March 7, 2008

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Budget negotiations continue – Saturday adjournment?

As House and Senate budget negotiations have continued past their Tuesday deadline, the scheduled Saturday, March 8 adjournment for the General Assembly has become more uncertain.  Budget negotiators met with Gov. Tim Kaine earlier today, and negotiators were to meet again this afternoon.  A rumor is circulating that the House leadership has told their staff to expect to be here next week.  VML will keep you informed of any progress toward adoption of a budget.

Keep up the pressure to fund HB 599

Senate budget conferees, particularly Senator Janet Howell, have talked publicly about the importance of preserving the funding for HB 599, and resisting the amendments by the House to divert a portion of this funding to other purposes.  It is most important that local officials keep up their calls, faxes and emails urging support of the Senate budget amendment to add an additional $2.5 million in HB 599 funding for FY09 and FY10, and opposition to the House amendments to divert the funds.  Get in touch with your delegation, but copy the budget conferees as well (see contact information in the article below).  Also, please copy Neal Menkes or Mary Jo Fields (nmenkes@vml.org; mfields@vml.org).

Emails/faxes/calls still needed on rebenchmarking

The budget conferees for the House of Delegates have said that the House proposed changes to the methodology for calculating public education costs are “off the table,” but city, town and county officials must continue to speak up so that they do not get back on the table.  There are groups that are mounting campaigns to urge the delegates to return to their proposed changes. 

The House of Delegates had proposed changing the rebenchmarking process to 1) discount local salary increases in the calculation of costs recognized by the State; 2) increase the deduction of federal revenues in the calculation of state and local effort and 3) cap inflation that the state recognizes.  These proposed changes would be harmful to public education, and would have shifted costs to local governments – and ultimately to real estate taxpayers. 

Please email, fax or call your delegation to urge them to resist any efforts to include the methodology changes in the state budget.  Ask your delegation to make your opinion known to the budget conferees, but also copy the budget conferees (listed below) with your correspondence as well. Finally, please send Mary Jo Fields at VML a copy of your correspondence (mfields@vml.org). 

 (In today’s edition of the Virginian-Pilot, an editorial entitled Sneaky Tax Hike Ok with Delegates pointed out that the House budget amendments would force local governments to increase real estate taxes. A February 21 editorial in the paper, entitled House Quietly Retreats on Quality Schools, also outlined problems with the proposals.) 

A model letter that can be used as a fax or email (Word).

House Budget Conferees

Name	Telephone	E-mail	Fax
M. Kirkand Cox	(804) 698-1066	DelKCox@house.state.va.us	(804) 786-6310
Phillip A. Hamilton	(804) 698-1093	DelPHamilton@house.state.va.us	(804) 786-6310
Clarke N. Hogan	(804) 698-1060	DelCHogan@house.state.va.us	(804) 786-6310
Johnny S. Joannou	(804) 698-1079	NONE	(804) 786-6310
Lacey E. Putney	(804) 698-1019	DelLPutney@house.state.va.us	(804) 786-6310
Beverly J. Sherwood	(804) 698-1029	DelBSherwood@house.state.va.us	(804) 786-6310

Senate Budget Conferees

Name	Telephone	E-mail	Fax
Charles J. Colgan	(804) 698-7529	district29@sov.state.va.us	(804) 698-7651
Edward R. Houck	(804) 698-7517	district17@sov.state.va.us	(804) 698-7651
Janet D. Howell	(804) 698-7532	district32@sov.state.va.us	(804) 698-7651
Richard L. Saslaw	(804) 698-7535	district35@sov.state.va.us	(804) 698-7651
Walter A. Stosch	(804) 698-7512	district12@sov.state.va.us	(804) 698-7651
William C. Wampler Jr.	(804) 698-7540	district40@sov.state.va.us	(804) 698-7651

Make budget points at upcoming town halls

Governor Timothy M. Kaine has scheduled town hall meetings, to be held in Staunton on March 10, Petersburg on March 11, and Newport News on March 12.  The governor will continue scheduling town hall meetings through the reconvened session with the purpose of discussing the budget and legislation passed during the 2008 General Assembly Session.

