Local issues abound at crossover; adjournment slated Feb. 24

A number of important issues of interest to local governments remained unresolved as the General Assembly moved past the halfway point of the 2007 session. Crossover day – the date by which each chamber must act on its own legislation – was Tuesday, Feb. 6. Some of the outstanding issues of most interest to local governments are included in this issue of the Legislative Bulletin. With adjournment slated for Feb. 24, local officials are encouraged to carefully review this bulletin and contact legislators to express your positions. All House members. All Senate members.

House, Senate pass eminent domain measures

The House passed HJ 723 (Bell), which amends the constitution by imposing severe restrictions on eminent domain authority. The vote was 67-30. Local governments and a coalition of other groups believe that a constitutional amendment is not necessary because both the House and the Senate have passed bills that impose restrictive statutory changes on eminent domain authority.

In addition to being overly restrictive, the constitutional amendment contains ambiguous terms such as “general economic health” and “economic development,” and derogatory terms such as “alleged public use” and “pretext,” all of which will lead to an increase in litigation.

The House also passed HB 2954 (Bell), which makes sweeping changes to the definition of “public use” in condemnation actions. Local governments voiced strenuous opposition to the bill and the resolution. These measures will now be heard in the Senate.

The Senate passed SB 1296 (Norment), which also amends the definition of “public use.” The Senate, however, agreed to language that preserves necessary and proper eminent domain authority. Both HB 2954 (Bell) and SB 1296 (Norment) contain language that severely restricts the power of housing and redevelopment authorities to condemn for blight removal. A conference committee is likely to develop the final language for both of these bills near the end of the session.

Please contact your Senators to express your opposition to the constitutional amendment and to the overly restrictive treatment of housing and redevelopment authorities.

If you have comments or questions on the issue of eminent domain, contact Randy Cook at 804/746-3773.

Photo-red bills still alive

There are several photo red monitoring bills still alive, which allow localities to use cameras at intersections to catch motorists running red light. Some differ in detail, but the overall theme of the bills is the same. SB 829 (Devolites Davis) will limit the technology to specific localities, while SB 871 (Watkins) will allow any locality to use the cameras. HB 1778 (Cosgrove) will allow any locality to use the technology, limit the fine to $50, and limit the installation of cameras to no more than one intersection for every 10,000 residents at one time. There are also provisions within the bill that limit the use and retention of images recorded by the cameras.

Expansion of machinery & tools tax exemptions

HB 1937 (Purkey) expands exemptions granted to research & development, technology, high tech, and nanotechnology businesses. The bill would allow for the exemption of all idle equipment, hardware and software of these firms. The bill is unclear in its application for several reasons. First, the Code does not a definition for these types of businesses. Second, it provides a tax break for certain businesses and not others, with no rationale. Third, it would be extremely difficult to administer and enforce the treatment of idle business personal property, nor any good method of validation. Currently, high tech and research & development firms already receive significant tax breaks in Virginia, including:

Sales tax exemptions for property purchased for use in basic research & development
Sales tax exemptions for property purchased for use in semiconductor manufacturing
A separate classification of property created for business personal property for use in research & development, and
A BPOL exemption, by ordinance, for software companies.

Business tangible personal property (net of automobiles) generates about $400 million per year in local revenue. The impact of this broad exemption is likely to be in the tens of millions of dollars per year to localities. The bill passed the House on a 81-16 vote. Please contact members of the Senate Finance Committee in opposition to HB 1937.

House bill requires individual notice of tax levies

HB 2127 (Hugo), introduced at the request of Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling, passed the House. It would require localities to mail each property owner a notice of the public hearing on the budget. The notice must include the current year’s real estate tax levy for each individual parcel and the proposed tax levies for the upcoming tax year. The proposed tax levy would be based on the budget proposed by the local administrator or manager. As local officials know, the proposed rate is not necessarily the final rate, and is often lowered by the governing body.

This would be the first time that localities would be required to send out information about proposed individual tax levies.

Since property taxes are generally paid along with mortgage payments, a separate notice of the tax is not mailed to each property owner. The amount of local property taxes is clearly detailed on mortgage statements. To send out a separate notice would be akin to the federal or state government mailing to each citizen an estimated income tax due in the coming year. The estimate would be only a guess, and it would be shown as an annual number, rather than the amount that shows up clearly on everyone’s pay stub.

The notice requirement is triggered in any year that an annual assessment, biennial assessment, or general reassessment would result in an increase of 1 percent or more in the total real property tax revenue in the following year (at the current rate), and the locality’s proposed rate would yield in the forthcoming year more than 1 percent of the total real estate tax revenue received in the prior year.

