2014 General Assembly Session
Virginia General Assembly 2014
The 2014 General Assembly session has ended. All bills can be found online at the Legislative Information System, which includes a searchable database. Those bills which may be of interest to those at VIMS are briefly listed below and linked to the Legislative Information System. Please [[eahein, let us know]] if there are any that we may have missed.
HB 572: Wetlands zoning ordinance; local credit for in-lieu fees
Adds to the standard coastal wetland zoning ordinance a requirement that a local wetlands board give a permit applicant credit toward local in-lieu fees in the amount of the fee he has paid to the Virginia Wetlands Restoration Trust Fund or another dedicated wetlands restoration fund.
1/27: House passed (100-Y 0-N)
2/18: Passed Senate (40-Y 0-N)
3/5: Approved by Governor-Chapter 131 (effective 7/1/14)
HB 911 / SB 569: Living Shorelines General Permit
Requires regulations for the issuance of general permits for living shoreline projects to include an expedited review process. The bill allows construction of such projects under the local wetlands and coastal primary sand dunes ordinances.
1/27: HB 911 House passed (100-Y 0-N)
2/18: HB 911 Passed Senate (40-Y 0-N)
3/5: HB 911 Approved by Governor-Chapter 143 (effective 7/1/14)
1/30: SB 569 Senate passed (40-Y 0-N)
2/14: SB 569 House passed (94-Y 0-N)
3/3: SB 569 Approved by Governor-Chapter 112 (effective 7/1/14)
HJ 16 / SJ 34 / SJ 3: Recurrent flooding; joint subcommittee established
Establishes a 15-member joint subcommittee to formulate recommendations for the development of a comprehensive and coordinated planning effort to address recurrent flooding.
2/5: HJ 16 House passed (92-Y 0-N)
2/27: HJ 16 Senate substitute rejected by House 14105147D-S1 (1-Y 96-N)
3/7: HJ 16 Conference report agreed to by House (100-Y 0-N)
3/7: HJ 16 Reconsideration of conference report agreed to by Senate (39-Y 0-N)
1/20: SJ 3 Incorporates SJ34
3/5: SJ 3 House passed (99-Y 0-N)
3/7: SJ 3 Conference report agreed to by House (98-Y 0-N)
HB 818: Virginia Commission on Energy and Environment
Establishes the Virginia Commission on Energy and Environment as a legislative commission to review and recommend steps to implement the Virginia Energy Plan.
1/31: House: tables in Rules by voice vote
SB 210: Commercial fishing
Authorizes the Marine Resources Commission to suspend for five years the tidal fishing privileges of any commercial fisherman who has violated the tidal fishery laws five times or more in a two-year period.
01/16 Senate: Stricken at request of Patron in Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources (13-Y 0-N)
HB 648: Oyster measures
Reduces from 2,800 cubic inches to 2,500 cubic inches the minimum size of the container that is one of the measures by which oysters in the shell may be bought or sold.
1/20: House passed (96-Y 0-N)
2/18: Senate passed (40-Y 0-N)
3/5: Approved by Governor-Chapter 132 (effective 7/1/14)
HB 845: Baylor Survey lines
Authorizes the Marine Resources Commission to reestablish the boundaries of the Baylor Survey between holders of leases on private grounds and the public grounds. Due to recent information that indicates that a number of private leases were granted by the Commission within the Baylor grounds, the Commission, under certain conditions, would be allowed to adjust the lines between privately held leases and the publicly accessible Baylor grounds.
1/27: House passed (100-Y 0-N)
2/18: Senate passed (40-Y 0-N)
3/5: Approved by Governor-Chapter 138 (effective 7/1/14)
SB 467: Conveyance of easement
Authorizes the Marine Resources Commission to grant an easement and rights-of-way across beds of the York River, including a portion of the Baylor Survey Grounds No. 5, to Plains Marketing for the expansion of the Yorktown oil facility an area containing 160,908 square feet or 3.694 acres.
2/10: Senate passed (40-Y 0-N)
2/21: House passed (98-Y 0-N)
Requires commercial fishermen to report any release, disposal, or dumping of more than 2,000 harvested menhaden to the Commissioner of the Marine Resources Commission. The commercial fisherman is also responsible for cleaning up any menhaden that wash onto the abutting shorelines. Any commercial fisherman who violates any of these provisions will be subject to a civil penalty of $1,000 for each offense. The proceeds from the civil penalties shall be deposited into the Marine Habitat and Waterways Improvement Fund.