 This is an excellent opportunity for local officials to make their budget concerns known to the governor.  Every local government should be represented by the mayor/board chair, manager/administrator, police chief and school board chairman/superintendent.  Make the best of this opportunity to showcase these points:

1. Urge adoption of the Senate budget language on HB 599 funding.
2. Urge rejection of the House proposal to divert excess court fees to the state general fund.
3. Urge rejection of the House proposed changes to the methodology for rebenchmarking the costs of public education, including the proposal to discount local salary increases, to cap inflation and to increase the deduction of federal revenues in the calculation of state and local effort.
4. Urge rejection of the House proposal to eliminate the distribution of ABC profits/wine liter tax to towns (the Governor’s introduced budget deleted the distribution of these funds to cities and counties, but retained the distribution to towns. The House has proposed eliminating that distribution as well.)
5. Urge the Governor to promote a legislative solution that will produce adequate, sustainable, dedicated, non-general state funds for Virginia’s transportation network. 

Here is the schedule for the first three meetings:

Monday, March 10

5:00 p.m. - 6:30 p.m., Shelburne Middle School, 300 Grubert Avenue, Staunton

Tuesday, March 11

6:30 p.m. - 8:00 p.m., Appomattox Regional Governor’s School, 512 West Washington Street, Petersburg

Wednesday, March 12

6:30 p.m. – 8:00 p.m., Warwick High School, 51 Copeland Lane, Newport News

Interesting twist in impact fee bill discussion

VML has reported that the league, VACo and the housing industry agreed to have the impact fee bill, SB 768, carried over and worked on by the parties after session so that a better bill could be presented in the 2009 session.  A part of that agreement included a move to amend HB 111 (Del. Ed Scott), a road funding bill to prohibit any locality from adopting a road impact fee ordinance from July 2008 to July 2009.  The patron had agreed to the amendment.  When HB 111, in its revised form, was presented on the House floor, the Speaker ruled the amendment not germane to the original bill.  Under the House rules, that ruling killed the entire bill, both the amendment and original text.  The Senate followed suit with a ruling by the Lt. Governor, the presiding officer of the Senate, that the bill was no longer properly before the body.  As a result of these actions, there will be no prohibition on localities adopting a road impact fee. 

Bond posting would help cover local costs for animal care

Legislation that allows a court to order the owner of any animal held in an animal pound for more than 30 days to post a surety bond with the locality to cover costs to care for the animal has passed the House and Senate.  HB 999 (Bell) was amended at the request of local governments to maintain language already in Section 3.1-796-115 in the Code that allows local governments to require owners of animals held in local custody to post a surety bond for the same purpose.  The introduced version of HB 999 had a provision that would have invalidated any existing ordinances.

Local authority over dam break zones amended

The House and the Senate have passed HB 837 (Sherwood), legislation that provides localities with more authority to address development in dam break inundation zones. The bill also directs developers to assist dam owners with required upgrades and requires additional disclosure and notification procedures for dam owners. The bill contains an enactment clause that specifies that the bill's provisions do not affect site plans or subdivision plans submitted prior to the effective date of the act.  Of particular interest to local governments is a requirement for developers to contribute financially to the upgrades and improvements of dams when hazard levels are elevated in dam break inundation zones due to increased commercial and residential development.  The Governor has suggested technical amendments, so the bill has been returned to the House.

Environmental review threshold revised

The General Assembly and the Governor has signed several bills that remedy a problem created in the 2007 comprehensive transportation reform legislation (HB 3202).  The legislation required that environmental impact reports be prepared for any local highway construction, reconstruction, or improvement project valued at $100,000 or more.  HB 1259 (Del. O’Bannon), SB 43 (Sen. Y. Miller) and HB 116 (Del. Abbitt) increase the threshold to $500,000 for these highway improvement projects, as well as for major state projects. 

