2013 General AssemblySession Update
Tracy Gordon – Assistant to the County ExecutiveOffice of Executive Management
2013 General Assembly Session Update| February 5, 2013 |2|
2013 General Assembly
46 day (short) session A number of significant issues to be addressed
Governor’s initiatives: transportation and education
Medicaid expansionUranium mining
Partisan tensions heightened after Senate Republicans maneuvered to approve new Senate districts
2013 General Assembly Session Update| February 5, 2013
Prince William County Bills
Legislation in the 2012 Session created a stronger connection between local land use planning and transportation planningPWC requested bills to improve implementationBills were amended to mitigate VDOT concerns
HB 1717 (Anderson)/SB 1293 (Barker)Provides that VDOT may review plan changes and return to a
locality in a shorter period than 90 daysHouse bill was amended in subcommittee to be 45 days or
shorter (will need to be resolved)Both bills are passing their chamber with no opposition
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2013 General Assembly Session Update| February 5, 2013
Prince William County Bills, continued
Legislation in the 2012 Session created a stronger connection between local land use planning and transportation planningPWC requested bills to improve implementationBills were amended to mitigate VDOT concerns
HB 1718 (Anderson)/SB 1075 (Barker)Provides for situations where VDOT and a locality agree
upon the alteration or termination of a projectBoth bills are passing their chamber with no opposition
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2013 General Assembly Session Update| February 5, 2013
Prince William County Bills, continued
HB 2165 (Dudenhefer) would have increased the fines for placing signs in the VDOT right-of-way for repeat offenses from $100 to $250Faced opposition from the homebuilders, realtors
and business communityFailed to report from subcommittee
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2013 General Assembly Session Update| February 5, 2013
Prince William County Bills, continued
SB 1226 (Stuart) extends the window localities have to expend proffer revenue from 7 years to 12 yearsHomebuilders opposed a provision that removed
a requirement that reallocated proffers be spent in the same vicinity as the original purpose
Negotiated with homebuilders to achieve consensus
Bill reported from committee and passed the Senate without opposition
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2013 General Assembly Session Update| February 5, 2013
Transportation
Governor’s transportation funding proposal: HB 2313 (Howell and Hugo)/SB 1355 (Newman)
Eliminates the gas taxAdds .8 cents to the sales tax, and dedicate an additional .25
cents of the existing sales tax to be dedicated to transportation funding
Increases some feesAllocates future internet sales tax revenues to education,
transportation
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2013 General Assembly Session Update| February 5, 2013
Transportation, continued
Potential PWC projects that could be funded with the Governor’s transportation funding proposal$13.3 million to widen Route 28 to 6 lanes
(preliminary engineering, construction) $10 million for preliminary engineering for the Bi-
County Parkway Bypass at Manassas National Battlefield Park
$10 million for the Route 234 bypass interchange at the Prince William Parkways (preliminary engineering and right-of-way)
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2013 General Assembly Session Update| February 5, 2013
Transportation, continued
Governor’s transportation funding proposalHouse bill amended in committee, debated and
amended on the floor yesterdayChris Jones (Suffolk) substitute adoptedDiscussion included a commitment from the Speaker
that there would be a strong effort to have regional solutions for the “Urban Crescent” included in the conference report
Senate bill to be debated on the floor today
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2013 General Assembly Session Update| February 5, 2013
Transit
HB 2070 (Comstock)/SB 1140 (Petersen)Performance measures in transit funding formulaInstability and lack of predictability in funding for
transit providersHB 2070 was tabled in subcommitteeSB 1140 reported from Finance with amendments
The amended version is an improvement, but negotiations continue in hopes of further improving the bill
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2013 General Assembly Session Update| February 5, 2013
Transit, continued.
HB 2152 (Anderson)/SB 1210 (Stuart)Changes the voting structure of Virginia Railway Express
to increase the voting weight of the CommonwealthVRE Operations Board and PWC BOCS oppose the bills
Concerns regarding changing voting structure through legislation rather than through the Master Agreement
May impact the perceptions of VRE bond holders and creditorsHB 2152 reported from committeeSB 1210 was defeated on the floor of the Senate (19-Y
20-N)
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2013 General Assembly Session Update| February 5, 2013
Land Use
HB 1430 (Lingamfelter) expands the Right to Farm Act to allow additional agricultural activities on farm propertyThe bill as drafted had a number of provisions of concern to
localities: an expansive list of allowable activities that would not be subject to local zoning laws, personal liability for government employees or officials enforcing local zoning laws
Amended bill removes many of those concerns, adds a presumption that activity on farm property is compliant, and shall not be effective unless reenacted by the 2014 General Assembly
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2013 General Assembly Session Update| February 5, 2013
Land Use, continued
HB 1429 (Morris) provides that a court may award attorney fees, expenses, and court costs to any person, group, or entity that prevails in a zoning action brought against it or that successfully challenges the validity of a zoning ordinanceProblematic for localities: attorney fees highly unusual
in this kind of case, may have a negative impact on development
Similar bill (SB 1073 Obenshain) failed to report out of committee
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2013 General Assembly Session Update| February 5, 2013
Public Safety
School Resource OfficersHB 2277 (Gilbert) and SB 940 (Stuart) would have
required each school board to coordinate with law enforcement agencies to provide SROs in every public school. Funding would have been provided through state appropriations.
