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See the VPA's stances on 2012 Business and Public Notice Chart
2012 General Assembly Legislation as it relates to business and public notice issues related to the newspaper industry. This table includes links to the home pages of the legislation and the patron. Click here for a printer-friendly version. - Return to main legislation page.
| BILL | PATRON | STATUS | DESCRIPTION | VPA POSITION | LAST UPDATED |
|---|
| HB 1373 | C.T. Head | House: Counties, Cities and Towns Subcommittee #2 failed to report (10-N 1-Y) | Legal notices; advertisement by locality. Allows localities with a population of 30,000 or greater to meet certain notice requirements by utilizing their websites, radio, or television instead of a newspaper of general circulation. | Oppose | 01/25/13 |
| HB 1378 | M.L. Cole | House: Incorporated by Counties, Cities and Towns (HB1373-Head) by voice vote | Advertisement of legal notices on websites. Allows a locality to publish required legal notices on its website instead of advertising them in a newspaper having a general circulation in the locality. | Oppose | 01/18/13 |
| HB 1381 | J.D. Morrissey | House: Finance Subcommittee #1 recommends laying on the table by voice vote | Plastic bag tax. Imposes a tax of five cents ($0.05) beginning on July 1, 2014, on plastic bags used by purchasers to carry tangible personal property purchased in grocery stores, convenience stores, or drug stores. Durable, reusable plastic bags and bags used for ice cream, meat, fish, poultry, leftover restaurant food, newspapers, dry cleaning, and prescription drugs are exempt from the tax. Companion bill to SB 970. | Support | 01/17/13 |
| HB 1426 | I.D. O'Quinn | House: Counties, Cities and Towns Subcommittee #2 failed to recommend reporting (4-Y 7-N) | Advertisement of legal notices on websites by the Towns of Damascus and Glade Spring. Allows each of the Towns of Damascus and Glade Spring to publish required legal notices on the locality's website instead of advertising them in a newspaper having a general circulation in the locality. Companion bill to SB 765. | Oppose | 01/17/13 |
| HB 1448 | M.K. Hodges | Governor: Approved by Governor-Chapter 185 (effective 7/1/13) | Financing for repairs to failed septic systems. Authorizes a locality, by ordinance, to create a loan program to enable the repair of property owners' failed septic systems. Any such ordinance is required to describe the arrangement of the loan program, including any partnership with a planning district commission, and is permitted to provide for the repayment of the loan through water or sewer billings, real property tax assessments, or other billings. The bill authorizes other features of a loan program and permits a locality to set a minimum ownership interest or minimum level of proof of ownership of the property for situations in which it is extremely difficult or impossible to identify all of the people who have an ownership interest in the property. Provides for notice of related public hearings to be published for two successive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation. | Support | 03/27/13 |
| HB 1823 | R.A. Villanueva | Senate: Passed by indefinitely in Committee on General Laws and Technology (10-Y 3-N) | Public procurement; posting by local public bodies of procurement opportunities. Requires local public bodies to post required procurement notices on the Department of General Services' central electronic procurement website and makes newspaper publication or posting on other appropriate websites optional. Currently, only state public bodies are required to post procurement notices on the Department of General Services' central electronic procurement website. The bill requires the Department of General Services to (a) provide an electronic data file of the using agency's business opportunities at no charge to any requesting newspaper or other print publication with circulation in Virginia using the comma-separated values (CSV) format and (b) send the data file automatically via electronic mail on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis as agreed to by the parties. The bill specifies the information to be included in the data file. The substitute bill also states, "Public bodies that issue a Request for Proposal between July 1, 2013, and June 30, 2014, shall publish a public notice of the Request for Proposal only for the first Request for Proposal issued by the public