Authorizes an investor-owned electric utility to petition the State Corporation Commission for approval of a rate adjustment clause for recovery of the costs of one or more pumped hydroelectricity generation and storage facilities that utilize associated on-site or off-site renewable energy resources as all or a portion of their power source and such facilities and associated resources are located in the coalfield region of the Commonwealth. The measure provides that the requirement that a utility demonstrate that it has considered and weighed alternative options, including third-party market alternatives, in its selection process does not apply to these generation and storage facilities. The construction of these generation and storage facilities is declared to be in the public interest, and in determining whether to approve such facility, the Commission is directed to liberally construe the provisions of Title 56.
Sponsored bills
Authorizes the Board of Education (the Board) to establish regional charter school divisions consisting of at least two but not more than three existing school divisions in regions in which each underlying school division has an enrollment of more than 3,000 students and one or more schools that have accreditation denied status for two out of the past three years. The bill requires such regional charter school divisions to be supervised by a school board that consists of eight members appointed by the Board and one member appointed by the localities of each of the underlying divisions. The bill authorizes the school board, after a review by the Board, to review and approve public charter school applications in the regional charter school divisions and to contract with the applicant. The bill requires that the state share of Standards of Quality per pupil funding of the underlying school district in which the student resides be transferred to such school. This bill is identical to
Requires the local electoral boards to direct the general registrars to investigate the list of registered voters whenever the number of registered voters in a county or city exceeds the population of persons age 18 years or older, based on the most recent population estimate of the Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service of the University of Virginia. The bill also requires the local electoral boards to direct the general registrars to investigate the list of persons voting at an election whenever the number of persons voting at any election in a county or city exceeds the number of persons registered to vote in that county or city. The Department of Elections is required to provide certain data to any general registrar conducting such an investigation for the registrar's use during the investigation. The local electoral boards are required to make reports of the findings to the State Board. These reports are public documents.
Requires electronic pollbooks to contain the photographs of registered voters that are obtained by the general registrars in the production of voter photo identification cards or contained in a voter's Department of Motor Vehicles record. The bill also provides that if the electronic pollbook contains the voter's photograph, the officer of election is required to access that photograph and the voter is not required to present one of the statutorily required forms of identification. The bill prohibits lists of voters furnished pursuant to current law from containing any voter's photograph. The bill has a delayed effective date of July 1, 2018.
Permits nonviolent felons to possess, transport, and carry muzzle-loading firearms and black powder in a quantity not exceeding five pounds if it is intended to be used solely for sporting, recreational, or cultural purposes in muzzle-loading firearms.
Provides an exception from the prohibition against carrying a weapon into courthouses in the Commonwealth for a commissioner or deputy commissioner of the Workers' Compensation Commission while in the conduct of official duties.
Provides that the two percent transfer fee for land preservation tax credits shall not apply to a distribution of credits to a nonresident owner of a pass-through entity when such credits are applied by the pass-through entity to the withholding tax of the nonresident owner.
Directs the court to reimburse a plaintiff for the costs of an inverse condemnation proceeding for "damaging" property if a judgment is entered for the plaintiff. Under current law, the court is directed to award costs only for the "taking" of property. The amendment in this bill corresponds with the language of amendments to Article I, Section 11 of the Constitution of Virginia, which became effective on January 1, 2013, and applies to declaratory judgment proceedings filed on or after July 1, 2017.
Expresses the time frame within which petitions for appeal from a final judgment of a trial court or the State Corporation Commission to the Supreme Court shall be filed, currently expressed in months, in an equivalent number of days. As introduced, the bill is a recommendation of the Judicial Council.
Authorizes the Supreme Court of Virginia to grant a 30-day extension of the deadline for presentation of the petition for appeal in all cases for good cause shown. Under current law, the Court may grant an extension in criminal cases only. The bill also expresses time periods, currently expressed as months, in an equivalent number of days to reduce ambiguity. This bill is a recommendation of the Judicial Council of Virginia.