Waste water plant upgrade reimbursements to be made monthly

Another bill on its way to the governor is SB 690 (Watkins), legislation authorizing the Department of Environmental Quality to pay monthly reimbursements to local governments undertaking WWTP nutrient removal projects with the assistance of grants from the Water Quality Improvement Fund.  Under current law, local governments are reimbursed for the state share of plant upgrade costs when 25 percent, 50 percent, 75 percent, and 100 percent of the local share of the cost has been expended. The change will help stabilize cash flow for local governments undertaking these expensive sewer projects. 

Payday lending bills update

The Senate and House have both passed the payday lending bills by wide margins.  The Senate vote on HB 12 (Del. Glenn Oder) was 91 to 9 and the Senate passed SB 588 (Sen. Phillip Puckett) on a vote of 37 to 2 with one abstention.  During the floor discussion, identical amendments were made to both bills that improve the bills.  For a more complete description of the legislation, please review VML’s bulletin of Tuesday, March 5.  The Governor is reported by the media today to be ready to sign the bills.

Immigration bills wrap-up

The House and Senate have not come to agreement on which offenses to include in Senator Stolle’s presumption bill (SB 623), legislation that would deny bail to illegal aliens charged with specified crimes. The House wants to include domestic violence offenses in the list that the Senate version of the bill does not include. The bill is now in conference. Delegate Rust has a similar bill (HB 440), which has passed both houses.

Delegate Rust’s HB 445 is an occupancy limit bill that protects the owner or managing agent of a single-family residential dwelling from penalty for overcrowding while he is suing the tenant for the overcrowding. The bill has passed both houses.

Two jail operation bills continue to advance.  Delegate Albo’s HB 820 has been approved by the Governor, and SB 609 (Stolle) has passed both houses and is on its way to the Governor. The two bills require jailors to find out the citizenship and country of birth of each inmate.

Two procurement bills that would require the State Corporation Commission to revoke the charter or authority to do business in any business that violates the laws on hiring illegal immigrants are also moving forward. Byron’s HB 926 has passed both houses, and a House substitute for SB 782 (Obenshain) has been agreed to by the Senate and the bill is continuing to move forward.

HB 1298 (Frederick) has passed both houses, and a House substitute for SB 517 (Cuccinelli) has been agreed to by the Senate. HB 1298 and SB 517 are procurement bills that would require all public bodies, including local governments, to provide in every written contract that the contractor will not hire illegal aliens. These bills are too broad and will lead to problems for localities. A purchase order and a minor contract for supplies are written contracts. The bill requires even minor contracts to include the provision. VML and VACo are asking the Governor to reinstate a previous $10,000 floor.  Staff contact: Mark Flynn (mflynn@vml.org)

Secondary road funding cut; governor may call a special transportation legislative session

A convergence of factors -- a slumping economy, increased road construction and maintenance costs, the continued transfer of state construction funds to maintenance and the repealing of the abusive drivers fees -- is forcing the Commonwealth Transportation Board (CTB) to reduce the current Six-Year Program spending by at least $1.1 billion.  The repeal of the abusive driver fees alone leaves a $300 million hole in the current transportation program, and revenues from motor vehicle sales taxes, vehicle license fees, and recordation taxes are all down. Secretary of Transportation Pierce Homer estimated that secondary road funding will be reduced by approximately 45 percent in FY 2009 and transit funding will be reduced on average by 10 percent.  Because state law requires Virginia to maintain its existing roads before constructing new ones, VDOT must transfer interstate, primary, urban and secondary construction funds to support maintenance activities, leaving fewer funds for the state’s road construction program.  The statewide maintenance deficit will continue to mount for the foreseeable future. 

