Water in the 2013 Virginia General Assembly

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/.