Installation of certain facilities by developer; reimbursement. Provides specific parameters to address the installation of reasonable and necessary sewerage and water facilities located on or outside the property limits of the land owned or controlled by the developer or subdivider that is necessitated or required, at least in part, by the utility needs of the development or subdivision, including reasonably anticipated capacity, extensions, or maintenance considerations of a utility service plan for the service area. Such developer or subdivider shall be entitled to reimbursement of its costs, including a new mechanism for connection fee reimbursement, by any subsequent developer or subdivider that utilizes the installed sewerage or water facility, except for those costs associated with the installing developer's pro rata share. The bill provides authority, at the developer's option, for reimbursement for the water and sewer facility in exchange for entitlement to water or sewer connection or capacity fees otherwise due to the locality imposed upon the developer's lots within its development or subdivision.
Electric utilities; incentive programs for low-income customers. Authorizes Dominion Energy Virginia and American Electric Power to recover, through a rate adjustment clause, the costs of designing, implementing, and operating programs to provide incentives to low-income, elderly, and disabled individuals who participate in an energy conservation program, or to organizations providing residential services to such individuals, for the installation of, or access to, solar energy generating equipment. The measure also clarifies that these utilities shall submit a petition for approval to design, implement, and operate a separate three-year incentive program, in an amount not to exceed $25 million in the aggregate, to enable the installation of, or access to, solar energy equipment, that is in addition to the existing $25 million in incentives the utilities are required to provide over three years to low-income, elderly, and disabled individuals for energy conservation measures.
Charter; City of Charlottesville; city organization; council. Modernizes and reorganizes aspects of the charter of the City of Charlottesville. The bill updates and repeals various provisions to conform to state and federal law as well as current city organization. This bill is identical to HB 1107.
Public institutions of higher education; eligibility for in-state tuition. Provides that any student is eligible for in-state tuition who (i) attended high school for at least two years in the Commonwealth and either (a) graduated on or after July 1, 2008, from a public or private high school or program of home instruction in the Commonwealth or (b) passed, on or after July 1, 2008, a high school equivalency examination approved by the Secretary of Education; (ii) has submitted evidence that he or, in the case of a dependent student, at least one parent, guardian, or person standing in loco parentis has filed, unless exempted by state law, Virginia income tax returns for at least two years prior to the date of registration or enrollment; and (iii) registers as an entering student or is enrolled in a public institution of higher education in the Commonwealth. The bill states that students who meet these criteria shall be eligible for in-state tuition regardless of their citizenship or immigration status, except students with currently valid visas issued under 8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(15)(F), 1101(a)(15)(H)(iii), 1101(a)(15)(J) (including only students or trainees), or 1101(a)(15)(M). Information obtained in the implementation of the provisions of the bill shall only be used or disclosed to individuals other than the student for purposes of determining in-state tuition eligibility. This bill is identical to HB 1547.
Siting of solar facilities in economically disadvantaged localities. Requires any applicant for a solar facility to give to the host locality written notice of the applicant's intent to locate a solar facility in an opportunity zone, defined in the bill, in such locality and request a meeting. Such applicant shall meet, discuss, and negotiate a siting agreement with such locality. The siting agreement may include terms and conditions, including mitigation of any impacts of such solar facility and financial compensation to the host locality to address various capital needs. If the parties to the siting agreement agree upon the terms and conditions of a siting agreement, the host locality shall schedule a public hearing for the purpose of consideration of such siting agreement. If a majority of a quorum of the members of the governing body present at such public hearing approve of such siting agreement, the siting agreement shall be executed by the signatures of (i) the chief executive officer of the host locality and (ii) the applicant or the applicant's authorized agent. The siting agreement shall continue in effect until it is amended, revoked, or suspended. The provisions of the bill shall not apply to any solar facility that has received zoning and site plan approval, preliminary or otherwise, from the host locality on or before January 1, 2020.
Charter; Town of Blacksburg; public hearings. Clarifies provisions related to public hearings in the Town of Blacksburg by providing that if the town council plans to conduct a public hearing related to a proposed ordinance but to delay action on the proposal, the date for the delayed vote shall be stated on the agenda. Furthermore, the bill allows the council, after conducting and closing the public hearing, to vote to delay action until its next regular meeting. This bill is identical to HB 629.