body between July 1, 2013, and June 30, 2014, in a newspaper of general circulation in the area in which the contract is to be performed so as to provide reasonable notice to the maximum number of offerors that can be reasonably anticipated to submit proposals in response to the particular request. Such notice shall include a statement that "all future public notices for Requests for Proposals from this public body can be found on the Internet at http://www.eva.virginia.gov." Thereafter, public notice for a Request for Proposal in a newspaper of general circulation would be optional. The substitute bill also raises the limit on contracts for professional services not requiring competitive negotiation from $50,000 to $60,000 and changing the notice requirements for reverse auctioning. | Oppose | 02/18/13 |
| HB 2078 | C.K. Peace | House: Left in General Laws | Public procurement; design-build; construction management; protests; private investment. Increases public notice of requests for proposals from 10 to 30 days. The bill also (i) limits the use of competitive negotiation for construction projects, including certain public institutions of higher education, for which the aggregate or sum of all phases is not expected to exceed $10 million, the nature of the project is such that it is unusually complex or extraordinary conditions exist, and the Director of the Department of General Services and the Secretary of Administration certify such conditions exist; (ii) requires posting on eVa and other appropriate websites for state and local public bodies using certain methods of procurement; (iii) changes the process for procurement of design-build or construction management projects; and (iv) allows a bidder or offeror to protest a public body's use of competitive negotiation. The bill contains technical amendments. | Support | 02/07/13 |
| HB 2079 | S.C. Jones | Governor: Approved by Governor-Chapter 583 (effective 7/1/13) | Virginia Public Procurement Act; methods of procurement. Reorganizes the definitions of competitive sealed bidding and competitive negotiation. The bill also adds a definition of job order contracting. Provides that public bodies shall publish notice of request for proposal in a newspaper of general circulation in the area in which a contract is to be performed so as to provide reasonable notice to the maximum number of offerors that can be reasonably anticipated to submit proposals in response. Notices of invitation to bid and of contract awards may be published in a newspaper of general circulation. House Amendments Senate Amendments Engrossed Conference Amendments |
Support | 03/27/13 |
| HB 2135 | T.D. Hugo | House: Stricken from docket by Commerce and Labor by voice vote | Virginia Consumer Protection Act. Makes the misleading, deceptive, or fraudulent use of a trademark, service mark, or mark a prohibited practice under the Virginia Consumer Protection Act. The measure also (i) specifies that online advertising is a form of advertising covered by the exemption for advertising media and (ii) provides that the advertising media exemption does not apply if a medium's publisher, owner, agent, or employee had reason to know that the advertisement was of a prohibited character. | Amend | 01/31/13 |
| HB 2170 | M.L. Cole | House: Incorporated by General Laws (HB1823-Villanueva) by voice vote | Public procurement; posting by local public bodies of procurement opportunities. Requires local public bodies to post required procurement notices on the Department of General Services' central electronic procurement website and makes newspaper publication or posting on other appropriate websites optional. Currently, only state public bodies are required to post procurement notices on the Department of General Services' central electronic procurement website. The bill also requires the Department of General Services to (i) provide an electronic data file of the using agency's business opportunities at no charge to any requesting newspaper or other print publication with circulation in Virginia using the comma-separated values (CSV) format and (ii) send the data file automatically via electronic mail on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis as agreed to by the parties. The bill specifies the information to be included in the data file. | Oppose | 01/30/13 |
| HJ 591 | C.T. Head | Senate: Agreed to by Senate | Celebrating the life of John Robert Slaughter, Sr. | Support | 01/17/13 |
