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General Assembly Inventories, Virginia Water Resources Research Center

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Water in the 2017 Virginia General Assembly
Raflo, Alan L. (2017)
The 2017 Virginia General Assembly session convened January 11 and adjourned February 25. All non- revenue bills were to be filed by January 20. The reconvened (“veto”) session was held April 5. In the tables below, the Virginia Water Resources Research Center lists 167 measures in the 2017 Assembly dealing with water resources directly or indirectly, including two budget bills.
Water in the 2016 Virginia General Assembly
Raflo, Alan L. (2016)
The 2016 Virginia General Assembly session convened January 13 and adjourned March 11. All bills were to be filed by January 22. The session adjourned on March 11 (one day before the scheduled adjournment date). The reconvened (“veto”) session was held April 20. In the tables below, the Virginia Water Resources Research Center (the Water Center; online at http://www.vwrrc.vt.edu/) lists 151 measures in the 2016 Assembly dealing with water resources directly or indirectly, including four budget bills.
Water in the 2015 Virginia General Assembly
Raflo, Alan L. (2015)
The 2015 Virginia General Assembly session convened January 14, and all bills had to be filed by January 23. The session adjourned on February 27 (one day before the scheduled adjournment date). The reconvened (“veto”) session was held April 15. In the tables below, the Virginia Water Resources Research Center (the Water Center; online at http://www.vwrrc.vt.edu/) lists 158 measures in the 2015 Assembly dealing with water resources directly or indirectly, including two budget bills and three bills related to the Commonwealth’s budget process. The list also includes seven proposed amendments to the Virginia Constitution, dealing with the budget process, food production, and transportation financing.
Water in the 2014 Virginia General Assembly
Raflo, Alan L. (2014-11)
The 2014 Virginia General Assembly (online at http://virginiageneralassembly.gov/) convened January 9 and adjourned March 8. During the session, the Assembly considered 2899 measures, the proposed biennial budget for 2014-16, and amendments to the 2012-14 budget. The General Assembly was not able to agree on a biennial budget during the regular session, so a special session convened on March 24, 2014, and amendments for the 2012-14 budget were passed that day and approved by the governor on April 1. After several weeks of disagreements among the House of Delegates, Senate, and the governor, on June 23 the budget for the upcoming biennium received final approval. The normal reconvened session—for the General Assembly to consider vetoes or amendments by the governor—was held April 23. In this article, Virginia Water Central lists 161 measures in the 2014 Assembly (including six budget bills) dealing with water resources directly or indirectly. The list comes from the Legislative Information System (LIS) Web site, at http://leg1.state.va.us, in the categories indicated by sub-headings below. Bill summaries were also taken from LIS (edited in some cases for space or clarity). Bills are listed under only one category, even if LIS listed them more than once. The categories searched and the bills listed include all those with direct water relevance (such as bills in the “Water and Sewer Systems” category) as well as those with a potential or indirect relevance to water (such as bills dealing with land conservation and energy- efficiency, two activities that ultimately affect water resources). Water Central’s list below does not necessarily include all bills that potentially affect Virginia’s water resources. Within each category, bills are listed in order of their bill number, using the following abbreviations: HB = bill started in House of Delegates; HJ = joint resolution started in the House; SB = bill started in the Senate; and SJ = joint resolution started in the Senate. Numbers in the left-hand column have been added by Water Central for cross-referencing among the bills. A box at the end of the article lists several topics and bills from the 2014 Assembly that received attention in various news media. For a selection of online news articles about water-related legislation in the 2014 Assembly, please visit the Virginia Water Central News Grouper at http://vawatercentralnewsgrouper.wordpress.com/category/2014-virginia-general-assembly/.
