2015 Session Virginia General Assembly Policy & Legislation Session1

VRA POLICY COMMITTEE The Policy Committee of the Virginia Recycling Association will monitor any recycling legislation and disperse information to VRA members and interested citizens. CHALLENGE: “Provide an update on what is being done to expand laws at Virginia’s General Assembly to benefit and enhance recycling, and to identify recycling as a growth sector.” Policy & Legislation Session2

Policy & Legislation Session4

Failed Legislation – 2015 Session SB 880 – Prohibit retailers from providing disposable plastic shopping bags; local option. Allows any locality by ordinance to prohibit retailers from providing disposable plastic bags to consumers. The bill exempts from any such prohibition reusable bags of a certain thickness and garbage bags that are sold in multiples. SB 886 – Plastic bag tax in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed. Imposes a five- cent bag tax on plastic bags provided to customers by certain retailers in localities located wholly within the Chesapeake Bay Watershed and directs revenues to be used to support the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Implementation Plan. The bill also allows every retailer that collects the tax to retain one cent of the five-cent tax. Policy & Legislation Session5

Failed Legislation – 2015 Session SB 987 Virginia Public Procurement Act; bid match preference for Virginia businesses. Provides that whenever the lowest responsive and responsible bidder is a resident of another state that allows a percentage preference for resident contractors, a like preference shall be allowed to the lowest responsive and responsible bidder who is a resident of Virginia and is within five percent of the lowest bid price. The bill also requires the Department of General Services to include in its posting of states that allow preferences those states that allow resident contractors a price matching preference. SB 1103 – Distribution of disposable plastic shopping bags prohibited; local option. Allows any locality by ordinance to prohibit the distribution, sale, or offer of disposable plastic shopping bags to consumers. The bill exempts from any such prohibition reusable bags of a certain thickness; bags that are used to carry certain products, such as ice cream or newspapers; and garbage bags that are sold in multiples. Policy & Legislation Session6

Failed Legislation – 2015 Session SB Release of balloons. Prohibits any person, with certain exceptions, from intentionally releasing or causing to be released any balloon into the atmosphere that (i) is inflated with a substance lighter than air and (ii) requires more than five minutes' contact with air or water to degrade. Currently, a person is prohibited from releasing 50 or more non- biodegradable or non-photodegradable balloons within a one-hour period. The bill retains the current civil penalty of $5 per prohibited balloon released; however, the proceeds generated from the civil penalty are set to be deposited into the Litter Control and Recycling Fund administered by the Department of Environmental Quality; currently, the proceeds are deposited into the Lifetime Hunting and Fishing Endowment Fund. Policy & Legislation Session7

Failed Legislation – 2015 Session HB 1650 – Renewable energy property grants. Establishes, beginning with fiscal year 2016, grants for placing into service renewable energy property. The grant would equal 35 percent of the costs paid or incurred to place the renewable energy property into service, not to exceed $2.5 million for any individual piece of renewable energy property. The bill provides that grants in excess of 2.5 percent of the total program appropriation for the relevant fiscal year would be paid in three equal calendar year installments. No grant would be awarded for renewable energy property that generated electricity within the 12 months preceding the date of the grant application or renewable energy property paid for by utility ratepayer funds. The bill defines renewable energy as energy derived from sunlight, wind, falling water, biomass, waste, landfill gas, municipal solid waste, wave motion, tides, or geothermal power, but not including energy derived from coal, oil, natural gas, or nuclear power. The Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy would administer the grant program. The Department would be authorized, subject to appropriation, to award up to $10 million in renewable energy property grants each fiscal year. Policy & Legislation Session8

Failed Legislation – 2015 Session HB 1697 Synthetic plastic microbeads; prohibition against manufacture or sale of certain products; penalty. Defines the term "synthetic plastic microbead" and prohibits the manufacture of certain personal care products containing microbeads beginning in The bill also bars the sale of such products, and the manufacture of over-the-counter drugs containing microbeads, beginning in 2019, and it prohibits the sale of such drugs beginning in Violators are subject to a civil penalty of between $250 and $10,000 per day, the proceeds of which are to be deposited into the Virginia Environmental Emergency Response Fund. Naturally occurring biopolymers or other compounds that biodegrade in marine and freshwater environments are excluded from the definition of "synthetic plastic microbead“. HB 1777 – Recyclable Materials Processing Equipment Tax Credit; sunset. Extends the Recyclable Materials Processing Equipment Tax Credit for five years, through taxable year Policy & Legislation Session9