| HJ 628 | B.B. Carr | Senate: Agreed to by Senate | Celebrating the life of Anne Folkes Miller. | Support | 01/17/13 |
| HJ 641 | J.M. Scott | Senate: Agreed to by Senate by voice vote | Commending Benton Communications, Inc. | Support | 01/17/13 |
| HJ 714 | D.J. Toscano | Senate: Agreed to by Senate | Celebrating the life of William Henry Wood. | Support | 01/17/13 |
| HJ 779 | P.F. Farrell | Senate: Agreed to by Senate by voice vote | Commending The Central Virginian. |
Support | 02/07/13 |
| HJ 780 | D.W. Merricks | Senate: Agreed to by Senate | Celebrating the life of Robert H. Haskell III. | Support | 02/07/13 |
| HJ 817 | D.E. Yancey | Senate: Agreed to by Senate by voice vote | Commending Walter Segaloff, VPA Virginian of the Year for 2013. | Support | 02/14/13 |
| HJ 835 | J.T. May | Senate: Agreed to by Senate | Celebrating the life of George L. Barton IV. | Support | 02/14/13 |
| HJ 943 | R.L. Anderson | House: Agreed to by House by voice vote | Commending the Old Bridge Observer. | Support | 02/21/13 |
| HR 170 | B.J. Comstock | House: Agreed to by House | Celebrating the life of Anthony David Blankley. | Support | 02/15/13 |
| SB 695 | L.L. Lucas | Senate: Passed by indefinitely in General Laws and Technology (15-Y 0-N) | Virginia Toll Relief Act; Virginia Casino Gaming Commission; regulation of casino gaming; penalties. Creates the Virginia Casino Gaming Commission as the licensing body for casino gaming. Requires that notice of a local referendum, approving the question of a casino operation, be published in a newspaper of general circulation in such county, city, or town once a week for three consecutive weeks prior to such election. | Neutral | 01/28/13 |
| SB 696 | L.L. Lucas | Senate: Passed by indefinitely in General Laws and Technology (15-Y 0-N) | Virginia Toll Abatement Act; Virginia Casino Gaming Commission; regulation of casino gaming; penalties. Creates the Virginia Casino Gaming Commission as the licensing body for casino gaming. Requires that notice of a local referendum, approving the question of a casino operation, be published in a newspaper of general circulation in such county, city, or town once a week for three consecutive weeks prior to such election. | Neutral | 01/28/13 |
| SB 697 | L.L. Lucas | Senate: Passed by indefinitely in General Laws and Technology (15-Y 0-N) | Virginia Transportation Enhancement and Toll Abatement Act; Virginia Casino Gaming Commission; regulation of casino gaming; penalties. Creates the Virginia Casino Gaming Commission as the licensing body for casino gaming. Requires that notice of a local referendum, approving the question of a casino operation, be published in a newspaper of general circulation in such county, city, or town once a week for three consecutive weeks prior to such election. | Neutral | 01/28/13 |
| SB 765 | C.W. Carrico | Senate: Failed to report (defeated) in General Laws and Technology (11-N 3-Y) | Advertisement of legal notices on websites by the Towns of Damascus and Glade Spring. Allows each of the Towns of Damascus and Glade Spring to publish required legal notices on the locality's website instead of advertising them in a newspaper having a general circulation in the locality. Companion bill to HB 1426. | Oppose | 02/04/13 |
| SB 970 | A.P. Ebbin | Senate: Failed to report (defeated) in Finance (5-Y 9-N) | Paper and plastic bag fee. Imposes a fee of $0.05 on paper and plastic bags used by purchasers to carry tangible personal property from the place of purchase. Durable, reusable plastic bags and bags used for ice cream, meat, fish, poultry, leftover restaurant food, newspapers, dry cleaning, and prescription drugs are exempt from the fee. Companion bill to HB 1381. | Support | 01/23/13 |
| SJ 291 | J.S. Edwards | House: Agreed to by House | Celebrating the life of John Robert Slaughter, Sr. | Support | 01/27/13 |
| SJ 376 | B.E. Reeves | House: Agreed to by House | Celebrating the life of William Henry Wood. | Support | 02/11/13 |
| SJ 378 | R.H. Black | House: Agreed to by House | Celebrating the life of George L. Barton IV. | Support | 02/11/13 |
| SJ 383 | T.A. Garrett | House: Agreed to by House by voice vote | Commending The Central Virginian. | Support | 02/11/13 |
| SR 37 | J.C. Miller | Senate: Agreed to by Senate by voice vote | Commending Walter Segaloff, VPA Virginian of the Year 2013. | Support | 02/14/13 |
| SR 40 | J.C. Miller | Senate: Agreed to by Senate by voice vote | Commending William C. O'Donovan. | Support | 02/14/13 |