Water in the 2013 Virginia General Assembly
Raflo, Alan L. (2014-01)
The 2013 Virginia General Assembly convened January 9 and adjourned February 23. The reconvened session— for the General Assembly to consider vetoes or amendments by the governor—was held April 3. During the session, the Assembly considered 2899 measures along with amendments to the 2012-14 biennial state budget. In this article, Virginia Water Central lists 143 measures in the 2013 Assembly (including nine budget or appropriations-process bills) dealing with water resources directly or indirectly. The list comes from the Legislative Information System (LIS) Web site, at http://leg1.state.va.us, in the categories indicated by sub-headings below. Bill summaries were also taken from LIS (edited in some cases for space or clarity). Bills are listed under only one category, even if LIS listed them more than once. The categories searched and the bills listed include all those with direct water relevance (such as bills in the “Water and Sewer Systems” category) as well as those with a potential or indirect relevance to water (such as bills dealing with land conservation and energy-efficiency, two activities that ultimately affect water resources). Water Central’s list below does not necessarily include all bills that potentially affect Virginia’s water resources. Within each category, bills are listed in order of their bill number, using the following abbreviations: HB = bill started in House of Delegates; HJ = joint resolution started in the House; SB = bill started in the Senate; and SJ = joint resolution started in the Senate. Numbers in the left-hand column have been added by Water Central for cross- referencing among the bills. A table at the end of the article lists several topics and bills from the 2013 Assembly that received attention in various news media. For a selection of online news articles about water-related legislation in the 2013 Assembly, please visit the Virginia Water Central News Grouper at http://vawatercentralnewsgrouper.wordpress.com/category/2013-virginia-general-assembly/.
Water in the 2012 General Assembly
Raflo, Alan L. (2012-07)
The 2012 Virginia General Assembly convened January 11 and adjourned March 10. A Special Session on the state budget convened March 10 and adjourned May 15 with passage of the budget. The reconvened session—for the General Assembly to consider vetoes or amendments by the governor—was held April 18. During the session, the Assembly considered 2876 measures, passing 1616 of them, defeating 934, and continuing 326 to next year’s session. The Assembly also considered amendments to the 2010-12 biennial state budget and the new 2012-14 budget. In this article, Virginia Water Central lists 171 measures in the 2012 Assembly (including six budget bills) dealing with water resources directly or indirectly. The list comes from the Legislative Information System (LIS) Web site, at http://leg1.state.va.us, in the categories indicated by sub-headings below. Bill summaries were also taken from LIS (edited in some cases for space or clarity). Bills are listed under only one category, even if LIS listed them more than once. The categories searched and the bills listed include all those with direct water relevance (such as bills in the “Water and Sewer Systems” category) as well as those with a potential or indirect relevance to water (such as bills dealing with land conservation and energy-efficiency, two activities that ultimately affect water resources). Water Central’s list below does not necessarily include all bills that potentially affect Virginia’s water resources. Within each category, bills are listed in order of their bill number, using the following abbreviations: HB = bill started in House of Delegates; HJ = joint resolution started in the House; SB = bill started in the Senate; and SJ = joint resolution started in the Senate. Numbers in the left-hand column have been added by Water Central for cross- referencing among the bills. A table at the end of the article lists several topics and bills from the 2012 Assembly that received attention in various news media. For a selection of online news articles about water-related legislation in the 2012 Assembly, please visit the Virginia Water Central News Grouper at http://vawatercentralnewsgrouper.wordpress.com/category/2012-virginia-general-assembly/.
Water in the 2009 Virginia General Assembly
(Virginia Tech. Virginia Water Resources Research Center, 2009-04)
The 2009 Virginia General Assembly convened January 14 and adjourned February 28. The reconvened (“veto”) session was held April 8. During the session, the Assembly considered 2893 measures (2576 introduced in this session and 317 continued from the 2008 session). This year’s “short session” Assembly also considered amendments to the 2008-10 biennial state budget. In this article, Virginia Water Central lists 189 measures in the 2009 Assembly that dealt with water resources directly or with activities that are likely to affect water. The list comes from the Legislative Information System (LIS) Web site, at http://leg1.state.va.us, in the categories indicated by sub-headings below. Bill summaries were also taken from LIS (edited in some cases for space or clarity). Bills are listed under only one category, even if LIS listed them more than once. The categories searched and the bills listed include all those with direct water relevance (such as bills in the “Water and Sewer Systems” category) as well as those with a potential or indirect relevance to water (such as bills dealing with land conservation and energy-efficiency, two activities that ultimately affect water resources). Water Central’s list below does not necessarily include all bills that potentially could affect Virginia’s water resources.
