State lawmakers extended the legislative session by one day, wrapping up budget agreements on Sunday that offered concessions to Republicans and Democrats. The biggest win for retailers was a major rollback of the much derided Accelerated Sales Tax (AST). Budget conferees, lobbied long and hard by Virginia Retail Federation (VRF) staff, agreed to give merchants $47.5 million in AST relief, more than requested by Governor Bob McDonnell, who went to bat for small business on this issue.

The session was short (47 days) and extremely intense. As noted in the Richmond Times Dispatch, the budget causes more discord (than any legislative issue) because it hits interests in their most sensitive place: the pocketbook.

The following is a brief summary of the highly successful General Assembly session.

PASSED

Accelerated Sales Tax Rollback  

Strong objections from retail lobbyists to the unfair extra tax payment were accepted with a compromise relief package that raises the $1 million tax threshold to $5.4 million. The budget monies offer relief from the tax to 80 percent of merchants impacted by AST in 2010.

On behalf of the Virginia Retail Federation, please contact the following budget conferees and thank them for their support in providing AST tax relief.

Delegate Lacey Putney
Delegate Kirk Cox
Delegate Chris Jones
Delegate Johnny Joannou
Delegate Steve Landes

Senator Charles Colgan
Senator Dick Saslaw
Senator Janet Howell
Senator Ed Houck
Senator William Wampler
Senator Walter Stosch
Senator Tommy Norment

BPOL Tax Relief  

For the first time since major changes were made to BPOL in the mid 90’s, three bills passed which give local governments options to offer retailers and other businesses some BPOL relief. All three bills were strongly supported by the VRF.

Delegate Sal Iaquinto’s bill offers the opportunity to eliminate the tax for start-up companies; Delegate Mark Cole’s legislation gives a choice to tax Virginia taxable income rather than gross receipts; and Senator Frank Ruff’s bill provides the local option not to tax unprofitable businesses.

Governor's Transportation Bond Package  

A big win for Governor Bob McDonnell was the passage of $2.9 billion in a transportation bond package. The VRF fully supported the Governor's transportation proposal.

Tourism Zones for Localities  

Senator Tommy Norment and Delegate Mathew James carried successful companion bills that allow tourism projects generated by localities to use tax revenues from the project to retire the debt. Working with Governor McDonnell's legislative staff, VRF was a key player in the coalition that helped pass the bills.

BYOB Wine Legislation  

A bill carried by Virginia Beach Senator McWaters, allowing customers to bring a bottle of wine into a restaurant and permitting restaurants to charge a corkage fee, passed out of both legislative bodies with large majorities http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?111+sum+SB1292

DEFEATED

ABC Privatization  

Four bills to privatize the state's alcohol sales never saw the light of day. Committee chairs on both sides of the aisle chose not to hear the bills, defeating the Governor's initiatives.

Plastic Bag Ban and Fees  

A bill to allow the City of Roanoke to ban plastic bags, along with two other bills which would place consumer fees on plastic bags, were defeated in a House committee before going to the House floor or to the Senate for a vote. The VRF focused on its successful partnership with Keep Virginia Beautiful to offer plastic bag recycling in 800 groceries across the Commonwealth.

Pre-Labor Day School Start Bills  

The VRF joined forces with lobbyists from the Virginia Hospitality Travel Association and City of Virginia Beach to fight off seven bills which allowed school districts to start school before Labor Day. The business community was able to give legislators plenty of reason to oppose the early school start efforts. Retail and hospitality groups produced a study that showed shortening the tourism season, by starting school early, would have a $369 million negative impact on Virginia's tourism economy, including $104 million in lost wages and benefits. The coalition overturned six of the legislative proposals

However, one bill - allowing the City of Roanoke an early school start date - created a new system to allow localities that surround such a locality with an existing waiver to mirror that early start date. The retail and hospitality lobby will watch this initiative closely and look at the possibility of overturning it next year.

Restaurant Inspections

Working with the Virginia Hospitality and Travel Association (VHTA), the VRF overturned Delegate Danny Marshall's legislation requiring restaurants to visibly post their most recent inspection for costumer viewing. As a solution, the VRF offered a solution to the delegate which creates a Restaurant Inspection Work Group to develop compromise ideas before the next General Assembly session.

Criminal Sentencing Bill

The VRF was called on by the Attorney General's staff to help pass HB 25 13. The bill turned over a Virginia Supreme Court decision issued in January that would, for the first time, allow judges the authority to offer an advisory sentence rather than following penalties established by the legislature in the code of Virginia. The bill was passed by the House, but defeated in the Senate. The VRF will work with the AG's staff and Commonwealth's Attorneys to submit the bill again next year.

ABC Outdoor Advertising

Although Lamar Advertising successfully sued the Virginia ABC Board to overturn its ban on outdoor advertising, a last minute political decision by House General Laws Committee members to override the court decision places retailers back under the current ABC advertising regulations. The court's decision had allowed retailers the ability to display ABC ads in their windows, use outdoor signs, etc. However, the General Assembly used the ploy to limit ABC advertising on billboards and, at the same time, re-regulated retail ABC advertising. However, the advertising regulations are now overseen by the Virginia legislature rather than the ABC Board...more to come on this issue, perhaps in court.

Click on a link below to read previous year's wrap up:

2010 Legislative Wrap Up

2009 Legislative Wrap Up