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ACROSS SESSIONS
- Subject Index: Since 1995
- Bills & Resolutions: Since 1994
- Summaries: Since 1994
Developed and maintained by the Division of Legislative Automated Systems.
2020 SESSION
Chair: J. Chapman Petersen
Clerk: Patty Lung, Alec Fischbein
Staff: Scott Meacham, David Barry
Date of Meeting: January 28, 2020
Time and Place: 30 Min. after Adjournment - Senate Room A, Pocahontas Bldg.
Revised again to add SBs 311 & 669 back onto the docket
Patron: Locke
Tree conservation ordinance; Chesapeake Bay Preservation Act locality; designated trees. Adds "Chesapeake Bay watershed tree," as defined in the bill, to the types of tree that a locality with a tree conservation ordinance is authorized to designate individually for preservation. Current law allows individual designation of heritage, memorial, specimen, and street trees. The bill contains technical amendments.
Patron: Stanley
Breeding dogs or cats for experimentation; prohibition. Prohibits any person from breeding a dog or cat for the express purpose of producing offspring for participation in medical research or experimentation or for sale to a manufacturer or contract testing facility to conduct research using an animal test method.
Patron: Lewis
Virginia Community Flood Preparedness Fund; low-income loans; forgiveness of principal. Continues the Virginia Shoreline Resiliency Fund as the Virginia Community Flood Preparedness Fund for the purpose of creating a low-interest loan program to help inland and coastal communities that are subject to recurrent flooding. Moneys from the Fund may be used to mitigate future flood damage, with priority given to projects that implement community-scale mitigation activities or use nature-based solutions. Any locality using moneys from the Fund to provide loans may also forgive the principal of such loans, with the total amount of loans forgiven by all localities not to exceed 30 percent of the total amount appropriated to the Fund in that fiscal year.
Patron: Hashmi
Local impact from large landfills. Requires the Director of the Department of Environmental Quality to analyze and determine, in writing, what impacts to local water, soil, and air quality are expected from the construction and operation of a new municipal solid waste landfill that will accept 3,500 tons or more of municipal solid waste per day and to impose additional conditions or requirements, including facilities, maintenance, or operation or closure practices, as are necessary to adequately protect local water, soil, and air quality.
Patron: Reeves
Local hunting and firearm regulation. Prohibits any city or county east of the Interstate 95 corridor from prohibiting otherwise lawful hunting of migratory game birds in the jurisdictional waters of the Commonwealth and provides that no stake or stationary waterfowl blind that is erected in such public waters shall be located less than 150 yards from any occupied residence, church, or commercial building, unless the owner gives written permission to locate the blind or stake closer to the residence, church, or commercial building .
Patron: Deeds
Open-space and conservation easements; rule of construction. Provides that if language in an open-space or conservation easement acquired pursuant to state law is ambiguous, such language shall be construed against the grantor and in favor of the grantee.
Patron: Surovell
Aboveground storage tanks; Hazardous Substance Aboveground Storage Tank Fund; civil and criminal penalties. Directs the State Water Control Board to regulate aboveground storage tanks that measure more than 1,320 gallons in capacity and are used to contain hazardous substances other than oil. The bill directs the Board to adopt regulations that establish requirements for registration, certification, and inspection, and other requirements of tank owners, and that establish a schedule of fees. The bill authorizes the Board to undertake corrective action, or to require the owner to undertake corrective action, in the event of a discharge of a hazardous substance. The bill requires tank owners to register their tanks, pay certain registration fees, develop release response plans, upgrade certain older tanks, install containment infrastructure for certain aboveground storage tanks, notify certain parties in the event of a release of a regulated substance, and demonstrate their financial responsibility. The bill also creates the Hazardous Substance Aboveground Storage Tank Fund for the administration of the bill and provides for civil and criminal penalties for violations of requirements of the bill, with the moneys received to be deposited into the existing Virginia Environmental Emergency Response Fund.
Patron: Surovell
Tetrahydrocannabinol concentration; definition. Clarifies that "tetrahydrocannabinol concentration" refers to delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol and is determined using post-decarboxylation testing or other equivalent method. The bill contains an emergency clause.
EMERGENCY
Patron: Boysko
Animal testing; breeding. Prohibits any person from breeding a dog or cat for the express purpose of producing offspring for (i) use in research, experimentation, or testing that is not required pursuant to federal law or regulation or (ii) sale to a manufacturer, institution of higher learning, or contract testing facility outside the United States.