While VML appreciates efforts by the patron to improve the bill, we must still oppose it because it requires a separate, new mailing, and because the information would be confusing to taxpayers.

Please contact your member of the Senate Finance Committee in opposition to HB 2127.

Billboard relocation bills still alive

SB 1102 (Williams) and HB 2128 (Hugo), which will allow relocation of billboards to another location on the same property if the billboard is situated on land acquired because of widening, construction, or reconstruction by purchase or by exercise of eminent domain, were reported out of their respective chambers.

The billboard can also have its height adjusted or angle changed to make it more visible. The Senate bill passed 27-11; the House bill passed 49-47. The House vote reflects growing opposition to these bills. Please continue to contact your senators and delegates to oppose this legislation, which limits local authority and keeps cities, towns and counties from making decisions about the appearance of their communities.

Homestead exemption – constitutional amendment

SJR 354 (Rerras) authorizes the General Assembly to enact legislation that will allow localities to exempt or defer real property taxes up to 20 percent of residential or continuous-habitation farm property that is the owner’s primary dwelling. This measure would give local officials the ability to provide real estate tax relief to homeowners. This is the only homestead exemption constitutional amendment that is still alive in either body. The Virginia Municipal League and the Virginia Association of Counties support the measure. The resolution heads to House Privileges and Elections Committee. Please let your delegate know of your support of this measure.

Shooting range bill passes House

HB 3109 (Janis) passed the House 72-26. The bill will take away a locality’s ability to prohibit hunting generally within a half-mile radius of a subdivision and makes it a Class 1 misdemeanor to discharge a firearm toward a subdivision within the range of the firearm, or to discharge a firearm toward any person or structure, when no barrier exists that would prevent the projectile from striking a person or structure. Localities will still be able to limit hunting within a subdivision.

House, Senate offer water quality improvement financing bills

Both the House and Senate passed bills providing more money for local wastewater treatment plants to reduce nitrogen and phosphorous discharges.

In the House, HB 1710 (Callahan) authorizes issuance of “no more than $500 million” in revenue bonds by the Virginia Public Building Authority (VPBA). Money generated from bond sales (in addition to money deposited in the Water Quality Improvement Fund under statutory provisions) would be distributed to 89 wastewater treatment plants (significant dischargers) that are identified in the bill. Procedures for determining grant amounts to each facility would be based on criteria that were established in 2006. The bill passed the House and is in the Senate Agriculture Committee.

Similarly, SB 771 (Chichester) authorizes VBPA to issue bonds, but with a maximum amount of $250 million. For local governments, one troubling provision of SB 771 prohibits VPBA from issuing these bonds “if the actual general fund revenue collections for the most recently ended fiscal year exceeded the official estimates for such revenue collections.” Under the Water Quality Improvement Act, at the end of a fiscal year 10 percent of general fund revenue collections exceeding forecasts are to be deposited in the Water Quality Improvement Fund. Local governments are concerned that any excess in collections above forecasts at all – no matter how small – could precludes the sale of VPBA revenue bonds. The bill passed the Senate and is in the House Agriculture Committee.

House passes transportation bill with financing, land-use provisions

The transportation landscape remained extremely muddled.

A modified version of HB 3202 (Howell) – the omnibus transportation bill in the House – passed Tuesday. It includes an array of land-use provisions, some of which would hamper the ability of local governments to plan for growth and to pay for expanded government services that accompany it. The bill’s financial components were altered and new regional transportation authorities would be established in Hampton Roads and Northern Virginia. The Senate, in contrast, chose not to act on its transportation bill. Gov. Tim Kaine vowed to continue working with all sides in hopes of hammering out an agreement by the end of the session.

Here is a summary of the HB 3202:

Revenue

About $450 million in revenue would be generated annually by: pulling about $300 million from the state general fund ($250 million plus a portion of any year-end surplus estimated at $50 million), and by using one-third of all insurance premiums ($150 million).

Expenditures

The $450 million would be used to pay off existing debt and to pay off the debt on future bond issues that would pay for new projects and supplement the existing transportation trust fund formula that supports roads, transit and rail, ports and aviation.

Land use provisions

Urban development areas: Every county with either a 20 percent growth rate per decade or a population over 50,000 must incorporate into the comprehensive plan one or more urban development areas in the county. Cities and other counties may create UDAs. Each UDA must accommodate growth for the next 20 years. Each must provide residential density of four units per acre or three times the density of the area outside the UDA. If a county certifies that it has already satisfied the requirements of the bill, no further action is required.

