Today is the mid-point of the 2017 General Assembly session, known as “crossover.” At this point, each house of the legislature can only consider bills passed by the other house. [Translation: No new bills and any bills that haven’t been heard yet are dead for the session.]
Here’s where things stand now:
Historic Rehabilitation Tax Credits — Two bills survive: HB2460 and SB1034. Both bills cap the credit at $5M per taxpayer (as does the Governor’s budget). We were successful in getting the Senate bill amended to include a one-year sunset provision. Because of Governor’s budget already assumed this $5M cap and its related savings, we’re told that this is our best case scenario in this incredibly tight budget year.
Our goal now is to visit with members of the House side (who will be hearing SB1034 in the coming weeks) to ask that they don’t strip our amendment out. The Senate is expected to automatically add our amendment to HB2460. Our message to the House committee members will be that we appreciate the prudent measures that legislators are taking regarding the budget and we support a one-year sunset on the $5M cap. We’re asking that they not make the cap permanent until we receive the results of the studies that are currently underway. These studies will evaluate the credit’s ROI to the Commonwealth and are expected to be complete by mid-summer.
We’ll be meeting with the following legislators who sit on the House Finance Subcommittee 3 this week:
Delegate Robert D. Orrock, Sr.
If you’re able to join me in meetings on Wednesday or Thursday, please contact me as soon as possible at rgeorge@aiava.org. Even if your legislator isn’t listed above, please consider reaching out to express support for a one-year sunset on the cap in SB1034 and HB2460. If you have a personal story about how the current uncertainty regarding the cap has caused funders to pull back on projects, please contact me and/or share it with your legislator. Feel free to call me at (804) 237-1768 if you’d like to talk about the credit a bit before reaching out to your legislator.
Procurement – We’re monitoring SB1129 which deals with the use of construction management contracts.
And, though we haven’t taken a position on Virginia’s definitions for small businesses, we’re watching SB1334 very closely. If Virginia’s small business definition for architecture firms changes, it could have a substantial impact on Qualifications Based Selection (QBS) because of Executive Order 20 and its requirement to exceed an expenditure goal of 42% with small businesses.
Regulation — Though nearly a dozen have died, we continue to monitor several bills that relate to the regulatory environment.
SB1449 seeks to address general concerns about overregulation, however (as one observer put it), the bills add another state division and another commission, essentially creating more red tape. We’re not taking a position but will watch to see that amendments don’t take us in a bad direction.
Of the several bills intending to address anti-trust concerns related to the Supreme Court ruling, North Carolina Board of Dental Examiners v. Federal Trade Commission, HB1566 has prevailed. We’re generally supportive, but we’ll continue to watch closely to make sure no erosion of licensure or HSW protections creep in.
HB1731, HB1790, and HB1871 call for a review of the Administrative Process Act which could impact the regulatory environment further down the road.