Patron: McPike
Rental or lease of dog or cat prohibited; civil penalty. Prohibits the rental or lease of a dog or cat to a consumer, including by a purported sale of the animal in a manner that vests no equity in the consumer at the time of the purported sale. The bill prohibits the sale of a dog or cat in which the animal is subject to repossession upon default of the agreement and prohibits any financial institution from offering a loan for which the animal is subject to repossession upon default of the loan. The bill provides that the Attorney General may bring a civil action to enforce the bill's provisions and that a violator may be subject to a civil penalty of not more than $2,500. A pet shop, commercial dog breeder, dealer, or other business that violates the provisions of the bill also may have its business license, retail license, or local pet shop permit suspended or revoked after a hearing by the issuing authority. The bill exempts certain animals from its prohibitions, including purebred dogs leased for breeding; dogs or cats used in spectator events, motion pictures, racing, or other entertainment; and service dogs, guide or leader dogs, security dogs, law-enforcement dogs, military working dogs, and certified facility dogs. The bill has a delayed effective date of January 1, 2021.
Patron: Reeves
Environmental proceedings; findings of fact. Directs the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) to give deference to findings of fact by a presiding officer explicitly based on the evidence presented in any formal proceeding. The bill directs DEQ to include in its case decision the factual and legal basis for any decision that rejects a recommendation from the hearing officer or presiding officer. The bill requires a court hearing any decision on review in which a hearing officer has made a recommendation to DEQ on a factual issue to defer to such recommendation. A violation on account of gross negligence is a Class 1 misdemeanor.
The bill also directs a court, hearing any decision on review for a formal proceeding initiated prior to July 1, 2020, in which DEQ rejected a recommendation from a hearing officer or presiding officer and for which a final adjudication has not been rendered, to remand the proceeding to establish the findings of fact by a presiding officer explicitly based on the evidence presented at the hearing and to establish the factual and legal basis for the decision prior to rendering such final adjudication.
Patron: Lewis
Wetlands protection; living shorelines. Requires the Virginia Marine Resources Commission to promulgate and periodically update minimum standards for the protection and conservation of wetlands and to approve only living shoreline approaches to shoreline stabilization where the best available science shows that such approaches are feasible.
Patron: Lewis
Marine Resources Commission; carbon market participation. Authorizes the Marine Resources Commission to participate in any carbon market for which submerged aquatic vegetation restoration qualifies as an activity that generates carbon offset credits and to enter into agreements necessary to effect such participation, including with private entities for assistance with registration and sale of offset credits. The bill requires any revenue resulting from the sale of such credits to be used to implement additional submerged aquatic vegetation monitoring, restoration, and research or to cover any administrative costs of participation in the credit market. The bill also requires the Commission to hold exclusive title to credits until sold.
Patron: Lewis
Animal shelters; housing conditions. Requires certain housing, space, and care conditions for an animal that is confined by the operator or custodian of a public or private animal shelter or releasing agency during an applicable stray hold period. The bill requires different conditions after such stray hold period ends, including requirements related to materials and construction of facilities, indoor and outdoor enclosures, and separation of certain animals. The bill also requires any regulation by the Board of Agriculture and Consumer Services that applies to an animal not subject to a stray hold period to not be so restrictive as to fail to allow for adequate care, exercise, and space, including meaningful indoor and outdoor enrichment for the animal.
Patron: Ruff
Industrial hemp; federal regulations; adoption in Virginia. Directs the Board of Agriculture and Consumer Services to conform the regulations of the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services to any federal regulation adopted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, immediately upon publication in the Federal Register, that materially expands opportunities for growing, producing, or dealing in industrial hemp in the Commonwealth. The bill exempts such regulatory amendments by the Board from the Administrative Process Act (§ 2.2-4000 et seq.). The bill contains an emergency clause.
EMERGENCY
Patron: Petersen
Stormwater and erosion and sediment control; acceptance of plans in lieu of plan review. Authorizes the State Water Control Board or the Department of Environmental Quality, in its administration of a Virginia Stormwater Management Program, Virginia Erosion and Stormwater Management Program, or Virginia Erosion and Sediment Control Program, to choose to accept a set of plans and supporting calculations for any land-disturbing activity determined to be de minimus using a risk-based approach established by the Board. The bill provides that such plans and supporting calculations shall satisfy the requirement that the Board or the Department retain a certified plan reviewer or conduct a plan review. The bill also directs the Board to adopt implementing regulations and provides requirements for the process of adoption.
Patron: Petersen
Virginia Urban Agriculture Advisory Council created; report. Creates the Virginia Urban Agriculture Advisory Council as an advisory council in the legislative branch of state government to encourage urban agriculture and contribute to building a local food economy. The bill has an expiration date of July 1, 2023.
Patron: Marsden
Industrial hemp extract; approval as food or ingredient; regulations; fund. Provides that an industrial hemp extract, as defined in the bill, is a food and is subject to applicable laws and regulations. The bill establishes (i) requirements for the production of an industrial hemp extract or a food containing an extract and (ii) conditions under which a manufacturer of such extract or food shall be considered an approved source. The bill authorizes the Board of Agriculture and Consumer Services to adopt regulations establishing contaminant tolerances, labeling requirements, and batch testing requirements, and it provides that moneys collected under the chapter shall be deposited in the Virginia Industrial Hemp Fund, created by the bill. The bill directs the Secretary of Agriculture and Forestry to report by November 1, 2020, a plan for the long-term sustainability of funding for the industrial hemp program.