Urban transportation service districts: Counties with a population exceeding 90,000 may create one or more UTSDs as special tax districts; take over the road maintenance in the district and receive significant moneys from the state for roads. Any UTSD must contain a minimum permitted residential density of 1 unit per acre. The funding part provides that any such county would receive the same amount as cities plus the difference between the urban funding and what VDOT currently spends. In addition, the county would receive $10,000 per VDOT employee it hires.

A floor amendment added the two counties (Henrico and Arlington) that currently maintain their roads to the funding formula proposed for counties that create a UTSD.

Impact fees: Any county that creates a UTSD by July 1, 2009 may impose impact fees on lands outside the service district for by-right residential development. The fees may be imposed to help pay for a variety of public facilities: roads, schools, public safety facilities and others. The restriction to agriculture lands severely limits the value of the impact fee provision, because in the largest counties, there is not much land zoned for agricultural use. Further, impact fees should apply to by-right development locality-wide. The structure of the impact fee portion is a significant improvement over the existing Northern Virginia impact fee laws.

Shifting road maintenance to counties: The omnibus bill retains the road maintenance provision by which VDOT will not accept any new subdivision streets for maintenance after July 1, 2007 that is not located in an urban development area. This provision would cost counties millions of dollars into the future, as state funding for maintenance would be eliminated for all new subdivision streets, except those in a UDA. Del. Clay Athey (Warren) had the same provisions in HB 3198. He agreed to roll that bill into HB 2227 (Wardrup) in the House Transportation Committee meeting last Saturday. The result was that the devolution provision appeared to be deleted. However, because this amendment was not made to HB 3202, the devolution piece is still an issue.

Regional authority: The Northern Virginia regional authority part of the bill remains the same, with revenue sources including local authority for a rental car impact fee (2 percent), new local authority for commercial real estate tax (25 cents / $100), an initial driver’s license fee ($100 excluding teens), and the state grantor’s tax (40 cents / $100).

The Hampton Roads regional authority part of the bill was altered on the floor of the House, and now includes: local authority for a rental car impact fee (2 percent), new local authority for commercial real estate tax (15 cents / $100), an initial driver’s license fee (1 percent), the state grantor’s tax (30 cents / $100), a local motor vehicle registration fee ($10), the motor vehicle inspection fee ($10), a driver’s license fee ($20), and a $5 per night, per room transient occupancy tax.

Locality no-fee bill reported

SB 1293 (Norment) provides that localities are exempt from paying any fees for services rendered by clerks, sheriffs, and other officers for services rendered in cases of the locality where the locality is a party to a case in its own court system or in any other jurisdiction where the locality and the other jurisdiction have a reciprocal waiver of fees agreement. The bill further provides that sheriffs may grant a waiver of sheriff's fees to other localities. This bill was reported out of the Senate Courts Committee.

Senate passes bill allowing use of trusts for pre-funding of post employment benefits

Legislation allowing local governments to establish trusts to use for the pre-funding of post employment benefits has passed the Senate and has been referred to the House Appropriations Committee, which just last week failed to report an identical piece of legislation. SB 789, introduced by Sen. Walter Stosch (Henrico), also authorizes local governments to contract with the Virginia Retirement System or other third-party agency for the administration of the trusts.

Members of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Compensation & Retirement raised numerous questions about the role of VRS when the subcommittee heard the House companion bill -- HB 2871 (McEachin). Del. Lacey Putney, however, said that local governments will have an opportunity to make their case for the necessity for SB 789.

New standards issued by the Governmental Accounting Standards Board require that governments recognize the cost of benefits promised to retirees during the time period that the employee is on the payroll, as opposed to when the employee actually retires. Larger local governments must start recognizing the cost of these post employment benefits in their audits for FY07; all local governments will be subject to the standards by FY10. The most common local OPEB program is health insurance for retirees; local governments may wish to establish separate trust funds in order to keep the funding and accounting for these benefits separate from the medical benefits offered current employees. Because of a question as to whether local governments, particularly counties, have the authority to establish these trusts, SB 789 clearly establishes this authority and further allows VRS to serve as trust manager.

Senate adopts bill requiring deputies under LEOS

Numerous bills were introduced to change retirement benefits for law enforcement personnel, but the only bill that has survived so far is SB 1166 (Stolle).

