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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: February 4, 2020
Time and Place: 30 Min. after Adjournment - Senate Room A, Pocahontas Bldg.
Patron: DeSteph
Management of the menhaden fishery. Requires the Virginia Marine Resources Commission (the Commission) to adopt regulations to implement the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission's Interstate Fishery Management Plan for Atlantic Menhaden and authorizes the Commission to adopt regulations for managing the Commonwealth's menhaden fishery. The bill also requires that any moratorium on the fishery be subject to legislative review. The bill repeals several Code sections relating to quotas, allocation of allowable landings, and administrative procedures that will be included in a regulatory framework for managing the fishery.
Patron: DeSteph
Menhaden fishing in Chesapeake Bay prohibited. Prohibits catching menhaden with purse nets in the territorial waters of the Commonwealth lying west or within three miles of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel.
Patron: Cosgrove
Management of the menhaden fishery. Requires the Virginia Marine Resources Commission (the Commission) to adopt regulations to implement the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission's Interstate Fishery Management Plan for Atlantic Menhaden and authorizes the Commission to adopt regulations for managing the Commonwealth's menhaden fishery. The bill also requires that any moratorium on the fishery be subject to legislative review. The bill repeals several Code sections relating to quotas, allocation of allowable landings, and administrative procedures that will be included in a regulatory framework for managing the fishery.
Patron: DeSteph
Harvest of menhaden after closure of fishery; penalty. Increases from a Class 1 misdemeanor to a Class 6 felony the penalty for harvesting menhaden for bait or reduction purposes after the portion of the total allowable landings for the sector in which that person holds a license has been closed.
Patron: Bell
Tethering animals; adequate shelter and space. Provides that outdoor tethering of an animal does not meet the requirement that an animal be given adequate shelter if it occurs (i) between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m., except when the animal is engaged in conduct related to an agricultural activity; (ii) when no owner is on the property; (iii) when the temperature is 32 degrees Fahrenheit or lower, or 85 degrees Fahrenheit or higher; (iv) during a heat advisory; or (v) during a severe weather warning. The bill increases certain minimum tether length requirements to meet the requirement that an animal be given adequate space by requiring that a tether be at least 15 feet in length or four times the length of the animal, whichever is greater. Current law requires the tether to be at least 10 feet in length or three times the length of the animal, whichever is greater. The bill also authorizes the governing body of any locality to adopt, and make more stringent, ordinances that parallel certain state provisions related to care of companion animals.
Patron: Stanley
Animal shelter euthanasia rate. Requires any public or private animal shelter or releasing agency to report on an annual basis the euthanasia rate for animals at such shelter or agency to the State Veterinarian. The bill requires the State Veterinarian to notify the Board of Pharmacy of any such shelter that has a euthanasia rate greater than 50 percent and prohibits the Board of Pharmacy from registering any such shelter to purchase, possess, or administer certain euthanasia drugs.
Patron: Stanley
Public animal shelters; notice to euthanize. Requires a public animal shelter to wait three days before euthanizing a dog or cat when a person has notified the shelter of his intent to adopt or take custody of the animal. The shelter must make reasonable efforts to accomplish the release of the animal but is not required hold the animal if it has reason to believe that the animal has seriously injured a human or the animal meets certain other specified conditions for euthanasia.
Patron: Stuart
Animal Cruelty Conviction List established. Requires the Superintendent of State Police to establish and maintain by January 1, 2023 an Animal Cruelty Conviction List that shall be available to the public on the website of the Department of State Police. The list shall include the names of persons convicted of certain felony animal cruelty offenses on or after July 1, 2020. The bill requires persons convicted of any such offense to pay a fee of $50 per conviction to fund the maintenance of the list. The bill requires the State Police to remove a person from the list 15 years after his information is listed if he has no additional felony conviction of a relevant animal cruelty offense.
Patron: Cosgrove
Management of the menhaden fishery. Directs the Virginia Marine Resources Commission to adopt regulations to implement the Interstate Fishery Management Plan for Atlantic Menhaden and requires that any moratorium on the fishery be subject to legislative review.
Patron: Hashmi
Menhaden fishery; allowable harvest; violation. Directs the Virginia Marine Resources Commission (VMRC) to adopt regulations to implement the Interstate Fishery Management Plan for Atlantic Menhaden. The bill directs the Commissioner of VMRC (the Commissioner) to annually set total allowable landings for menhaden in accordance with the Virginia allocation of the total allowable catch as determined by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission. The bill also directs the Commissioner to revoke the license of any person who violates their allowable harvest limit. The bill contains technical amendments.
Patron: Reeves
Milk; definition; misbranding; prohibition. Defines milk as the lacteal secretion of a healthy hooved mammal and provides that a food product is unlawfully misbranded if its label states that it is milk and it fails to meet such definition, except for human breast milk. The bill directs the Board of Agriculture and Consumer Services to implement a plan to ban all products misbranded as milk.
