Water in the 2009 Virginia General Assembly

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.