The House bill was tabled and the Senate bill was passed by indefinitely
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2013 General Assembly Session Update| February 5, 2013
Public Safety, continued
HB 1762 (Ramadan) Sunday HuntingWould have allowed Sunday hunting on private
property in Fairfax, Fauquier, Loudoun, and Prince William Counties
PWC supported the bill as a way to mitigate the prevalence of Lyme Disease
Subcommittee laid the bill on the tableNo other Sunday hunting bills were reported out of
committee
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2013 General Assembly Session Update| February 5, 2013
Criminal Justice Services
HB 2293 (Wilt) would have required a judicial officer to consider minimum financial conditions of a defendant when setting bail
SB 1213 (Martin) would have required that no person be released to a pretrial services agency unless he is indigentBoth bills would have contributed to additional
defendants in local/regional jailsHB 2293 was laid on the table in subcommitteeSB 1213 was left in committee
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2013 General Assembly Session Update| February 5, 2013
Human Services
HB 1577 (Wilt) and SB 1180 (Reeves) restrict the use of federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) benefits – alcohol, gaming and adult entertainment restricted
HB 1789 (Bell) and SB 721 (Carrico) require participants in the Virginia Initiative for Employment Not Welfare (VIEW) be screened for drug use, and TANF benefits suspended if test positive
Bills to address closure of the Training Centers have been stricken or tabled, and those patrons indicate the matter will be addressed through the budget process
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2013 General Assembly Session Update| February 5, 2013
Administration of Government
HB 1401 (Cole) would have prohibited judicial sale for delinquent taxes if it is the property owner’s sole residenceBill has been amended to require notice and an
opportunity to enter into a payment agreement, and dispute resolution
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2013 General Assembly Session Update| February 5, 2013
Administration of Government, continued
HJ 551 (Ramadan) and SJ 272 (Black) are a Constitutional amendment to provide a real property tax exemption for surviving spouses of members of the military who are killed in actionHJ 551 was amended to be a local option and has
passed the HouseSJ 272 was passed by indefinitely
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2013 General Assembly Session Update| February 5, 2013
Administration of Government, continued
HB 1373 (Head) would have allowed localities the ability to publish public notices online, rather than in a publication of general circulationStrongly opposed by the Press AssociationBill failed to report out of subcommitteeNo other similar bills were reported
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2013 General Assembly Session Update| February 5, 2013
Budget
Second year of the bienniumGovernor proposed budget amendments in
DecemberHouse Appropriations and Senate Finance
proposed their amended budgets on Sunday, February 3
Each chamber will appoint conferees to negotiate the budget in a conference committee
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2013 General Assembly Session Update| February 5, 2013
Budget, continued
Medicaid expansionBoth chambers include language regarding
Medicaid expansion (provided there is an ability to opt out if federal financial participation is reduced)
Recent comments by Democratic legislators indicate that Medicaid will be an important issue for approval of the state budget
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2013 General Assembly Session Update| February 5, 2013
Budget, continued
Aid to LocalitiesThe Governor’s amended budget restores $45
million (statewide) in aid to localities (reverted back to the state since FY 09)
The House budget amendments restore $45 million in aid to localities
The Senate budget amendments do not restore aid to localities
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2013 General Assembly Session Update| February 5, 2013
Budget, continued
Cost of Competing Adjustment (COCA)Supplemental pay for support positions in school
districts with higher costs of living (Northern Virginia): $31 million would restore the full COCA
Prince William County Schools make up a full third of the Cost of Competing Adjustment
The Governor’s amended budget eliminates COCA The House budget amendments restore $6.1 million for
COCAThe Senate budget amendments restore $12.6 million
for COCA |24|
2013 General Assembly Session Update| February 5, 2013
Budget, continued
Budgets from both chambers have funds for the George Mason University PWC campus Life Sciences Building
The House budget amendments include:$1 million for STEM-H at GMUFunding for Hylton Performing Arts Center at
GMUFunding to equip the Life Sciences building
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2013 General Assembly Session Update| February 5, 2013
Budget, continued
Budgets from both chambers have funds forAid to local librariesAdditional Intellectual and Developmental
Disability waiversEarly intervention services for infants and
toddlersBeds at the Northern Virginia Mental Health
Institute
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2013 General Assembly Session Update| February 5, 2013
Session Calendar
January 9 – Session convened January 31 – Local Government Day February 3 – House and Senate budget
amendments announced February 5 – Crossover February 23 – Adjournment
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