Water in the 2004 Virginia General Assembly
(Virginia Tech. Virginia Water Resources Research Center, 2004-04)
The 2004 Virginia General Assembly convened January 14 and was scheduled to adjourn March 13, with a reconvened (“veto”) session planned for April 21. The main issue in this session was the competing budget proposals (for fiscal years 2005 and 2006) from the governor, House of Delegates, and Senate. The Assembly could not agree upon a budget bill by March 13, so the session was extended for three days. With still no agreement in place, the governor called a special budget session commencing March 17; as of April 13, the legislators had not reached final agreement.
Water in the 2001 General Assembly
Virginia Water Resources Research Center (Virginia Water Resources Research Center, 2001)
The 2001 Virginia General Assembly lasted from January 10 to February 24. The House of Delegates and Senate considered 2645 bills and resolutions. By our reckoning, 123 of these had something to do with water resources or water-related activities. This count is based on information available on the General Assembly’s Legislative Information Service (LIS) Web-site, http://leg1.state.va.us. To find water-related legislation, we searched nine LIS categories: conservation; drainage, soil conservation, sanitation, and public facilities districts; fisheries and habitat of tidal waters; game, inland fisheries, and boating; health; mines and mining; waste disposal; waters of the state, ports, and harbors; and water and sewer systems. Beginning on page 2, we present the resulting list of 102 bills and resolutions, along with summaries based on text found at the LIS’ Web-site. Our inventory is divided first into “Passed” and “Failed” and second into the nine categories listed above. Twenty-one other measures that were identical or very similar to measures in our list are noted at the end of the article. No budget bill was passed this year. In our list, consecutive numbers to the left of each measure are for cross-referencing purposes and have no legislative significance. The actual bill or resolution numbers identify a measure’s legislative origin, as follows: HB: bill started in the House of Delegates; HJ: joint resolution started in the House; SB: bill started in the Senate; and SJ: joint resolution started in the Senate. Our use of “etc.” indicates the necessary omission (due to space) of a substantial portion of the summary provided by the LIS. Abbreviations used for Virginia agencies are listed at the end of this article (page 9). Following the bill inventory we present a sample of opinions from Virginia newspaper editors on the main issues in the 2001 Virginia General Assembly.
1998 General Assembly Legislation Related to Water
Virginia Water Resources Research Center; Manfre, Joseph (Virginia Water Resources Research Center, 1998)
The Virginia General Assembly held its regular session from January 14 to March 17, then reconvened April 22-23 to respond to the governor’s vetoes. A special session on April 23-24 passed the budget along with car-tax and school-construction-grant legislation. During the regular session, 2152 bills were considered (939 passing, 651 failing, and 562 carried over until 1999), along with 730 joint resolutions (580 passing, 115 failing, and 36 carried over). Among all this legislative action were 97 water-related bills and joint resolutions.1 (Hereafter, we will use “bills” to include both bills and joint resolutions.) To identify bills related to water, we used the Legislative Information System’s subject index, looking first under two categories: “Waters of the State, Ports and Harbors” and “Water and Sewer Systems.” Of the 97 bills listed below, 73 were in one of these two categories. We then found 24 other pertinent bills under these categories: Conservation; Fisheries and Habitat of Tidal Waters; and Game, Inland Fisheries and Boating.
