eNews February 21, 2018

Wednesday, February 21, 2018 - 02:28pm

In this issue

FOIA bills, on-line checkbook bill defeated in committee
Keep up pressure on wireless
Mulch bill needs attention
Call to oppose use value assessment bill
Budget amendments posted on-line
Update on other action in Senate General Laws, Local Government

FOIA bills, on-line checkbook bills defeated in committee

House General Laws continued until the 2019 session two FOIA bills that have raised concerns this session. Thank you for weighing in on SB336 (Peake), which would have required public comment at every meeting of a public body, and on SB630 (Surovell), which would have added additional penalties for person who intentionally alters or destroys a record or who voted erroneously to certify a closed session. And thanks for your calls on the checkbook bill. A House Counties, Cities & Towns subcommittee today did not report SB751 (Sturtevant), the bill that would have required larger localities (over 25,000 population) and school divisions (more than 5000 students) to post their checkbook registries in a particular fashion.

VML contact: Michelle Gowdy, mgowdy@vml.org

Keep up pressure on wireless bills

HB1427 (Kilgore), the bill setting statewide fees for the use of state and local public rights-of-way was heard briefly in Senate Commerce and Labor on Tuesday and was then re-referred to Senate Finance. The companion Senate bill – SB823 (McDougle) – was heard in House Commerce and Labor and passed out of committee. VML continues to oppose these bills and the wireless support structure bills (HB1258 and SB405) that will be heard next week. If your locality has not passed a resolution opposing these bills, please do so (don’t forget to send a copy to VML). Talking points and a resolution template are posted on VML’s website.

VML contact: Michelle Gowdy, mgowdy@vml.org

Oppose mulch bill on Senate floor

HB1595 (Wilt) would restrict a locality’s ability to regulate landscape cover materials. Senate Local Government today took very little testimony on this bill, but the new Executive Director of the Department of Fire Programs and the State Fire Marshal spoke out against the bill. They also stated that the Governor opposed the bill. These were new facts for this issue. The committee reported the bill but is also asking for a study by the Housing Commission. The Senate companion bill, SB972 (Obenshain), will be heard this afternoon in House Counties, Cities and Towns subcommittee #2.

Bottom line: these bills raise fire safety concerns. A typical scenario is that someone will discard a burning cigarette in a pile of mulch outside a building. The mulch then can catch on fire, and because the mulch abuts flammable siding, the fire spreads to the building. HB1595 and SB972 would preclude the authority of localities to require a separation between the flammable mulch materials and the building.

Please call your senator in opposition to HB1595.

Talking points for HB1595:

This is a fire-safety issue that should be addressed at the local level. There have been multiple fires related to landscape materials in multiple jurisdictions. (Here’s just one example!)
A recommended approach is to have an 18-inch clearance between landscape materials and combustible building materials, such as wood, vinyl siding and decks.
Regulation of landscape materials should not be in the vested rights section of the Virginia Code.
This issue has been litigated and local government has prevailed in regulating landscape materials; this bill would discredit the court decision.

VML contact: Michelle Gowdy, mgowdy@vml.org

Call to oppose use value assessment bill

HB 1204 (Hugo) uses a fabricated population formula to identify and force assessing officials in Arlington and Loudoun Counties to determine fair market value by specially and separately assessing any real estate devoted to open-space use, that contains at least five acres. The bill mandates this special treatment regardless of whether or not the locality has adopted an ordinance to provide for use value assessment of real estate dedicated to open-space. The legislation was introduced to reduce the real estate bills for two privately owned golf courses in Arlington County. However, the bill goes way beyond preferential tax treatment for golf courses. Residential and commercial properties would also be eligible provided that the properties had at least five acres of undeveloped land. HB 1204 passed the House of Delegates on February 13 by a vote of 65 to 33 (see how your delegate voted).

The bill’s next stop is the Senate Finance Committee. Please call members of the committee in opposition to HB1204. The bill will be taken up next Tuesday morning, Feb. 27.

