Local Government Legislative Day in Richmond, sponsored by the Virginia Association of Counties and the Virginia Municipal League, attracts hundreds of local elected officials to interact with General Assembly members on issues of mutual, and sometimes not so mutual, interest to the constituents they represent.  Last fall’s general election resulted in a complete changeover of power from Republican to Democrat.  The House of Delegates has 64 Democrats and 36 Republicans, the Senate remains narrowly Democratic at 21 to 19, and the Governor, Lieutenant Governor and Attorney General are Democrats. Abigail Spanberger, the first female Governor of Virginia, addressed the local government leaders in person late in the afternoon, something Governor Youngkin never did in his entire four-year term.

Thousands of bills are proposed in the General Assembly every year.  Most are rejected during the committee process, an esoteric exercise that seems to invite debate but usually is reduced to a literal two or three minutes of testimony in agreement or opposition.  Many of the bills have significant fiscal implications for local governments.  A bill to require testing for PFAs (perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, also known as forever chemicals) before land application of sewage sludge, a common method of disposal after treatment, would place a large fiscal impact on wastewater facilities and local governments across the commonwealth, costs which would be borne by ratepayers and taxpayers.  

The hated “car tax” has been the subject of debate for decades. The state’s share of covering a portion of the tax was capped years ago when Richmond decided that it was simply too expensive to maintain the promised ratio of state to local levies.  Eliminating the car tax without a plan to replace that local revenue would be devastating to localities.  In Fairfax County, car tax revenue in FY 2025 was more than $200 million, or equivalent to about seven cents on the real estate tax rate. Delegates and senators should be reminded that state income taxes provide a majority of the Commonwealth’s revenue, but localities are reliant on real estate for the majority of their revenues.  That local tax structure dates to Thomas Jefferson’s time as governor!  An overhaul of Virginia’s tax structure, as arduous as that may be, should be a multi-year goal of the General Assembly, in consultation with local governments.

Legislation that would limit sovereign and qualified immunity of local governments could result in increases of 250 to 400 percent in insurance premiums for localities, costs of several hundred million dollars that would fall directly on local taxpayers.  The curious language of SB 228 states that when a locality provides liability insurance or self-insurance, as many larger jurisdictions do, that provision “is deemed a waiver of sovereign immunity.”  Local governments are charged with providing inherently risky but necessary functions, not just law enforcement and emergency response, but also social services, land use decisions, and public works.  Without sovereign immunity, localities face open-ended liability for lawsuits, including high-dollar verdicts.

Providing more affordable housing opportunities is a local, regional, and statewide goal, but those land use decisions are, and should be, the purview of localities, not the General Assembly. Two bills making their way through the General Assembly would permit local Boards of Zoning Appeals to overturn local land use decisions if the locality has not made a “good faith effort” to meet required housing targets over a five-year period.  Current state law requires localities to include housing goals in their comprehensive plans.  So far, the sponsors of the bill have not been receptive to local input about maintaining local land use authority.  The same sponsors have introduced bills that would make multi-family residential a “by-right” use in commercial districts.  These bills could have a negative effect for mixed-use developments, such as the very popular Mosaic District, that include both commercial and residential components.  

Crossover day, when bills move from one chamber to the other for consideration, is next week; the 60-day (long) session is scheduled to adjourn on March 14, so there is a lot more work ahead in the General Assembly, and a lot more opportunity for local governments and constituents to weigh in.