is located on land exceeding 700 acres, and (iii) at least a portion of which was built prior to 1930. A qualified county is one in which at least 40 percent of employment is in accommodations and food services. Any revenue generated by the tax would be used by the local government to incentivize other entities to invest in substantial rehabilitation, renovation, and expansion projects at eligible historic lodging properties.

S.B. 553

Patron: Dunnavant

Education improvement scholarships tax credits; eligibility; payout penalty. Expands the education improvement scholarships tax credits program by including as eligible scholarship recipients children who are eligible to enter pre-kindergarten. In addition, the bill reduces the penalty for failure to fully disburse all donations received from 200 percent of the difference between 90 percent of the value of the donations it received and the amount disbursed to 100 percent of the difference. Under current law, foundations must spend at least 90 percent of donations on scholarships in order to avoid the penalty.

S.B. 570

Patron: DeSteph

Eligibility for in-state tuition charges; members of the Virginia National Guard. Declares eligible for in-state tuition charges any member of the Virginia National Guard, regardless of the active status or domicile of such individual. The bill contains technical amendments.

S.B. 579

Patron: DeSteph

Tax credits related to education; aggregate cap. Allocates 20 percent of any unissued credits in a fiscal year under the Education Improvement Scholarships tax credit program to the Superintendent of Public Instruction to be allocated to education programs under the Neighborhood Assistance Act (§ 58.1-439.18 et seq.) tax credit program during the next fiscal year. The 20 percent of unissued credits would be added to the current $9 million cap for education programs under the Neighborhood Assistance Act tax credit program.

S.B. 687

Patron: Deeds

Motor vehicle sales and use tax; minimum tax. Lowers the minimum sales and use tax on the sale of a motor vehicle in the Commonwealth from $75 to $35.

S.B. 746

Patron: Sturtevant

Accelerated sales and use tax payments. Prohibits any requirement that a dealer remit accelerated sales and use tax payments, except as provided in a general appropriation act under the following circumstances: (i) if payments are required for dealers with sales of $15 million or less, such threshold may only be reduced by 10 percent the next year; (ii) if the Department of Taxation fails to notify dealers that accelerated payments are due at least nine months in advance, no penalty or interest may be assessed for late payments; and (iii) no penalty or interest may be assessed on a dealer subject to an accelerated payment due to a lowered threshold in the calendar year. If such accelerated payment is required in an appropriation act, a dealer may only be required to pay 90 percent of the dealer's sales and use tax liability for the previous June. The Department shall provide an online application for a dealer to apply for a hardship waiver. The bill prohibits requiring accelerated payments after June 30, 2020.

S.B. 818

Patron: Hanger

Transient occupancy tax; Rockingham County. Adds Rockingham County to the list of counties that may impose a transient occupancy tax at a rate not to exceed 5%. The revenue attributable to a rate in excess of 2% shall be used solely for tourism and travel purposes. All counties may impose a transient occupancy tax at a rate not to exceed 2%.

S.B. 822

Patron: Edwards

Collection of delinquent amounts due locality. Amends provisions that currently allow the treasurer in any locality to employ the services of private collection agents to assist with the collection of delinquent local taxes by also including "other charges." The bill also changes from six months to three months the period for which certain taxes or other charges must be delinquent prior to certain collection efforts.

S.B. 869

Patron: DeSteph

Education Improvement Scholarships tax credits; benefits and eligibility requirements for students with a disability. Broadens eligibility criteria for students with a disability to include students with an Individualized Instructional Plan (IIP) attending a school for students with a disability licensed by the Department of Education and accredited by an agency approved by Virginia Council of Private Education. Under current law, only students who have obtained an Individualized Educational Plan (IEP) pursuant to the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) may meet the criteria for the Education Improvement Scholarships tax credits program. The remaining criteria for students with a disability (residence in Virginia and family household income not more than 400 percent of the poverty level) would continue to apply regardless of whether the student had an IIP or an IEP.

The bill increases the scholarship amount available for an eligible student with a disability from 100 percent to 300 percent of the per-pupil amount distributed to the local school division as the state's share of the standards of quality costs.

S.B. 879

Patron: Chafin

Intangible personal property; personal property used in manufacturing. Clarifies that personal property used directly in manufacturing in the locality in which the tax is assessed is classified as intangible personal property. Current law does not require that the property be used directly in manufacturing in order to be considered intangible, nor does it require that the property be in the locality in which manufacturing actually occurs.