Water in the 2000 Virginia General Assembly
Virginia Water Resources Research Center (Virginia Water Resources Research Center, 2000)
The Virginia General Assembly held its 2000 session from January 12 to March 10. Lawmakers considered 3,172 bills and resolutions (compared to 2,735 measures considered in 1999). Of these, 125 were water-related; that is, their provisions would have an impact on water resources or on water-related activities. To identify these water-related bills, Water Central used the Internet site of the General Assembly’s Legislative Information Service (http://leg1.state.va.us/). Using the system’s subject index, we checked the following nine categories: 1 = Waters of the State, Ports and Harbors; 2 = Water and Sewer Systems; 3 = Fisheries and Habitat of Tidal Waters; 4 = Game, Inland Fisheries, and Boating; 5 = Drainage, Soil Conservation, Sanitation, and Public Facilities Districts; 6 = Health; 7 = Conservation; 8 = Mines and Mining; 9 = Waste Disposal. Our list includes all bills found under categories 1, 2, and 3. For categories 4—9, we include only those bills that appear, from the bill summary, to have a potentially significant impact on water resources or their management. For example, some solid-waste bills are included, but others are omitted because their provisions would affect water resources only marginally. Most land-conservation measures are included, however, because land use directly impacts water resources. On the bottom of page 5 we list passed bills for which the governor subsequently recommended changes (often minor). None in our list were vetoed. The legislature considered the governor’s recommended changes at its reconvened session (the “veto session”) on April 19. Following the bill inventory is a Feature Article from the June 2000 Water Central examining bills that received the attention of various water-resource and public-policy professionals.
The Volume of Water Bills in the 1999 Virginia General Assembly
Virginia Water Resources Research Center (Virginia Water Resources Research Center, 1999)
The Virginia General Assembly held its 1999 session from January 13 to February 27. During the regular session, lawmakers considered 2,735 bills and resolutions, compared to 2945 measures considered in the longer 1998 session. Of the more than 2,700 bills and resolutions that legislators debated in 1999, 115 were—in some way—water-related; that is, their provisions would have had some impact on water resources or on water-related activities, such as boating and fishing. To identify these water-related bills, we used the Internet site of the General Assembly’s Legislative Information Service (http://leg1.state.va.us/). Using the system’s subject index, we checked first the two categories under which most water-related bills fall: “Waters of the State, Ports and Harbors” and “Water and Sewer Systems.” We then searched under several other relevant categories, which are identified in the list of bills that begins on page 2. Our list includes solid-waste bills because water quality is a key issue in current solid-waste discussions. Due to space, however, the list does not include 14 measures dealing with land conservation or taxation, although these measures may eventually affect water resources. Nor does the list include the final budget bill, HB 1450, which of course determines any water-related funding, such as in the budgets of natural-resource agencies. One passed water-related bill, HB 2272 (Impact of piers on oyster grounds), was vetoed by the governor. Following the bill inventory is a Feature Article from the June 1999 Water Central examining bills that received the attention of various water-resource and public-policy professionals.
Water in the 2005 Virginia General Assembly
Virginia Water Resources Research Center (Virginia Water Resources Research Center, 2005-12)
The 2005 Virginia General Assembly convened January 12 and adjourned February 27, with a reconvened (“veto”) session on April 6. The legislature considered 3363 measures (2938 introduced this year and 425 carried over from last year); 1610 measures passed both houses, while 1753 failed. (No legislation carried over from this year, because it was the second year of a two-year Assembly, with elections scheduled for November 2005). Among the most important business was consideration of amendments to the current biennial state budget. This article lists 126 measures related to water resources or to land activities with a potential impact on water. The list came from the Legislative Information Service (LIS) Web site, at leg1.state.va.us. The measures were located by searching the following LIS subject categories: Conservation; Drainage, Soil Conservation, Sanitation, and Public Facilities Districts; Fisheries and Habitat of Tidal Waters; Game, Inland Fisheries and Boating; Health; Mines and Mining; Waste Disposal; Water and Sewer Systems; and Waters of the State, Ports and Harbors. This list of water-related bills is organized by the LIS categories (alphabetically). Where LIS listed bills under more than one category, this article places the bill in category that seemed most appropriate (no bills are listed under Health or Mines and Mining). Within each category, bills are listed in order of their bill number, using the following abbreviations: HB = bill started in House of Delegates; HJ = joint resolution started in the House; SB = bill started in the Senate; and SJ = joint resolution started in the Senate. The bill summaries were taken directly from LIS, with some editing for space, clarity, or emphasis. Water Central has numbered the bills consecutively to help refer readers from one bill to another; these numbers, however, have no legislative significance. A table on page 2 lists bills that received significant press attention, according to Water Central’s reading of several state newspapers.
