Virginia Bills

Extends the sunset date from January 1, 2018, to January 1, 2020, for the local gas severance tax that is dedicated to (i) the local Coal and Gas Road Improvement Fund, (ii) the Virginia Coalfield Economic Development Fund, and (iii) water, sewer, and natural gas systems and lines. This bill is identical to

Allows transportation network companies two fee options when applying for an original or renewal of a certificate. A transportation network company may either pay the existing certificate fees of $100,000 upon application and $60,000 for renewal or pay a $20 surcharge per record when purchasing a driver transcript in addition to the current transcript fee. This bill is identical to

Establishes the Virginia Tax Amnesty Program to be administered by the Department of Taxation (the Department) during the 2017-2018 fiscal year for not less than 60 nor more than 75 days, as determined by the Tax Commissioner. The Program will be open to any taxpayer that is required but has failed to file a return or to pay any tax administered by the Department. All civil or criminal penalties assessed or assessable and one-half of the interest assessed or assessable, resulting from nonpayment, underpayment, nonreporting, or underreporting of tax liabilities, will be waived upon payment of the taxes and interest. For purposes of implementing the Program, the Department is exempt from the project management and procurement oversight of the Virginia Information Technologies Agency. This bill is identical to

Provides that a clerk of a circuit court that has established an electronic filing system for land records may charge a fee not to exceed $5 per instrument for every land record filed by paper. This bill is identical to

Directs the Commissioner of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services and the Director of Criminal Justice Services, in conjunction with the relevant stakeholders, to develop a comprehensive model for the use of alternative transportation providers to provide safe and efficient transportation of individuals involved in the emergency custody or involuntary admission process as an alternative to transportation by law enforcement. The bill requires that the model be completed by October 1, 2017, and reported to the Joint Subcommittee to Study Mental Health Services in the Commonwealth in the 21st Century, the House Committee for Courts of Justice, and the Senate Committee for Courts of Justice. This bill is identical to

Removes the condition that a building must be for public use in order for the Class 1 misdemeanor for maliciously activating a building's fire alarm to apply. The bill authorizes any locality to provide by ordinance that a person convicted of maliciously activating a fire alarm shall be liable for the reasonable expense in responding to such a fire alarm. Current law allows such an ordinance to impose liability for the reasonable expense of an emergency response to an imitation version of a weapon of terrorism, fire bomb, other explosive device, bomb threat, or incitement of a bomb threat. The bill increases the maximum amount that a locality or volunteer emergency medical services agency may recover under such an ordinance from $1,000 to $2,500. This bill is identical to

Requires that any arbitration proceeding regarding the exercise of an employer's right of subrogation to an employee's claim against a third party shall be limited solely to arbitrating the amount and validity of the employer's lien and shall not affect the employee's rights in any way. Such arbitration shall not be held unless (i) any contested expenses remaining have been submitted to the Virginia Workers' Compensation Commission (the Commission) for a determination of their validity and the Commission has made such determination of validity prior to the commencement of the arbitration; (ii) prior to the commencement of such arbitration the employer has provided the injured employee and his attorney, if any, with an itemization of the expenses associated with the lien that is the subject of the arbitration; (iii) upon receipt of the itemization of the lien, the employee shall have 21 days to provide a written objection to any expenses included in the lien to the employer, and if the employee does not do so any objections to the lien to be arbitrated shall be deemed waived; and (iv) the employer shall have 14 days after receipt of the written objection to notify the employee of any contested expenses that the employer does not agree to remove from the lien, and if the employer does not do so any itemized expense objected to by the employee shall be deemed withdrawn and not included in the arbitration. This bill is identical to

Broadens eligibility for the Two-Year College Transfer Grant Program by including students whose Expected Family Contribution, as calculated by the federal government using the family's financial information reported on the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), is no more than $12,000. Currently the program is available only to students whose Expected Family Contribution is no more than $8,000. The bill does not affect additional eligibility requirements for the Two-Year College Transfer Grant Program. This bill is identical to

Replaces the term "mental retardation" in all of its various iterations with a corresponding iteration of the term "intellectual disability" for purposes of the statutes governing capital cases. The U.S. Supreme Court has held in

Provides that storage of inventory in the Commonwealth is sufficient nexus to require out-of-state businesses to collect sales and use tax on sales to customers in the Commonwealth.