The revised revenue forecast is available at http://hosting-source.bronto.com/205/public/RevisedTransportationRevenueForecast.pdf

Still unclear is whether there will be legislation this year that provides funding for transportation, and if such legislation will address state-wide needs, or whether a special session is needed to do so.   Regional transportation funding was thrown into question by the recent Virginia Supreme Court decision overturning the regional funding initiatives for Hampton Roads and Northern Virginia.  A special session assumes that the legislature will not address the problem in the final days of the ongoing regular session, although a conference committee was appointed on March 6 to address a House proposal allowing local governments in the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority to dedicate the one percent local option retail sales and use tax for transportation.  Senators and delegates had been unable to agree on amendments that would apply to a substitute for SB 729 (Saslaw).  Senate conferees include Senators Saslaw, Watkins and Whipple; House conferees are Delegates Nixon, Albo, and Watts. While a special session would most likely address the regional funding issues, several key legislators may also address the statewide transportation funding problem. VML’s position on transportation funding is that local governments need adequate, sustainable, dedicated, non-general funds from the state to support Virginia’s transportation network. 

House Appropriations does not hear OPEB, LEOS bills

The House Appropriations Committee did not hear SB 614 (Stolle), legislation to allow the Virginia Retirement System to manage trust funds established by local governments to pre-fund other post employment benefits (OPEBs).  The committee also did not hear legislation that would have required the extension of enhanced law enforcement retirement benefits to all jail superintendents and deputies (SB 624-Stolle). These bills are therefore dead for the session.

Study issues set out for the interim

The House and Senate have adopted study resolutions that outline what issues will be studied in the interim prior to the 2009 session. Here is an interview of those of most interest to local governments:

Economic development

HJR 75 (Cole), subcommittee to inventory local incentives for economic development, evaluate their effect on existing small businesses, and evaluate their effectiveness

Human services

SJR 42 (Lucas), subcommittee to study mental health reform, including reviewing recommendations from other study groups on the involuntary commitment process and the system of mental health services in the state

SJR 46 (Marsh), Joint Health Care Commission to continue its study of the mental health needs and treatment of young minority adults

SJR 75 (Hanger), continue subcommittee to 1) study the structure of the Comprehensive Services program, including the role of local government, state government, community-based service providers, residential service providers and other stakeholders, 2) identify alternate methods of providing services to at-risk youth and families, 3) review the cost of CSA, and 4) identify ways to limit costs and increase the efficiency and effectiveness of service delivery

SJR 77 (Hanger), subcommittee to study strategies and models for substance abuse prevention and treatment that reduce the service demands created by substance abuse

SJR 102 (Stosch), Joint Health Care Commission study of support services for family caregivers of the frail elderly and disabled, and community-based caregiver support organizations

Land use/planning/zoning/blight

HJR 178 (Athey)/SJR 70 (Vogel) subcommittee to examine Urban Development Areas, and evaluate existing land use planning tools and infrastructure financing options

HJR 195 (Lohr), subcommittee to study the current transferable development rights statute to see how the program can be modified to make it more attractive to localities

SJR 56 (Locke), Housing Commission study of vacant property, including quantifying of abandoned and vacant residential buildings and considering the importance of the rights of absent property owners versus the rights of property owners who live in the locality 

General government

SJR 99 (Stolle), continue subcommittee studying the operation and funding of circuit court clerk offices

Public safety

HJR 113 (Moran), Crime Commission to continue its study of the juvenile justice system including identification of more effective ways of rehabilitating juvenile offenders

Regional issues

HJR 89 (Cosgrove)/SJR 65 (Quayle), Auditor of Public Accounts to collect, receive, and analyze data on the operation and finances of the Southeastern Public Service Authority.

HJR 155 (Suit), Hampton Roads Planning District Commission to review the emergency responses of the localities in Hampton Roads, including inter-jurisdictional responses

HJR 194 (Jones), subcommittee to study transportation needs in Hampton Roads and how those needs can be met.

SJR 92 (Stolle), subcommittee study of relationships, duties and responsibilities in transportation of various regional bodies in Hampton Roads 

SJR 122 (Colgan), subcommittee study of feasibility of creating a regional rapid transit network for connecting existing and emerging population centers in Northern Virginia and adjacent areas.

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