Water-related Legislation in the 2002 Virginia General Assembly
Virginia Water Resources Research Center (Virginia Water Resources Research Center, 2002)
In 2002, the Virginia General Assembly convened on January 9 and adjourned on March 9, with a reconvened (“veto”) session on April 17. The legislature considered 2907 bills; 1587 were passed, 804 failed, and 517 were carried over to the 2003 session. Starting below, we list 64 distinct measures related to water resources (with references to additional measures that were identical or very similar). We compiled the list using information available on the General Assembly’s Legislative Information Service (LIS) Web-site, at http://leg1.state.va.us/021/lis.htm. The bill summaries below are taken directly from LIS, with editing for space and occasionally for clarity or emphasis. Please note that the bill numbers in this file are NOT hyperlinked. To access more information about any bill, please visit the LIS Web site. LIS categorizes bills and resolutions, and this year we searched for water-related legislation under the following nine categories: 1) Conservation; 2) Drainage, Soil Conservation, Sanitation, and Public Facilities Districts; 3) Fisheries and Habitat of Tidal Waters; 4) Game, Inland Fisheries and Boating; 5) Health; 6) Mines and Mining; 7) Waste Disposal; 8) Waters of the State, Ports, and Harbors; and 9) Water and Sewer Systems. In the following we list first the water-related measures that passed, grouped according to the categories listed in the previous paragraph; next, the measures that failed, group in the same manner; and finally the measures that were carried over to 2003, again grouped the same way. The consecutive numbers to the left of each measure are for cross-referencing within this article and have no legislative significance. The actual bill or resolution numbers use the following abbreviations: HB = bill started in House of Delegates; HJ = joint resolution started in the House; SB = bill started in the Senate; and SJ = joint resolution started in the Senate.
Water in the 2003 Virginia General Assembly
Virginia Water Resources Research Center (Virginia Water Resources Research Center, 2003-03)
The 2003 Virginia General Assembly convened on January 8 and adjourned on February 22, with a reconvened (“veto”) session on April 2. The legislature considered 3277 measures; 1585 passed and 1692 failed. The legislature also considered amendments to the Fiscal Years 2003/2004 biennial budget that had been adopted in the 2002 session. This article lists 99 measures related to water resources or to land resources with a potential impact on water. The list comes from the Legislative Information Service (LIS) Web-site, at http://leg1.state.va.us/031/lis.htm. The bill summaries below were taken directly from LIS, with some editing for space, clarity, or emphasis. Please note that the bill numbers in this file are NOT hyperlinked. To access more information about any bill, please visit the LIS Web site. Bills that passed are listed first, followed by bills that failed. In each group, bills are listed in order of their bill number, using the following abbreviations: HB = bill started in House of Delegates; HJ = joint resolution started in the House; SB = bill started in the Senate; and SJ = joint resolution started in the Senate. The consecutive numbers (1—99) are for convenience within this article and have no legislative significance. The listed bills were found by searching for water-related legislation in nine LIS categories: 1) Conservation; 2) Drainage, Soil Conservation, Sanitation, and Public Facilities Districts; 3) Fisheries and Habitat of Tidal Waters; 4) Game, Inland Fisheries and Boating; 5) Health; 6) Mines and Mining; 7) Waste Disposal; 8) Water and Sewer Systems; and 9) Waters of the State, Ports and Harbors. Pages 10—12 list this year’s bills according to these LIS categories (without summaries).
