2013 General Assembly Session Update Tracy Gordon – Assistant to the County Executive Office of Executive Management.

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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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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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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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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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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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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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

|9|


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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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|


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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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

|26|


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

|27|

2013 General Assembly Session Update Tracy Gordon – Assistant to the County Executive Office of Executive Management.

Documents

implementation bills

transportation planning

day short session

continued hb

vdot concerns hb

continued legislation

vdot rightofway

existing sales tax