Public institutions of higher education; public-private partnerships; wind and solar power. Permits each public institutionof higher education to enter into a public-private partnership withany private entity whereby such entity is permitted to use at nocost property owned or controlled by such public institution of highereducation for the generation of wind or solar power in exchange foroffering educational immersion programs for high school studentsand students at public institutions of higher education that providehands-on education and training in the construction, operations, and maintenance of its wind or solar power generators. The bill requiresany energy produced by such solar or wind power generators to be(i) used to provide power for the partner public institution of highereducation or (ii) introduced to applicable power grids and sold atmarket rates, with profits split as agreed upon by the private entityand the partner public institution of higher education. The billrequires any such profits gained by the partner public institutionof higher education to be used to further research, expand cleanenergy education programs, or lower student tuition rates.
Sex offenses requiring registration. Clarifiesthe registration and reregistration obligations imposed upon a personconvicted of a foreign sex offense for the purposes of registration with the Sex Offender and Crimes Against Minors Registry. The billalso provides that a person who is required to register may notpetition the circuit court for the removal of his name and all identifyinginformation from the Registry if such person was convicted of twoor more offenses for which registration is required and was at libertybetween such convictions. Under current law, a person does not needto be at liberty between such convictions and would be prohibitedfrom petitioning for removal from the Registry.
Marine Resources Commission permit fees; pier application; oyster fund. Requires the submission of an application to the Marine Resources Commission for review and processing prior to the construction of a private pier by an owner of riparian land. The bill creates a nonrefundable processing fee of $100 to accompany each such application and each application submitted to the Commission for a permit to use state-owned submerged lands. The bill increases permit fees for the use of such bottomlands from $25 to $100 for projects costing no more than $10,000 and from $100 to $300 for projects costing more than $10,000 but, under the bill, no more than $500,000 and imposes a fee of $600 for a new category of projects costing more than $500,000. The bill increases the range of royalties for the removal of bottom material from $0.20-$0.60 per cubic yard to $0.40-$0.80. The bill authorizes the Commission to increase or decrease fees every three years for certain marine habitat applications, permits, leases, rents, and royalties at a rate no greater than the change in the Consumer Price Index. Finally, the bill establishes the Oyster Leasing, Conservation, and Repletion Programs Fund for the purpose of administering the Commission's oyster ground leasing program and its oyster conservation and repletion program. The provisions of the bill are contingent on funding in a general appropriation act.
Health insurance; mental health parity; required report. Codifies an existing requirement that the State Corporation Commission's Bureau of Insurance make an annual report regarding claims information for mental health and substance use disorder benefits. The bill adds information regarding network adequacy to such report and requires the Bureau to submit the report to the House Committee on Labor and Commerce and the Senate Committee on Commerce and Labor by September 1 of each year. The bill directs the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission (JLARC) to conduct a third-party review of the Bureau's report. The bill requires JLARC, in conducting its review, to examine the information compiled by the Bureau from 2017 through 2020 and any other information it deems relevant and to report (i) its findings regarding mental health and substance abuse disorder benefits parity with medical and surgical benefits and access to mental health and substance abuse disorder services and (ii) its recommendations, if any, to the House Committee on Labor and Commerce, the Senate Committee on Commerce and Labor, and the Joint Subcommittee to Study Mental Health Services in the Commonwealth in the Twenty-First Century by December 1, 2020.
Classification of land and improvements for tax purposes; City of Richmond. Authorizes the City of Richmond to impose a tax rate on improvements to real property that is different than the City's tax rate on the land upon which the improvements are located, provided that the tax rate is not zero and does not exceed the tax rate imposed on the land. Under current law, the Cities of Fairfax, Roanoke, and Poquoson have the authority to tax improvements and land at different rates.
Electric utility regulation; pilot program for undergrounding electrical transmission lines. Provides that the State Corporation Commission's approval of a proposed transmission line for inclusion in a pilot program established as part of the Grid Transformation and Security Act enacted in 2018 (i) precludes the placement of future overhead electrical transmission lines of at least 69 kilovolts in the same area or corridor by other transmission projects for a period of 10 years and (ii) does not preclude (a) any underground transmission lines in such right-of-way or (b) any electrical distribution lines in such right-of-way. The pilot program provides for the underground construction of two electrical transmission lines, including one for the Haymarket transmission line project in Prince William County.