That bill requires (not encourages) localities to put deputies under LEOS, provides state funding for each deputy position based on the local stress index, establishes an increased multiplier for sheriffs with the amount increasing for each year of service beyond the age of 55, and allows localities to increase the multiplier in the same way for other public safety officers. Despite the lack of legislation, both houses have addressed public safety employee benefits in their versions of the budget.

The House budget allows localities that have not already extended these enhanced benefits to their deputies to have the option of putting deputies under either LEOs or the less expensive Virginia Law Officers Retirement System (VALORS), which up until now has been available only to state employees. The House budget also increases the maximum retirement contribution rate reimbursed by the Compensation Board from 5.74 percent to 7.77 percent for deputies included under LEOS or equivalent programs. The Senate retains the $11.5 million put in by a budget amendment by Gov. Tim Kaine to address public safety retirement, but spends it so as to implement SB 1166.

Both the House and the Senate version will require local expenditures that will vary depending on the local retirement rate, the number of deputies, salary levels, and so forth.

Access to actuarial information sought

The Virginia Retirement System would be required to give localities information on the actuarial assumptions behind local contribution rates under HB 2095, which has passed the House and is likely to be assigned to Senate Finance. In addition, VRS can assess fees for any data collections or reports beyond those required for the actuarial valuation performed yearly by the VRS actuary. Some localities want to have additional information that will enable them to examine more carefully the factors affecting retirement rates. The bill was introduced by Del. Bob Tata of Virginia Beach.

House, Senate continue debate over increased health care credits for teachers

The House and Senate agree that the health care credit for retired teachers should be increased to $4 per month for each year of credible service. They also agree that the current cap of $75 on the amount of the monthly credit should be lifted. They differ, however, on the implementation date.

HB 2370 (Tata) and the House budget set the implementation date at Jan. 1, 2008. The bill will cost local governments approximately $8.4 million and will cost the state $5.7 million in higher teacher retirement rates in FY08. SB 1218 (Hanger) has the increased credit taking effect July 1, 2007, at a cost to local governments of $18.6 million and $11 million to the state, again in higher retirement rates.

HB 2370 will be before the Senate Finance Committee and SB 1218 will be before the House Appropriations Committee; the issue is likely not to be settled until the end of the session when a budget agreement is reached.

Credible compensation bill before House Appropriations

Salary supplements paid to teachers for activities such as coaching would be counted as credible compensation under SB 1087, introduced by Senator Philip Puckett. The fiscal impact to local governments is $7.4 million, which would be reflected in teacher retirement rates in FY 08.

Optional retirement provisions bill stricken

Senator Benjamin Lambert (Richmond) struck SB 850, which would prohibited school boards and political subdivisions from offering optional retirement benefits under VRS unless the council or board of supervisors had authorized the offering of the optional benefits.

Constitutional amendments galore

Voters could have an extensive list of constitutional amendments to choose from in November 2008, judging by the number of amendments that have come out of the Senate and House. The most worrisome amendment from the viewpoint of local governments is HJR 723, introduced by Del. Rob Bell (Albemarle). The amendment sharply curtails the purposes for which eminent domain may be used by inserting highly detailed language in the Bill of Rights to the state Constitution. The bill will be before the Senate Privileges & Elections Committee.

The Senate committee also will have these amendments before it:

HJR 593 (Griffith, allowing the General Assembly to suspend or nullify administrative rules.
HJR 614 (Hargrove), allowing for the recall of statewide elected officers.
HJR 18 (Marshall), establishing a Transportation Trust Fund.

The House Privileges & Elections Committee will have three amendments to review.

SJR 340 (Devolites Davis), which would authorize the General Assembly to enact legislation to allow localities to exempt or partially exempt from property taxes the motor vehicles of members of the armed forces serving in an area of active military conflict.
SJR 373 (Norment), which establishes a Transportation Trust Fund.
SJR 352 (Deeds, which establishes a redistricting commission to draw up electoral districts every 10 years, a job now done by the Privileges & Elections Committees. Similar legislation died earlier in the House committee.

Waivers from No Child Left Behind sought

HB 2542 (Del. Landes, Augusta) and SB 1212 (Sen. Hanger, Augusta) require the Board of Education to request a waiver from No Child Left Behind (NCLB) provisions that are not an integral part of the state’s accountability system. If the waivers are not granted, it directs the state to withdraw from NCLB and instructs the Attorney General to file suit against the U.S. Department of Education if federal education funds are withheld. SB 1212 is in House Education, while HB 2542 is in Senate Education & Health.