Approved or Enacted Session SB 1259 Salvage, non-repairable, and rebuilt vehicles; requirements and practices of certain dealers. Enhances and clarifies certain requirements and practices relating to the licensing and activities of vehicle demolishers, rebuilders, salvage dealers, salvage pools, scrap metal processors, and vehicle removal operators. This bill is identical to HB 2184.HB Policy & Legislation Session10

Approved or Enacted Session SB 781 – Passing with a double yellow line; drivers allowed to pass a pedestrian, bicycle, skateboard, etc. Allows drivers to cross double yellow lines or a solid yellow line immediately adjacent to a broken yellow line in order to pass a pedestrian or a device moved by human power, if such movement can be made safely. The bill also relocates a definition from the end of the section to the beginning for clarity. This bill incorporated SB 1027 and SB SB 793 – Towing truck driver, etc.; prohibits occupants in motor vehicle while such vehicle is being towed. Prohibits tow truck drivers and towing and recovery operators from knowingly towing a motor vehicle with occupants. Policy & Legislation Session11

Approved or Enacted Session HB 1649 – Passing stationary refuse collection vehicles. Requires that, with due regard to safety and traffic conditions, drivers of motor vehicles overtaking stationary vehicles in the process of refuse collection (i) on a highway of at least four lanes, yield the right of way by a making a lane change into a nonadjacent lane or (ii) on a highway of fewer than four lanes or if changing lanes would be unreasonable or unsafe, decrease speed to 10 mph below the posted speed limit and pass at least two feet to the left of the stationary vehicle. Policy & Legislation Session12

Fake clothing donation bins or boxes HB 1860 – Collection receptacles for clothing, household items, etc.; required disclosures. Solicitation of contributions; collection receptacles. Provides that no (i) business as defined in § , other than a charitable or civic organization to which contributions are deductible under § 170 of the Internal Revenue Code, or (ii) professional solicitor shall place or maintain a receptacle in public view for the purpose of collecting donated clothing, household items, or other items for future resale unless such person or professional solicitor places on the receptacle a permanent sign or label that includes certain disclosure information printed in letters that are no less than three inches in height and no less than one-half inch in width and in a color that contrasts with the color of the receptacle, which sign or label shall be placed immediately below the opening in the receptacle used to deposit donations. The bill provides that the penalty for violation is limited to the civil penalties contained in the solicitation of contributions law. Policy & Legislation Session13

Joel Andrus, Government Relations Director, Kemper Consulting Group, Norfolk, VA Policy & Legislation Session14 Since November 2004, Joel has represented clients before the Virginia General Assembly, legislative and executive branch agencies and boards and commissions. Mr. Andrus’ practice includes public education, environmental issues, energy and healthcare, including helping Kemper Consulting’s healthcare clients prepare applications and navigate Virginia’s Certificate of Public Need process. Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Andrus worked with the City of Suffolk Economic Development Department, where he mainly focused on new business development and retention in the downtown area. While with the City of Suffolk, he developed and implemented marking strategies for attracting new businesses, helped local businesses understand and take advantage the Virginia Enterprise Zone, as well as acted as a liaison between downtown businesses and historic preservation societies. Mr. Andrus graduated with distinction from the Virginia Military Institute. As an undergraduate, Mr. Andrus served as president of the Philosophy Club and the Timmons-Gentry Music Society, as well as Managing Editor of the VMI yearbook, The Bomb. In addition, he is also a member of the Sigma Tau Delta English Honors Society. Joel is an active member of VRA Board of Directors!

Success! SB Recyclable materials tax credit. Changes the recyclable materials tax credit by (i) extending the expiration date of the credit by five years to January 1, 2020, (ii) increasing the credit allowed from 10 to 20 percent of the purchase price of qualifying machinery and equipment, (iii) prohibiting denial of the credit based solely on another person's use of tangible personal property produced by the credit applicant from recyclable materials, (iv) clarifying that no credit will be allowed for machinery and equipment that does not manufacture, process, compound, or produce items of tangible personal property from recyclable materials, and (v) establishing an annual cap of $2 million in recyclable materials tax credits that may be issued by the Department of Taxation. The provisions of the bill are effective for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, This bill is identical to HB 1554.HB Policy & Legislation Session15