Saturday, February 28, 2009
Roanoke legislators score wins in Richmond
Several proposals from Roanoke lawmakers successfully passed the General Assembly.
General Assembly 2011
Among the major issues: The state's continuing efforts to provide services with fewer dollars and Gov. McDonnell's plan to privatize liquor stores. Session ends Feb. 26.
The latest
Follow the Blue Ridge Caucus blog and @BlueRidgeCaucus on Twitter.
- What issues will play in May’s Roanoke city elections?
- Federal lawsuit over congressional redistricting dismissed
From today's paper
Watch live video
Who's your legislator?
More resources
The legislation
- House Bill 2091/Senate Bill 868: Allows debt service on a proposed expansion of the Hotel Roanoke & Conference Center to be paid in the same way the earlier renovations were financed, using a portion of the 5 percent state sales tax revenue collected at the Hotel Roanoke. Bonds to finance the expansion must be sold between July 1 and July 1, 2012. It’s unclear how much revenue this might produce for the expansion, but one early estimate pegged the figure at $80,000 per year. Status: Passed and approved by the governor.
- House Bill 1830/Senate Bill 1292: Would allow localities to recover delinquent local taxes from federal tax refunds. Requires federal authorizing legislation before it can go into effect. Status: Passed both houses of the General Assembly.
- House Bill 1683: Allows localities to charge a fee similar to the "bad check return fee" to people who write checks to localities but then have the bank stop payment. Status: Passed both houses of the General Assembly.
- House Bill 1826: Gives schools the ability to go to court and ask a judge to suspend the driver's license of a student who drops out of school or runs up 10 or more consecutive unexcused absences. Status: Passed both houses of the General Assembly.
- Senate Bill 863: Creates the TransDominion Express to finance and oversee the expansion of passenger rail service in Virginia. Status: Died in committee.
RICHMOND -- Nearly lost in the furor over slumping state revenues and a restaurant smoking ban were several successful bills that were requested by the city of Roanoke.
Even Assistant City Manager Brian Townsend said he nearly forgot about the city's legislative agenda as he got wrapped up in details of federal stimulus money.
"I lost track," Townsend said.
The biggest issue affecting Roanoke still remains the state budget. Once city officials and council members know how much funding they will receive from the state and from the federal stimulus package, they will have a better grip on how to fill a projected $8.4 million budget shortfall.
As of Friday afternoon, budget negotiations were still in flux, but the city's legislators had all but completed work on smaller, less controversial bills requested by the city council.
Though easy to forget in the face of widespread fiscal uncertainty, Roanoke officials said they hope their requested measures will allow them to better promote economic development, pursue the collection of unpaid taxes and combat blighted buildings.
"This year we had some good, smart legislation we didn't have to fight too much about," said Del. Onzlee Ware, D-Roanoke.
One of those bills was a measure to allow use of a portion of the sales tax collected at the Hotel Roanoke & Conference Center to pay debt service on bonds to fund an expansion of the facility. Del. William Fralin, R-Roanoke, who along with Ware sponsored the House version of the bill, said the measure re-establishes a practice that was used for the 1990s renovations on the hotel.
Townsend said that although plans for the renovation are not quite ready, passage of the bill will help fund the project when they are prepared to move forward.
Fralin also added an amendment to a Senate bill that would allow Roanoke to create an "arts and cultural district" in which it can provide tax incentives to certain businesses and groups.
Roanoke's legislators successfully pushed for measures that will allow the city treasurer to more aggressively collect unpaid taxes.
"We're in a situation now where local governments are under such tremendous fiscal stress, and the first rule of any business is collect your accounts receivable," Fralin said.
The city council also requested legislation that would shield the names, addresses and phone numbers of people who make building code and fire safety complaints. Townsend said the measure provides an additional tool to restore blighted neighborhoods.
"Most of our inspections come from a visual look" from the outside of a building, Townsend said. "Inside, it's going to be a tenant or someone else who feels there's a violation and calls us, but may be fearful that whoever the complaint is filed on may be able to get the information from us. ... This is a way so someone isn't discouraged from making a complaint."
Other initiatives were less successful, however. Sen. John Edwards, D-Roanoke, has carried a bill to establish a commission to raise money and oversee the expansion of passenger rail service, particularly in Western Virginia.
This year his bill was killed in a Senate committee, but only after officials from the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation told lawmakers they were making progress in negotiations with Amtrak and Norfolk Southern to bring passenger rail from Lynchburg to Roanoke by 2015 and to Bristol by 2020.
"I just think we need to do everything we can to push passenger rail and freight rail too, to shift more freight from trucks to trains," Edwards said. "But it's slow -- very slow."
Roanoke Councilman David Trinkle, who heads the council's legislative committee, said that while the news was disappointing, he was glad to see movement on the issue.
"I just hope there's no cloaks and veils here, that this is indeed a real date," Trinkle said. "To me there hasn't been a good cohesive approach, but a lot of good people have been working on this. I hope that's a true date and one that can be moved up with some of the transportation and rail funding that's coming" from the federal stimulus package.
