February 25, 2008

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Impact fee bill to be heard Thursday

The House Rules Committee, chaired by Speaker William Howell, is scheduled to hear the impact fee bill on Thursday, Feb. 28. SB 768 (Watkins) does away with cash proffers for residential units, limits non-cash proffers and installs a complex impact fee system. The bill continues to include caps on residential impact fees that are too low. The caps would sharply reduce what most developers are required to pay to cover the costs associated with development.

VML encourages every locality that is concerned about the effects of SB 768 to contact your delegate to remind him or her that the bill is not ready to become law, but instead should be carried over in order to allow VML and the other affected groups to see if an improved, more balanced bill could be worked out next year.

House Rules Committee membership.

All House members.

Please contact your delegate, as well as the members of the committee, to let them know this important bill is not yet ready to be acted on this year.

Staff contact: Mark Flynn (mflynn@vml.org).

Concerns raised over House education funding proposal

Failing to rebenchmark the costs of Standards of Quality is likely to produce less realistic and reasonable cost methods than under the current system of rebenchmarking, according to a Feb. 27 presentation by the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission to the Senate Finance Committee.

JLARC staff member Bob Rotz said that the General Assembly has some latitude in changing the methods used for determining the costs associated with funding education, but attorneys general have advised that the cost estimates should not be arbitrary, unrealistic or unreasonable in relation to prevailing expenses.

The budget adopted by the House of Delegates last week includes a change in methodology that would lower state obligations for education funding.

Sen. Janet Howell said the adoption of the methodology would be the single greatest blow to education that she had seen since election to the General Assembly.

Sen. Richard Saslaw said that if the change were allowed to become law, there would be two Virginias: Northern Virginia, which would be able to make up the difference in the loss of state funding, and the rest of the state, which can’t.

Sen. Edd Houck described the proposed change as an abomination and that this appears to be the number one policy issue in upcoming budget negotiations.

Rotz noted that Virginia support for public education ranks 21st in the nation, but state support ranks only 33rd. Local support ranks 14th.

Senate panel carries over property tax 'reform' bill

The Senate Finance Committee unanimously carried over a bill -- HB 1009 (Hugo) -- requiring localities (i) to include the tax rate that will apply to reassessed real property in the notice to taxpayers regarding the reassessment, (ii) to attach to each property tax bill the tax rate that will apply, the assessed value of the property, the total amount of the new tax levy, the total amount of the prior year's tax levy, and the percentage change in the new tax levy from the immediately prior year's tax levy, and (iii) to permit taxpayers to defer a portion of the increase in real property taxes on the primary dwelling owned and occupied by the taxpayer until the property is transferred or until the taxpayer's death.

The Senate committee had carried over earlier in the session similar Senate bills. HB 1009 was the only bill passed by the House of Delegates and sent to the Senate.

Expansion of workers' compensation defeated

Legislation that would have expanded the presumption under state workers' compensation laws was defeated in the House Commerce and Labor Committee Tuesday.

SB 500 (Northam) would have created a presumption that any disease contracted by a first responder during a public health emergency (as declared by the governor) was contracted while on the job — and thus covered under workers compensation. These cases would have been virtually impossible to defend.

Towing and recovery regs bill keeps moving on

Legislation that will help make sure sufficient towing operators are available to clear automobile accidents is progressing.

SB 707 (Norment) passed the Senate, and was approved by a subcommittee of the House Transportation Committee. The bill is important to local governments because local law enforcement agencies often rely on smaller towing operators to help them clear accidents. The bill delays until July 1, 2010 the effective date of regulations that apply to public safety towing and recovery services.

Small towing companies, called “Class B” towers, like the bill, because they feared the new regulations being considered by the Board of Towing and Recovery Operators will place them at a significant competitive disadvantage compared to larger “Class A” operators.

According to testimony by State Police representatives, the proposed regulations would disqualify about 70 percent of towing operators from performing tows upon the request of local law enforcement agencies.

Staff contact: Denise Thompson (dthompson@vml.org).

Subcommittee kills pedestrian safety bill

A bill that sets out the responsibilities of pedestrians and drivers passed the Senate, but died on a 3-3 vote in a subcommittee of the House Transportation Committee.

SB 644, supported by VML, would have clarified what constitutes a crosswalk, as well as the rules for drivers and pedestrians at intersections without signals.

Staff contact: Denise Thompson (dthompson@vml.org).

Optional insurance benefits legislation tabled

The House Commerce & Labor Committee defeated legislation that would have expanded the authority of localities that self fund health insurance. SB 51 (Whipple) would have enabled localities that are self-funded for health benefits the authority to allow their employees to provide health benefits to non- related household members. The bill would have given localities, particularly those in areas with very competitive labor markets, a tool to compete with the private sector for qualified employees, as the private sector already has the authority to extend these benefits.

School construction revolving fund bill carried over

The Senate Finance Committee carried over HB 923 (Rust), the bill that would have established a school construction revolving loan fund. The committee had carried over companion legislation earlier in the session.

Calls in opposition to mandatory attorneys fees needed

HB 371 (Carrico) amends the state code section that prohibits local governments from regulating firearms. Under the bill, anyone who complains that a locality has violated the law shall be awarded attorneys fees -- even if the issue doesn’t go to court. The bill would obligate the locality to pay an individual’s attorneys’ fees if the locality adopts a regulation in violation of the law banning local ordinances on guns. If an individual hires an attorney to complain about an ordinance before the city council and convinces the city to strike an ordinance, the bill requires the locality to pay those attorneys fees. Another example is if a library posts a “no firearms” sign, without talking with the city or town attorney, and a library user hires an attorney to have the sign removed – the city or town could end up paying those attorneys fees.

The bill is being heard in the Senate Courts Committee Monday afternoon. Please call your senator on the committee to oppose the bill.

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