Water in the 2006 Virginia General Assembly
Virginia Water Resources Research Center (Virginia Water Resources Research Center, 2006)
The 2006 Virginia General Assembly convened January 11 and adjourned March 11, with a reconvened (“veto”) session on April 19. The legislature considered 3287 measures; among the most important business was development of the biennial state budget. Below is a list of 122 measures related to water resources or to land activities with a relatively direct impact on water. The list does not necessarily include all bills that may ultimately affect water resources. The list was compiled in 2006 from the Legislative Information Service (LIS) Web site, at http://leg1.state.va.us. The measures were located in the following LIS subject categories: Conservation; Drainage, Soil Conservation, Sanitation, and Public Facilities Districts; Energy Conservation and Resources; Fisheries and Habitat of Tidal Waters; Game, Inland Fisheries and Boating; Health; Highways, Bridges, and Ferries; Mines and Mining; Waste Disposal; Water and Sewer Systems; and Waters of the State, Ports and Harbors. The list below is organized by these LIS categories (alphabetically), with some additional sub-headings for closely related bills. Unless otherwise noted, two or more bills mentioned as “companion,” “identical,” “incorporated,” or “related” are listed under the same category. Within each category, bills are listed in order of their bill number, using the following abbreviations: HB = bill started in House of Delegates; HJ = joint resolution started in the House; SB = bill started in the Senate; and SJ = joint resolution started in the Senate. Included in the list are LIS summaries of the bills as of February 27, 2006. In some cases an LIS summary has been edited for space, clarity, or emphasis. Final bills may have had provisions in addition to or different from the summaries as of this date. For a summary of final bills, please see the current LIS Web site. For more information on a given bill, visit the LIS Web site or contact your local Delegate or Senator.
Water in the 2011 Virginia General Assembly
Virginia Water Resources Research Center (Virginia Water Resources Research Center, 2011-09-07)
The 2011 Virginia General Assembly convened January 12 and adjourned February 26. The reconvened (“veto”) session was held April 6. During the session, the Assembly considered 2965 measures (2692 introduced this year and 273 continued from 2010), passing 1599 of them and defeating 1366. The Assembly also considered amendments to the 2010-12 biennial state budget. In this article, Virginia Water Central lists 183 measures in the 2011 Assembly that dealt with water resources directly or with land uses or other activities that are likely to affect water. The list comes from the Legislative Information System (LIS) Web site, at http://leg1.state.va.us, in the categories indicated by sub-headings below. Bill summaries were also taken from LIS (edited in some cases for space or clarity). Bills are listed under only one category, even if LIS listed them more than once. The categories searched and the bills listed include all those with direct water relevance (such as bills in the “Water and Sewer Systems” category) as well as those with a potential or indirect relevance to water (such as bills dealing with land conservation and energy-efficiency, two activities that ultimately affect water resources). Water Central’s list below does not necessarily include all bills that potentially affect Virginia’s water resources. Within each category, bills are listed in order of their bill number, using the following abbreviations: HB = bill started in House of Delegates; HJ = joint resolution started in the House; SB = bill started in the Senate; and SJ = joint resolution started in the Senate. Numbers in the left-hand column have been added by Water Central for cross-referencing among the bills. A table at the end of the article lists several topics and bills from the 2011 Assembly that received attention in various news media. For a selection of online news articles about water-related legislation in the 2011 Assembly, please visit the Virginia Water Central News Grouper at http://www.delicious.com/araflo/11VaGenAssembly.
Water-Related Bills in the 2008 Virginia General Assembly
Virginia Water Resources Research Center (Virginia Water Resources Research Center, 2008-04-29)
The 2008 Virginia General Assembly session opened January 9 and adjourned March 13. Work on the biennial state budget required a few additional days beyond the scheduled adjournment date of March 8. The legislature considered 3322 bills and resolutions, passing 1654, rejecting 1351, and carrying 317 over to 2009. The reconvened session, when legislators consider the governor’s recommendations or vetoes, took place April 23. In this article, Virginia Water Central lists over 180 measures in the 2008 Assembly that dealt with water resources or with land activities with a relatively direct impact on water. The list also includes some bills that may affect water resources indirectly, such as certain bills about air pollution, electricity generation, or transportation. The bills listed below were located by searching the Legislative Information System (LIS) Web site (http://leg1.state.va.us) under various subject categories related to natural resources. Descriptions of the bills in this inventory were taken from bill summaries at the LIS site; the Water Center has edited the descriptions in some cases for clarity, emphasis, or space. The bills are grouped in the LIS categories in which they were found (with a few exceptions, such as bills found under “Study Commissions”). For bills that LIS listed in more than one category, Water Central has listed them below in one relevant category. Within each category, bills are listed in order of their bill number, using the following abbreviations: HB = bill started in House of Delegates; HJ = joint resolution started in the House; HR = House resolution; SB = bill started in the Senate; and SJ = joint resolution started in the Senate. Water Central does not claim that our list includes all bills that potentially could affect Virginia’s water resources. This article notes companion and related bills where possible, but Water Central does not guarantee that all such connections are identified in this list. For more information about Virginia legislation (including summaries of all bills in the current and past sessions) visit the LIS Web site at http://leg1.state.va.us. You may also get information on bills by phoning toll-free (877) 391-FACT (House of Delegates) or (888) 892-6948 (Senate). The General Assembly’s Web site is http://legis.state.va.us.