Patron: Obenshain
Dairy Producer Margin Coverage Premium Assistance Program. Directs the Commissioner of Agriculture and Consumer Services to establish and administer the Dairy Producer Margin Coverage Premium Assistance Program (the Program). The bill provides that any dairy farmer that has a resource management plan or nutrient management plan and participates in the federal margin coverage program for dairy producers as contained in the federal Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 is eligible to participate in the Program. Under the bill, each year a Program participant will receive a refund of its annual premium payment paid into the federal program.
Patron: Stuart
Hunting waterfowl; duck blinds. Prohibits hunting or shooting migratory waterfowl in the public waters of the Commonwealth from a boat, float, raft, or other buoyant craft or device within 150 yards of a residence without the consent of the landowner, except when in active pursuit of a visibly crippled waterfowl that was legally shot by the person. The bill requires a person hunting waterfowl to also have a state and federal duck stamp prior to applying to license a stationary blind in public waters.
Patron: Spruill
Carbon trading program; allocation of allowances; new facility. Directs the Air Pollution Control Board (the Board) to allocate allowances for three years to any electric power generating facility that was permitted prior to the June 26, 2019, effective date of the Board's carbon trading regulations. The bill requires an accounting comparison to actual emissions at the end of the three-year period and the allocation of further allowances pursuant to Board regulations thereafter.
Patron: Reeves
Stormwater management; inspections. Directs the Water Control Board to adopt regulations that require that a long-term maintenance agreement for any best management practice that is a wet pond provide for inspections no more frequently than every five years.
Patron: Lewis
Clean Energy and Community Flood Preparedness Act; fund. Directs the Department of Environmental Quality to incorporate into regulations previously adopted by the State Air Pollution Control Board certain provisions establishing a carbon dioxide cap and trade program to reduce emissions released by electric generation facilities. Such provisions are required to comply with the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative model rule. The bill authorizes the Director of the Department of Environmental Quality to establish, implement, and manage an auction program to sell allowances into a market-based trading program. The bill requires revenues from the sale of carbon allowances, to the extent permitted by Article X, Section 7 of the Constitution of Virginia, to be deposited in an interest-bearing account and to be distributed without further appropriation (i) to the Virginia Community Flood Preparedness Fund; (ii) to the Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy for low-income energy efficiency programs; (iii) for administrative expenses; and (iv) for statewide climate change planning and mitigation activities. The bill continues the Virginia Shoreline Resiliency Fund as the Virginia Community Flood Preparedness Fund for the purpose of creating a low-interest loan program to help inland and coastal communities that are subject to recurrent or repetitive flooding.
Patron: McDougle
Tobacco Indemnification and Community Revitalization Fund; broadband. Authorizes the Tobacco Region Revitalization Commission to distribute funds from the Tobacco Indemnification and Community Revitalization Fund to tobacco-dependent communities in an equitable manner throughout the Middle Peninsula, Northern Neck, Southside, and Southwest regions of the Commonwealth in order to expand access to broadband Internet in those areas.
Patron: Stuart
Department of Environmental Quality; combined sewer overflow outfalls; James River watershed. Directs the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) to identify the owner of any combined sewer overflow (CSO) outfall east of Charlottesville that discharges into the James River watershed and to determine what actions by the owner are necessary to bring such an outfall into compliance with Virginia law, the federal Clean Water Act, and the Presumption Approach described in the CSO Control Policy of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The bill requires any owner of such an outfall to initiate construction activities by July 1, 2025, and bring it into compliance by July 1, 2027. Until compliance is achieved, the bill requires the outfall owner to annually report its progress to DEQ. The bill requires DEQ to provide all such reports to certain legislative committees, the Virginia delegation to the Chesapeake Bay Commission, the Secretary of Natural Resources, and the Governor. The bill does not apply to any outfall for which a higher level of control is necessary to comply with a total maximum daily load (TMDL).
Patron: McClellan
Department of Environmental Quality; public comment. Requires the Department of Environmental Quality to afford interested persons, for any nonemergency, nonexempt regulatory action, an opportunity, for at least 60 days, to (i) submit data, views, and arguments, either orally or in writing, to theDepartment and (ii) be accompanied by and represented by counsel or other representative.
Patron: Norment
Virginia Scenic Rivers System; Grays Creek.
Patron: Vogel
Surface mineral mines; local authority. Authorizes a locality to regulate certain aspects of surface mineral mines including (i) creating a reasonable buffer zone around any blasting area of any surface mineral mine adjacent to or within a reasonable distance of a school, park, or other public gathering space; (ii) approving the plan of operation and the bond requirements for a surface mining operation permit; and (iii) requiring a reasonable decrease in the approved height of a mine refuse pile, provided such decrease will not affect its safety or structural integrity.