VCN
E-NEWS: February 13, 2004
NEWS ITEMS
WEEK IN REVIEW
Tuesday, February 17 is crossover which is the day on
which all bills must pass their house of origin or the
bill dies. The General Assembly will meet over the weekend
because of the number of bills that are still before them.
Natural Resources Funding: The bills (HB 693 and SB 569)
creating the Natural Resources and Historic Fund have
run into problems. These bills would provide dedicated
funding of $15 million a year to land and water programs.
HB 693 was reported 11-10 from House Agriculture, Chesapeake,
and Natural Resources and re-referred to House Appropriations.
HB693 was killed in Appropriations. SB569 is still in
Senate Finance.
HB549 sponsored by Delegate May is moving forward. This
bill would provide money for Virginia Outdoors Foundation.
The full house is expected to take the final vote on the
bill on Monday. Click on this link for the alert on this
http://actionnetwork.org/campaign/openspaceHB549
The bills pertaining to permit program fees (HB1350 and
SB 365) both passed out of committee but have been amended
so that only 1/3 of the cost of water and waste programs
will be covered by permit fees. We had hoped that 100%
of the program costs would be covered by permit fees.
King William Reservoir Bills: We had a HUGE victory this
week. HB 797 which would direct VMRC to provide easements
to accommodate the proposed reservoir project was killed
20-1 in committee. The companion bill in the Senate (SB420)
will be heard Monday morning at 9am.
An alert was sent out yesterday about these bills and
the River Rally. Please go to the CAV! Mattaponi Advocacy
Campaign Page Online for detailed information about the
rally and to instantly send an email to your legislators!
http://actionnetwork.org/campaign/mattaponi
Two related bills, SB 109 (Williams) striping VMRC of
certain powers, and SB432 (Wagner) establishing that
a person can reapply for a bottomlands permit a year after
denial - will also be heard in Senate Ag on Monday.
Adequate Public Facilities: As reported last week, all
of the bills dealing with APF have either been carried
over to 2005 with referral to the Growth Commission or
tabled. Now, attention turns to the fate of HJ 170 which
continues the Growth Commission. The Commissions initial
charge ended with this 2004 Session; however, it sought
continuation so it could deal with APF matters. House
Rules passed the resolution 16-0 Saturday morning.
This past week, we saw impact fee bills receive the same
fate as did the APF bills. However, there was serious
discussion in Senate Local Government where a point was
made that cash proffers may, in the not too distant future,
have serious problems and if they are no longer allowed,
it is imperative that the State provide local government
with an appropriate funding device for local infrastructure
needs and that impact fee legislation was the way to
go. While the impact fee bills were carried over and referred
to the Growth Commission, a caveat was added that if the
Growth Commission is not continued, then Senate Local
Government will establish its own sub-committee to work
on the impact fee issue.
Rail Transportation Authority Act: VCN supported bill
SB 413, patroned by Senator Edwards, was before Senate
Finance this week. Several of the senators on the committee
have questions about the bill with regard to implications
on bond ratings and fiscal matter. However, all say they
support the concept of having a Rail Transportation Authority.
The bill will be before Senate Finance on Tuesday morning.
If it passes then it will go straight to the floor for
a vote because Tuesday is crossover and the Senate has
to vote on the bill or it will die.
HB905 (Wardrup), which removes current restrictions for
putting tolls on passenger cars and small trucks along
I-81 has passed the House. The use of tolls on all vehicles
is one of the ways that the proponents of the major widening
approach would like to finance the I-81 work. In todays
press, the results of a study that showed if there are
substantial truck tolls on I-81, the truck traffic would
divert to local roads in some cases and long-haul trucks
would divert to I-95 and other interstate systems.
Air Quality: VCN supported bill, HB 1472 (Reid) was carried
over to the 2005 session. There will be stakeholder meetings
between now and next session.
Route 29: SB670 (Newman) requires that VDOT proceed as
soon as practical to build a by-pass on US 29 around Charlottesville
and authorizes the CTB to reallocate funding to do so.
This bill passed the Senate 23-15. In response to several
alerts there has been significant opposition from across
the state due to the precedent that will be set with the
legislature demanding a road improvement that is not accepted
to the affected local government and the MPO!