2/5: House: Continued to 2015 in Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources by voice vote
HB 655 / SB 49: Management of menhaden fishery
Extends the sunset date for management of the menhaden fishery from January 1, 2015, to July 1, 2016. The bill also allows any person purchasing more than one of the licenses for the same vessel to catch menhaden with a purse net to pay a fee equal to that for a single license.
1/20: HB 655 House passed (95-Y 0-N 1-A)
2/18: HB 655 Senate passed (40-Y 0-N)
3/5: HB 655 Approved by Governor-Chapter 133 (effective - see bill)
1/30: SB 49 Senate passed (40-Y 0-N)
2/14: SB 49 House passed (93-Y 0-N 1-A)
3/3: SB 49 Approved by Governor-Chapter 104 (effective -see bill)
HB 390 / SB 209: Sand replenishment
Provides that when sand or other material is placed on state-owned bottomlands seaward of the mean low-water mark in order to provide beach nourishment or storm protection or as a result of a dredging project,the deposited material shall be deemed accretion. The public has a right of use and maintenance of the area as previously existed on the adjacent land above the mean low-water mark.
1/20: HB 390 House passed (95-Y 0-N 1-A)
2/18: HB 390 Senate passed with amendments (40-Y 0-N)
2/21: HB 390 Senate amendments agreed to by House (97-Y 0-N 1-A)
3/17: HB 390 Approved by Governor-Chapter 234 (effective 7/1/14)
1/22: SB 209 Senate passed (38-Y 0-N)
2/14: SB 209 House passed (93-Y 0-N 1-A)
3/3: SB 209 Approved by Governor-Chapter 106 (effective -see bill)
SB 469: Stormwater Management Program; localities with minimal Chesapeake Bay watershed
Delays the date on which local governments are required to assume responsibility for administering the Stormwater Management Program from July 1, 2014, to July 1, 2015, in those localities in which less than 11 percent of the land area drains to the Chesapeake Bay.
2/6: Failed to report (defeated) in Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources (5-Y 9-N)
SB530: Stormwater Management Program; delays implication by local governments
Delays the date that local governments will have to assume responsibility for administering the Stormwater Management Program from July 1, 2014, to July 1, 2015.
2/6: Senate: Incorporated by Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources (SB423-Hanger) (13-Y 0-N)
HB 915: Hydraulic fracturing on sate-owned uplands
Requires that any permit or lease for oil or gas exploration or extraction on state-owned uplands allow the use of hydraulic fracturing.
2/12: Left in Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources
HB 1092 / SB 603: Condemnation of oyster grounds
Prohibits localities from exercising the right of eminent domain to condemn privately leased riparian and general oyster planting grounds. These planting grounds are assigned to persons under a lease agreement approved by the Virginia Marine Resources Commission.
2/10: HB 1092 House passed (99-Y 0-N)
3/4: HB 1092 Senate passed (40-Y 0-N)
2/5: SB 603 Senate passed (40-Y 0-N)
2/14: SB 603 House passed (94-Y 0-N)
2/14: SB 603 Passed House with amendments (94-Y 0-N)
2/18: SB 603 House amendments agreed to by Senate (40-Y 0-N)
3/5: SB 603 Approved by Governor-Chapter 162 (effective 7/1/14)
HB 654: Wetland and stream mitigation banks; hydrolic unit boundaries
Allows the use of a hydrologic unit system or dataset other than the National Watershed Boundary Dataset and allows the adjustment of the hydrologic unit boundaries of such dataset based on the availability of more accurate information.
1/20: House passed (95-Y 0-N 1-A)
2/18: Senate passed with substitute (40-Y 0-N)
2/21: Senate substitute agreed to by House 14105014D-S1 (97-Y- 0-N 1-A)
HB 1168: Wetland and stream mitigation banks
Prohibits the use of state-owned lands to provide compensatory mitigation for wetland or stream impacts.
2/11: House passed (94-Y 4-N 1-A)
2/11: Reconsideration of passage agreed to by House
2/11: House passed 2nd time (87-Y 11-N 1-A)
3/4: Left in Senate Finance