Amended school textbook bill passes House

HB 2556 (Frederick) requires schools to have enough textbooks available to provide each student a copy that may be used at home. The bill passed the House on a narrow 51-47 vote, and is now in the Senate. Similar legislation died in the Senate last year. The cost impact varies by jurisdiction, depending on their textbook purchase policies.

School bus contract authority advances to Senate

The House has approved HB 2302 (Cole), which allows local school boards to contract with private schools in order to provide school transportation to private school students. Liability and funding questions can be addressed in the contracts. A similar bill passed the House last year and was defeated in the Senate.

First day bill introductions

Charter bills would no longer have to be introduced by the first day of the session under HB 2670 (Del. Morgan Griffith, Salem). The bill repeals the statutory provisions requiring the following types of bills to be filed no later than the first day of a legislative session: charter, claims, optional county form of government, corrections impact, local fiscal impact, sales tax exemption, and Virginia Retirement System. The bill is in the Senate Rules Committee.

Studies moving forward

The House and Senate have moved forward a range of study resolutions, many of them affecting local governments. The House resolutions have been referred to the Senate Rules Committee, and the Senate resolutions have been referred to the House Rules Committee. Here’s an overview.

Public safety

HJR 652 (Welch) & SJR 327 (Puller) continues the Joint Subcommittee to Study the Commonwealth's Program for Prisoner Reentry to Society.

HJR 683 (Landes) directs JLARC to study the cost of substance abuse to the Commonwealth to determine the savings available to the state as a result of providing treatment to offenders diverted from incarceration.

HJR 743 (Rust) creates a legislative subcommittee to examine incentives used for fire and rescue squad volunteers to recruit and retain qualified individuals.

SB 949 (Quayle) establishes the Virginia Commission on Incarceration and Reentry to study and make recommendations for dealing with the impact of incarceration and prisoner reentry on society and related policies of the state.

Land use & housing

HJR 692 (Cline) continues subcommittee studying land preservation, and includes a requirement to develop a plan for the sharing of the costs of land preservation among the state and local governments, to review recent funding for the preservation of open-space land, the future needs of the Commonwealth for open-space land, the cost of such needs, and long-term funding to pay the costs. SJR 491 (Sen. Emmett Hanger, Augusta) is similar.

HJR 696 (J. Miller) directs the Housing Commission to study the effect of residential overcrowding on neighborhoods and localities; innovative solutions to help localities deal with the negative effects of overcrowding; and ways in which zoning, building code, and fire safety code laws may be strengthened to help localities protect its residents.

SJR 365 (Whipple) directs the Housing Commission to study the feasibility of increasing options available to localities for innovative housing policies including the expansion of inclusionary zoning eligibility to include elimination of high-rise exemptions and allow increased participation by local jurisdictions, and the creation of employer-assisted housing programs for government employees.

Environment

HJR 694 (Byron) directs the Secretary of Natural Resources and the Secretary of Health and Human Resources to convene a panel of experts to study the impact of land application of biosolids (sewage sludge) on human health and the environment.

SJR 361 (Ticer) directs JLARC to study waste minimization, reuse, and recycling. JLARC will evaluate the success of programs in Virginia and other states, and recommend a plan to achieve long-term waste minimization.

Human services & education

HJR 729 (Cox) directs JLARC to study the Virginia Preschool Initiative to review the statutory authorization and funding for the Virginia Preschool Initiative; determine the costs of the program; assess its effectiveness Human services & education; identify accountability measures; study the concept of the universal preschool; and other issues.

HJR 774 (Kilgore) recognizes DMHMRSAS as the primary state agency responsible for the planning and delivery of mental health services in the Commonwealth, and states that neither the Department of Social Services nor the Office of Comprehensive Services is the default system for the provision of mental health services.

SJR 239 (Locke) directs the Board of Education to study high school dropout and graduation rates.

SJR 335 (Ruff) directs JLARC to study the distribution of net lottery profits, including the current distribution formula to determine if it can be improved so that greater equity can be achieved.

SJR 395 (Hanger) directs JLARC to study the impact of issues related to substance abuse on state and local fiscal expenditures.

General government

HJR 776 (Saxman) directs a legislative subcommittee to study the impact of undocumented immigrants residing in Virginia on the state's economy and government services and resources.

SJR 308 (Miller) directs a legislative subcommittee to study the health insurance costs of state and local early retirees.

SJR 372 (Norment) directs a legislative subcommittee to study the feasibility of a state-wide health insurance experience pool for educators and local government employees.