Additional Information: Keep up-to-date with VCN positions
and related bills by visiting the VCN website, www.vcnva.org
throughout the session. Go to the White Papers and Issues
Page for the latest on the status of the bills that VCN
has taken a position on.
ACTION ALERTS
Watch
for ALERTS on the following topics: - SAVE THE MATTAPONI
AND SAVE OUR RIVERS HEARING & RALLY VCN E-Alerts will
start arriving in your e-mail box today! They are then
posted on our website, but it may take a day for them
to get there. All the alerts have links to where you can
get more information. Please respond to the ALERTS and
help our member organizations who are following these
critical issues.
CALENDAR
***Protecting
our Rural Character: Better Models for Development Keynote
speaker: Ed McMahon - Director of Land Use Programs and
Vice President of The Conservation Fund in Arlington,
Virginia
When: Tuesday, February 17, 2004 10a.m.-noon Where: Rappahannock
Westminster-Canterbury Meeting Room, Irvington No charge,
but reservations are required due to limited seating
* For more information or to make a reservation reply
by email at tipton@crosslink.net or call Susan Tipton
at 804 453-3915. Press release is posted at www.northernneckaudubon.org.
***Transportation Initiatives For A Greater Richmond (TIGR)
coalition meeting will take place next Wednesday, February
18th, at the American Lung Association of Virginia Headquarters
office located at 9221 Forest Hill Avenue from 6:00 to
7:00 p.m. Lite refreshments will be provided.
The speaker will be Stewart Schwartz, Executive Director
of the Coalition for Smarter Growth. Mr. Schwartz will
give an update on land use and transportation bills including
Adequate Public Facilities, Gas Tax, and Funding Formulas
under consideration by the Virginia General Assembly.
He will also identify missed opportunities by the 2004
General Assembly to adequately address transportation
and land use issues. If time permits, Mr. Schwartz will
introduce an abbreviated version of the Coalition for
Smarter Growth's "Blueprint for a Better Region"
presentation.
For more information, contact Donna Reynolds at 267-1900
ext. 125.
***The Oak Hill Fund is pleased to offer forty $600 scholarships
for qualifying Virginia organizations to attend the 2004
River Network River Rally to be held at Wintergreen Resort
in Nelson County, Virginia, May 21-25. For complete information
on this opportunity, please go to www.oakhillfund.org
and click on the "*Temporary Request for Proposals"
link. Thank you, Jason Halbert, The Oak Hill Fund, www.oakhillfund.org
Save the Date! May 21 - 25, 2004 Wintergreen Resort Please
plan to attend the 5th Annual River Rally and join river
lovers from across the country for four days of learning,
sharing and celebration. This year, River Network will
host the River Rally on May 21 through May 25 at the Wintergreen
Resort in the scenic Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia.
This event is the only comprehensive national conference
for persons working to understand, restore and protect
rivers. Staff, volunteers and board members - experienced
and inexperienced - will learn about how to raise more
funds, get more people involved in their organizations,
watershed science, hands-on watershed protection skills,
and much more. Over 80 workshops and nine field trips
will help participants learn from and celebrate the successes
of watershed efforts across the country. Afterwards, May
25th will be your chance to travel to our nation's capital
for River Lobby Day. This optional day will be organized
by American Rivers, so that Rally participants can share
their perspectives on the urgent needs of our nation's
water resources with the people making decisions in Washington,
D.C. General Registration includes most meals and four
nights' lodging as well as shuttles from Charlottesville
airport. Group discounts are offered. Rally registration
is available on line in January at www.rivernetwork.org
or, to request a brochure; contact the River Network office
at (503) 241-3506. Scholarships are available, but requests
for scholarships are due in early March, so please register
soon. Rally registration questions should be directed
to riverrally@rivernetwork.org
***************************
VCN's mission is to protect the Commonwealth's air, lands,
and waters for the benefit of the people, as guaranteed
by the Virginia Constitution.
If you have an item that should be included on this list,
please send it to Ellen Shepard at ellenshepard@yahoo.com.
VCN E-NEWS will be emailed every Friday. Deadline for
submissions is Thursday.
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