Water in the 2007 Virginia General Assembly
Virginia Water Resources Research Center (Virginia Water Resources Research Center, 2007-05-24)
The 2007 Virginia General Assembly convened January 10, adjourned February 24, and held a reconvened (“veto”) session on April 4. During the session, the Assembly considered 3427 measures (3069 introduced in this session and 358 continued from the 2006 session). This year’s “short session” Assembly also considered amendments to the 2006-08 biennial state budget. In this article, Virginia Water Central lists 150 measures in the 2007 Assembly that dealt with water resources or with land activities with a relatively direct impact on water. The list also includes some bills that may affect water resources indirectly, such as certain bills about air pollution, electricity generation, or transportation. Water Central’s list comes from the Legislative Information Service (LIS) Web site, at http://leg1.state.va.us. Most measures were located by searching the following LIS subject categories: Budget; Conservation; Energy Conservation and Resources; Fisheries and Habitat of Tidal Waters; Game, Inland Fisheries and Boating; Water and Sewer Systems; and Waters of the State, Ports and Harbors. Water Central’s list is organized alphabetically by these LIS categories. A few bills found in other categories are included under “Miscellaneous” at the end of the list (with the LIS category indicated). Bills are listed under only one category, even if LIS listed them more than once. Within each category, bills are listed in order of their bill number, using the following abbreviations: HB = bill started in House of Delegates; HJ = joint resolution started in the House; SB = bill started in the Senate; and SJ = joint resolution started in the Senate. Detailed information about the bills is available at the LIS Web site. Water Central does not claim that out list includes all bills that potentially could affect Virginia’s water resources.
Water in the 2010 Virginia General Assembly
Virginia Water Resources Research Center (Virginia Water Resources Research Center, 2010-08-24)
The 2010 Virginia General Assembly convened January 13 and adjourned March 13. The reconvened (“veto”) session was held April 21. During the session, the Assembly considered 2964 measures, passing 1598 of them, defeating 1093, and continuing 273 until 2011. The Assembly also crafted the 2010-12 biennial state budget. In this article, Virginia Water Central lists 201 measures in the 2010 Assembly that dealt with water resources directly or with activities that are likely to affect water. The list comes from the Legislative Information System (LIS) Web site, at http://leg1.state.va.us, in the categories indicated by sub-headings below. Bill summaries were also taken from LIS (edited in some cases for space or clarity). Bills are listed under only one category, even if LIS listed them more than once. The categories searched and the bills listed include all those with direct water relevance (such as bills in the “Water and Sewer Systems” category) as well as those with a potential or indirect relevance to water (such as bills dealing with land conservation and energy-efficiency, two activities that ultimately affect water resources). Water Central’s list below does not necessarily include all bills that potentially affect Virginia’s water resources (sometimes we miss some!). Within each category, bills are listed in order of their bill number, using the following abbreviations: HB = bill started in House of Delegates; HJ = joint resolution started in the House; SB = bill started in the Senate; and SJ = joint resolution started in the Senate. Numbers in the left-hand column have been added by Water Central. A table at the end of the article lists several topics and bills from the 2010 Assembly that received attention in various news media. For a selection of online news articles about water-related legislation in the 2010 Assembly, please visit the Virginia Water Central News Grouper at http://delicious.com/araflo/10VaGenAssembly. Water Central’s inventories of water-related bills in previous General Assembly sessions (1998-2009) are available online at www.vwrrc.vt.edu/legislation.html.