Talking points for HB 1204:

The bill grabs the authority to make decisions on local land use and local tax policy from local governments and turns it over to the state. If approved, this action would overturn decades of precedent set by state statutes.
The measure effectively creates a new definition for fair market value, rejecting the longstanding practice of recognizing “highest and best use” set in state statute and recommended by the American Society of Appraisers.
In addition to eroding local authority, the bill has a potential impact on the amount of direct school aid received by localities. The state funding formula takes into consideration the ability of each locality to pay for elementary and secondary education. That formula considers the true value of real property as the highest variable, weighted at 50.0 percent.
- By declaring the value of the open-space land as “fair market value,” a locality’s local composite index would end up as a lesser number than if the open-space land was assessed at the highest and best use level.
- This means the affected locality would have a lower index number, potentially resulting in more state aid that would be pulled from all other localities.
- State financial aid for K-12 is a zero-sum game. When local composite indexes sink for some localities, the indexes will then rise for others. The reason is that the state aid formula measures the individual change in Locality X with the changes in all other localities.
- For example, in the 2010 calculations for local composite indexes, the numbers in Northern Virginia went down because real estate values crashed first in that area of the state. As the local composite index numbers dropped in Northern Virginia, the numbers rose elsewhere in the state not yet affected by the Great Recession.
- HB 1204 would have the same effect.

VML contact: Neal Menkes, nmenkes@vml.org

Budget amendments posted on-line

The budget amendments proposed by the House Appropriations Committee and the Senate Finance Committee are on-line. (Click here to view the House amendments; here to view the Senate amendments to the 2018-2020 biennial budget.) The House and Senate will vote on each chamber’s version of the budget tomorrow, Feb. 22. Budget conferees will then be appointed and start to work on reconciling the two versions. Conferees are supposed to finish their work by March 6, with the conference report due on legislators’ desks by March 8. The General Assembly is set to adjourn March 10. VML staff reported on a quick snapshot of the proposals in the Feb. 19 eNews but staff is working on a thorough review. Also, the Superintendent of Public Instruction’s memorandum on the K-12 budget should be posted this Friday here.

VML contacts: Janet Areson, jareson@vml.org; Neal Menkes, nmenkes@vml.org

Update on other action in Senate General Laws, Local Government

Senate General Laws and Senate Local Government committees reported several bills VML has been following this session:

HB574 (Hodges), which allows cooperative procurement to be used for stream restoration, stormwater management and all associated and necessary construction and maintenance projects. The Senate companion, SB688 (Ruff), has passed the House.

HB508 (Hodges), the bill that allows rooftop solar as a by right use, was passed out of Senate Local Government without question. The Chairman of Senate Local Government, Senator Stanley, had the companion bill on the Senate side. HB508 along with HB509 (Hodges) regarding comprehensive plans and solar facilities are expected to become law.

HB594 (Carr), giving localities an additional tool for dealing with criminal blight and real property. SB451 (Dance), the companion bill, is on the House floor.

HB709 (Bell, J.J.), increasing the maximum fine for a zoning violation from $1,000 to $2,000. SB187 (Favola), the Senate companion, is in House Counties, Cities and Towns.

HB1179 (Pillion), which allows the creation of abandoned school revitalization zones in any locality by ordinance. HB1179 and its Senate companion, SB448 (Chafin) as originally introduced only applied to localities in the Coalfield Region. SB448 is in House Counties, Cities and Towns.

VML contact: Michelle Gowdy, mgowdy@vml.org

VML legislative staff and assignments

Michelle Gowdy – Local government authority, planning and zoning, legal matters, housing, Freedom of Information, telecommunications and technology. mgowdy@vml.org; 804-523-8525

Janet Areson – Health and human services, and the state budget. jareson@vml.org; 804-523-8522

Mike Polychrones – Environment, land use, natural resources, elections and transportation policy. mpolychrones@vml.org; 804-523-8530

Neal Menkes (under contract) – Taxation and finance, the state budget, transportation funding, retirement, education funding and community and economic development. nmenkes@vml.org; 804-523-8523

Roger Wiley (under contract) – Courts, criminal law, civil law, and procurement. roger@heftywiley.com; 804-780-3143

Chris LaGow (under contract) –Insurance and workers’ compensation. chris@lagowlobby.com; 804-225-8570