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: Mason
Marine Resources Commission permit fees; pier application; oyster fund. Requires the submission of an application to the Marine Resources Commission for review and processing prior to the construction of a private pier by an owner of riparian land. The bill creates a nonrefundable processing fee of $100 to accompany each such application and each application submitted to the Commission for a permit to use state-owned submerged lands. The bill increases permit fees for the use of such bottomlands from $25 to $100 for projects costing no more than $10,000 and from $100 to $300 for projects costing more than $10,000 but, under the bill, no more than $500,000 and imposes a fee of $600 for a new category of projects costing more than $500,000. The bill increases the range of royalties for the removal of bottom material from $0.20-$0.60 per cubic yard to $0.40-$0.80. The bill authorizes the Commission to increase or decrease fees every three years for certain marine habitat applications, permits, leases, rents, and royalties at a rate no greater than the change in the Consumer Price Index. Finally, the bill establishes the Oyster Leasing, Conservation, and Repletion Programs Fund for the purpose of administering the Commission's oyster ground leasing program and its oyster conservation and repletion program.
Patron: Mason
Chesapeake Bay Watershed Implementation Plan initiatives; nutrient management plans; livestock stream exclusion. Requires any operator of at least 50 acres of cropland in the Chesapeake Bay watershed to submit a nutrient management plan for such cropland by July 1, 2026, to the Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR). DCR shall review such plans and provide technical assistance, and the operator shall have an affirmative defense if he has applied for cost-share funding and is waiting to receive such funds.
The bill requires any person who owns 20 or more bovines in the watershed, beginning July 1, 2026, to install stream exclusion practices that satisfy regulations adopted by the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ). The person shall have an affirmative defense if he has applied for cost-share funding and is waiting to receive such funds, or if his installed stream exclusion practices were damaged or destroyed.
The bill authorizes DCR and DEQ to adopt regulations to carry out its provisions. The bill provides that if the Secretary of Natural Resources determines that sufficient numbers of stream exclusion practices or nutrient management plans have been put in place to satisfy the Commonwealth's commitments in the Chesapeake Bay Total Maximum Daily Load Phase III Watershed Implementation Plan, he shall, on or before December 31, 2025, recommend that all or part of the bill be repealed.
Patron: Hanger
Nutrient and sediment credit generation and transfer; limit certain transfers to private sector. Limits certain transfers of nonpoint nutrient credits to those credits generated by the private sector. The bill provides that while any locality may, without the involvement of a third party, generate its own nutrient or sediment credits and request that such credits be certified by the Department of Environmental Quality, such certifications shall only be used for the purpose of determining whether the project complies with credit generation requirements.
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
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
Management of the menhaden fishery. Requires the Virginia Marine Resources Commission to adopt regulations necessary to manage Atlantic menhaden, including those necessary to comply with the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission Interstate Fishery Management Plan for Atlantic Menhaden. The bill repeals several Code sections relating to quotas, allocation of allowable landings, and administrative procedures that will be included in a regulatory framework for managing the fishery.
Patron: Marsden
Animal welfare regulations; keeping of dogs, cats, and rabbits; Animal Welfare Inspector. Directs the Board of Agriculture and Consumer Services to adopt comprehensive regulations governing (i) the keeping of dogs, cats, and rabbits by any commercial dog breeder, dealer, pet shop, or private or public animal shelter and (ii) the keeping of companion animals by zoos. The regulations are to require an annual $25 registration by every regulated person or facility and may establish standards that apply only to a particular category of regulated entity. The bill creates the position of State Animal Welfare Inspector as an employee of the Commissioner of Agriculture and Consumer Services and directs the Inspector or a representative to conduct two annual inspections of each regulated facility. Finally, the bill directs the State Veterinarian to convene a technical advisory committee that includes representatives of potentially affected breeders, dealers, pet shops, shelters, agencies, zoos, veterinarians, and others, as well as representatives of the Office of the Attorney General, to assist in the development of regulations and guidance required by the bill.
Patron: Marsden
Wildlife Corridor Action Plan; road construction projects. Directs the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, in collaboration with the Department of Transportation and the Department of Conservation and Recreation, to create a Wildlife Corridor Action Plan (the Plan). The Plan shall identify wildlife corridors, defined as areas connecting fragmented wildlife habitats that are separated by human activities or infrastructure, and recommend wildlife crossing projects intended to promote driver safety and wildlife connectivity. The bill requires the Plan to be submitted to the Chairs of the House Committee on Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources and the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources by September 1, 2022, and every four years thereafter. The bill also provides that the Department of Transportation shall (i) include the impact on any wildlife corridor identified in the Plan in any environmental impact report for a highway construction project and (ii) consider measures for the mitigation of harm caused to wildlife by a highway in the design options for the construction of such highway.
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: Spruill
Dangerous captive animal exhibits; penalty. Prohibits a keeper of dangerous captive animals, defined in the bill, from providing or offering to provide to any individual, for free or for a cost, direct contact with such dangerous captive animal. The bill provides that a violation is a Class 3 misdemeanor and that the keeper is subject to a fine of not more than $500.
Patron: Stuart
Management of the menhaden fishery. Requires the Virginia Marine Resources Commission to adopt regulations necessary to manage Atlantic menhaden, including those necessary to comply with the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission Interstate Fishery Management Plan for Atlantic Menhaden. The bill repeals several provisions relating to quotas, allocation of allowable landings, and administrative procedures that will be included in a regulatory framework for managing the fishery. The bill also provides that for the 2020 harvest season, the total allowable landings for menhaden shall be 168,213.16 metric tons, and the annual menhaden harvest cap for the purse seine fishery for Atlantic menhaden in the Chesapeake Bay shall be 51,000 metric tons.
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: Kiggans
Regulation of stormwater; airports. Provides that localities shall provide for full waivers of certain stormwater charges for public use airport runways and taxiways.
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.