A digest of news from the General Assembly of interest to local governments
Jan. 15, 2014
Budget | Education | Environment | Ethics | Finance/Taxes | FOIA | Human Services
| Land Use | Local Authority | Personnel | Public Safety | Retirement/Benefits |
Transportation | Miscellaneous
Finances/Taxes
Raid on local telecommunications tax proposed
Two Senate bills shift responsibility back to the state for payment of benefits to local
employees under the Line of Duty Act – but then require that these benefits be paid by
transferring revenue generated by the telecommunications tax.
SB 289 (Carrico) and SB 493 (Puckett) would not correct the problems that arose in
2011 when the state shifted responsibility for payment of Line of Duty Act benefits for
local employees to local governments. If anything, these bills make the mandate worse
by diverting telecommunication tax revenues, which are local taxes collected by the state
and returned for the most part to localities.
Under the Line of Duty Act, public safety officers who are disabled in the course of
their employment and their families are eligible for benefits, the most expensive of which
is continued health insurance coverage. The surviving spouse and family of public safety
employees whose death was the result of employment also are eligible for these benefits.
The state Department of Accounts determines eligibility, but local governments have to
pay those costs. Up until 2011, the state, which created the program, paid the costs.
The bills, which are identical, establish a state Line of Duty Death and Health
Benefits Fund, which would pay for the benefits already provided under the Line of Duty
Act. The Department of Accounts would continue to determine eligibility.
The bills establish a board to advise the Comptroller of the Department of Accounts
on claims for benefits from employees who had not been declared disabled by the
Virginia Retirement System, the Social Security Administration, Workers Compensation
Board, etc., or who were working in another position.
The bills are in the Senate Finance Committee. Please contact members of the
committee in opposition to these bills.
Talking points:

The Communication Sales and Use Tax Trust Fund is made up of local, not state
taxes.

When the fund was created, local governments gave up local taxing authority in
order to standardize local taxes on telecommunications. As part of the deal, the
state agreed not to make raids on the fund.

The bill does not address the mandate created when the state shifted financial
responsibility for the payment of benefits under the Line of Duty Act to local
governments.
Similar legislation has not been introduced in the House, but Del. Chris Jones,
chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, has proposed that the Joint Legislative
Audit and Review Commission (JLARC) study the Line of Duty Act program.
HJR 103 calls on JLARC to study the current implementation of the act, the current
and projected future costs of benefits, and the advisability of coordinating those benefits
with additional benefits paid under other state and federal programs. The study would be
completed by November 2015. HJR 103 is in the House Rules Committee. On the first
day of the session, Jones said that Line of Duty Act bills would be rolled into this study
resolution.
Staff contact: Mary Jo Fields, mfields@vml.org
Support improvements to fiscal impact process
Several bills in the House and Senate Rules Committees stem from recommendations
made by a task force that examined how bills with a local fiscal impact are assessed.
These bills all improve the fiscal impact process and should be supported.
HB 199 (Landes) allows the Department of Planning and Budget and the Department
of Taxation to refer bills to the Commission on Local Government to prepare local fiscal
estimates. The bill further requires the Division of Legislative Services to examine all
study resolutions to forward those call for studying local revenues and expenditures to the
COLG for fiscal analysis.
Currently, the Division of Legislative Services is the only agency that identifies bills
for referral to the COLG. The tax department and DPB both prepare fiscal impact
statements for legislation. However, for bills with local fiscal implications, the two
departments simply acknowledge that there is a local fiscal impact but that the amount is
unknown.
HB 633 (Kilgore), SB 523 (Ruff) and SB 574 (Stanley) require local fiscal impact
bills to be introduced no later than the first day of the session. This used to be the case
for bills with a local fiscal impact, but the requirement was removed in 2010. A first-day
introduction requirement would allow more time for fiscal impact statements to be
prepared.
Contact members of the House Rules Committee and the Senate Rules Committee
and ask them to support these bills.
Staff contact: Kimberly Pollard, kpollard@vml.org
Other bills …
Evaluating tax preferences
Summary: HB 406 (Toscano) would require the Joint Subcommittee to Evaluate Tax
Preferences to revise performance measures for economic development tax preferences to
include a minimum number of new full-time jobs for which the average wages are at least
equal to the prevailing wage in the locality and that include standard fringe benefits.
Action: The bill is in the House Rules Committee.
Staff contact: Kimberly Pollard, kpollard@vml.org
Tax reform
Summary: HB 431 (LeMunyon) would create a new joint legislative subcommittee
to recommend changes to state and local taxes that make them more transparent,
efficient, simpler, stable, fairer and less burdensome on economic activity and citizens
with the lowest incomes. The existing Joint Subcommittee to Evaluate Tax Preferences
would be eliminated.
Action: The bill is in the House Rules Committee.
Staff contact: Kimberly Pollard, kpollard@vml.org.
Public Safety
Other bills …
Active shooter training
Summary: HB 337 (Webert) establishes a fund to assist small local governments
with the cost of training law enforcement officers in how to respond to incidents in which
a person is actively engaged in killing or attempting to kill people.
A qualifying local government could receive up to $50,000 in a year from the Active
Shooter Local Law-Enforcement Training Grant Fund.
Action: The bill is in the House Militia, Police and Public Safety Committee.
Staff contact: Kimberly Pollard, kpollard@vml.org.
Library gun ban
Summary: HB 992 (BaCote) allows a locality to adopt an ordinance that prohibits
people from carrying guns in its libraries.
Action: The bill is in the House Militia, Police and Public Safety Subcommittee #1.
Staff contact: Kimberly Pollard, kpollard@vml.org.
VML legislative staff
Kim Winn (VML Executive Director)
kwinn@vml.org
(O) 804-523-8521 (C) 804-205-4671
Janet Areson – Lobbies on issues involving health and human services, and the state
budget.
jareson@vml.org
(O) 804-523-8522 (C) 804-400-0556
Mary Jo Fields – Lobbies on issues involving education policy, education funding and
retirement.
mfields@vml.org
(O) 804-523-8524 (C) 804-400-0555
Mark Flynn – Lobbies on issues involving legal matters, housing, elections,
telecommunications and technology.
mflynn@vml.org
(O) 804-523-8525 (C) 804-400-1321
Joe Lerch – Lobbies on issues involving the environment, land use, natural resources
and transportation policy.
jlerch@vml.org
(O) 804-523-8530 (C) 804-640-5615
Neal Menkes – Lobbies on issues involving taxation and finance, the state budget,
transportation funding, and community and economic development.
nmenkes@vml.org
(O) 804-523-8523 (C) 804-400-1191
Kimberly Pollard – Lobbies on issues involving public safety and legislative procedural
matters.
kpollard@vml.org
(O) 804-523-8528 (C) 804-400-1987
Robie Ingram (under contract) – Lobbies on issues involving courts, criminal law, civil
law, FOIA, procurement and general laws.
memechose2@yahoo.com
(C) 804-683-3201
Chris LaGow (under contract) – Lobbies on issues involving insurance and workers’
compensation
chris@lagowlobby.com
(O) 804-225-8570 (C) 804-356-0118