HBAV LEGISLATIVE AGENDA BEGINS JOURNEY

The second full week of the 2009 session of the Virginia General Assembly ends today. Much of the week was consumed with early morning and early evening meetings of the subcommittees and full committees of both houses of the state legislature. The 100-member House of Delegates has 14 standing committees and the 40-member State Senate has 11 standing committees. All 25 standing committees have two to four subcommittees.

 
Last Friday was the last day of the 2009 session of the state legislature for state lawmakers to introduce bills. Over 2,200 bills and resolutions have been introduced this session. That is down from a past average of over 3,000 bills and resolutions. Some Capitol Observers have suggested that may be the impact of a new rule the House of Delegates imposed on themselves that limits each House member to 10 pre-filed bills and 5 Regular Session bills. The State Senate did not impose a bill introduction limit on itself.

The HBAV Legislative Committee, which meets each Friday afternoon by Conference Call has identified over 75 House Bills and Senate Bills that could help or hurt the housing climate in Virginia, and given clear instructions to the HBAV lobbying team to make every effort to "Impact" their legislative course. The HBAV Matrix (status of each identified bill) of such legislation is reviewed each Friday by the committee, which is chaired by Richmond area home builder Bill Garrett.

On the political side, one "HOT" dispute was resolved. The House Republican Majority seated Democrat Charniele Herring, who defeated Republican Joe Murray by 16 votes in a Special Election on the day before the 2009 session convened. Murray contested the close election, so Ms. Herring was not seated until after an official recount was conducted this Monday. Delegate Herring succeeds Brian Moran in the Alexandria House seat. Moran resigned in late December to spend full-time on his campaign for the Democratic nomination for governor.

 
The 4-piece HBAV Legislative Agenda began its path through the legislative process. One Bill (House Bill 2029, by Danny Marshall) advanced through full committee and a subcommittee hearing was conducted on two others (House Bill 1788, by Bob Hull and House Bill 2077, by Glenn Oder). The 4th, a Senate Bill, (Senate Bill 1335, by Senator Stuart) will be considered this coming Tuesday in the Senate Committee on Local Government.

This will be the final full week that House and Senate bills can be considered in their house of origin. Tuesday, February 10th is Crossover Day or the last day House bills can be considered in the House and Senate Bills can be considered in the State Senate. Crossover Day is the "major" deadline of every session of the Virginia General Assembly.

 

House Bill 2077, by Delegate Glenn Oder of Newport News, is a plan validity extension measure. It would extend the validity of any proffer, subdivision plat, plot, preliminary plan, final plan, conditional use permit, special use permit, special exception, construction plan, public improvement plan, site plan, or any other land use document or action that is valid and outstanding as of January 1, 2009, for a period of five years from its current expiration date, and any deadline or scheduled event specified in such document or action is extended for a period of five years, regardless of whether such expiration or schedule exists by operation of statute, proffer, permit, local ordinance, or local custom.  House Bill 2077 was briefly introduced to the House CC&T Subcommittee #2, chaired by Delegate Danny Marshall on Thursday morning of this week.  After several localities and representatives of VACO vigorously stated their opposition to the bill, Delegate Oder announced he would delay further consideration of the measure until this coming Thursday morning.  The subcommittee meets at 7:00 a.m. in the GAB.
 
House Bill 2029, by Delegate Danny Marshall would "temporarily" (five years) reduce the 25% bond administrative fee to 10% above the estimated construction cost.  This legislation will reduce a landowner's cost and increase his borrowing capacity.  House Bill 2029 was approved by House CC&T Subcommittee #2 and the full 22-member House CC&T Committee.  Fairfax County and VACO urged the subcommittee to shorten the temporary reduction to two years.
 
House Bills 1788, by Delegate Hull & House Bill 2294, by Delegate Merricks would prohibit a locality from not allowing the use of "alternative" or "non-conventional" on-site wastewater treatment systems that have been approved for use by the Department of Health.  The legislation would also prohibit localities from imposing maintenance requirements on such systems more stringent than required by the Department of Health, or in their absence, manufacturer's recommendations.
 
House Bills 1788 and 2294 were considered by the House CC&T Subcommittee #2 on Thursday morning of this week for the second time.  HBAV appeared in support of the measure and a long list of localities and environmental organizations appeared in opposition to the HBAV requested bills, again. Most of the opposition focused on the section of the bill that prohibited localities from imposing more stringent maintenance requirements than state regulations or guidelines or manufacturer recommendations.  That maintenance guidance is currently being revised into regulations, and they are not scheduled to become final until later this year or early next year.
 
Consequently, HBAV was requested by the Subcommittee to redraft the bill to make the prohibition on more stringent local maintenance effective upon the final promulgation of state maintenance regulations by the Virginia Department of Health.  Both bills were combined in HB 1788 and Delegate Hull deferred further discussion until this coming Thursday. 
 
Senate Bill 1335, by Senator Richard Stuart of Stafford would allow, not require, a local government to waive the requirement for a public hearing in their consideration of an amendment to an existing proffer.  Such a waiver could significantly decrease the time required to approve such an amendment.
 
Many proffers that have been volunteered to local governments in conjunction with a rezoning or other land use decision have dates or triggers that either requires a payment to be made or some other action to take place.  Most of those dates or triggers in many proffers were volunteered at a time in the Virginia economy when there was high demand for new housing and that demand had been forecast to continue far into the future.
 
Senate Bill 1335 was assigned to the Senate Committee on Local Government last week and will be considered by the 15-member standing committee of the upper chamber this coming Tuesday.