SJR 390 (Newman) directs the Joint Commission on Health Care to examine the benefits of enhanced liability protections for health care providers for care rendered during a state or local emergency.

SJR 404 (Norment) directs JLARC to study which state entities are using the power of eminent domain, why they are using it, how often they use it, the average duration of a condemnation, the average differential in value between condemnor and condemee, and the indirect costs of eminent domain.

Taxation

SJR 326 (Bell) directs a legislative subcommittee to study a flat tax on the consumption of goods and services, including estimating the rate that would need to be imposed to generate approximately the same amount of revenue that is currently generated from state and local general fund taxes, the distribution of revenues, and the viability of this flat tax as a replacement for current state and local general fund taxes.

SJR 385 (Wagner) directs a legislative subcommittee to study long-term funding solutions for transportation that do not depend on the motor vehicle fuels tax.

Affordable dwelling unit ordinance legislation in negotiations

HB 2010 (Suit) and SB 955 (Quayle) are meant to rewrite the code section that provides general affordable dwelling unit ordinance authority.

The Virginia Association of Realtors and apartment owners are attempting to limit the powers of local governments in developing the language. Several cities that hope to enact an affordable dwelling unit ordinance or which already have an ordinance are attempting to ensure that the legislation allows them to create a program that will enhance affordable housing. The major outstanding issues are whether a locality may require a developer to provide affordable housing in target areas and whether the developer has the right to opt-out of the requirement by paying into a housing fund.

The bills are likely to be acted on next week in the House Counties, Cities and Towns Committee and in the Senate Local Government Committee.

Biosolids

Legislation regulating the land application of biosolids and moving the state program from the Health Department to the Department of Environmental Quality is progressing.

HB 2802 (Byron) passed the House and was referred to the Senate Agriculture committee. The legislation consolidates the program that regulates the application of biosolids under the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ). Currently, the responsibility for regulation of the land application of biosolids is split between DEQ and the Department of Health. The bill also requires DEQ to conduct unannounced site inspections while biosolids are being applied. A fee of $7.50 is assessed on each dry ton of sewage sludge applied in the Commonwealth. The bill becomes effective on January 1, 2008, provided that adequate funds have been appropriated and adequate positions have been authorized to administer the program. This bill incorporates HB 2079 and HB 3170.

SB 1300 (Abbitt), which passed the Senate and is in the House Agriculture Committee, authorizes localities to require a special exception or a special use permit store biosolids in its jurisdiction, unless the material is stored on the same farm to which it will be land applied.

Solid waste surcharge bill dies

Legislation that would have required landfill operators to pay a tipping fee for each ton of solid waste received at the landfill, HB 1945 (Purkey), was left in committee, effectively killing it. VML opposed the measure, which would have directed the fees to the state general fund.

Consolidation of environmental boards under review

Legislation that consolidates the Air Pollution Control Board, the Waste Management Board and the State Water Control Board into one 11-member citizen board -- the Virginia Board of Environmental Quality -- passed the House and is before the Senate.

HB 3113 (Landes) would transfer the authority to issue licenses and permits to the Department of Environmental Quality. The bill includes a "re-enactment clause" that requires the General Assembly of 2008 to reaffirm the legislation and delays the effective date until July 1, 2008.

SB 1403 (Puckett) is similar, but does not include the re-enactment clause. The bill passed the Senate, and is now before the House. Local governments are reviewing proposed new procedures for appealing decisions of the director of DEQ to the new Environmental Appeals Board. Some are concerned that the director, not the Appeals Board, decides which cases the board gets to hear. This may include cases where the "aggrieved party" disagrees with the director’s decision.

Two CSA measures remain

A substitute to SB 1332 (Devolites Davis) passed the Senate and will be heard in the House General Laws Committee, possibly on Feb. 13. This is the same bill as HB 2620 (Fralin) that was tabled in the House Appropriations Committee. It would expand the mandated population under the Comprehensive Services Act (CSA) to include children who need mental health services, but do not have adequate or any private insurance coverage or Medicaid, and who otherwise may be at risk of foster care placement if they do not receive care.

The House and Senate both addressed this issue in their respective budget proposals. VML prefers the House approach (Item 312#3h), which is budget neutral, because it uses existing state funds intended for non-mandated children to serve this population.

HJR 744 (Kilgore), a resolution that directs the state to develop plans and funding for children with mental health needs and not leave mental health services to foster care or CSA, passed the House and is now in the Senate Rules Committee.

February 7, 2007

Make your voice heard: Contact your legislator