HBAV Legislative Bulletin for January 25, 2014 Found here at: hbav HBAV IS THE VOICE OF HOME BUILDING Please Support HBAV Build-PAC Now The HBAV Legislative Committee held their third meeting of the 2014 Session on Friday of this week and established HBAV policy on over 50 bills and resolutions pending before the state legislature that might impact the housing climate in Virginia. On Thursday, January 9th, Legislative Committee members came to Richmond and visited with their area legislators about the HBAV 2014 Legislative Agenda. All members of HBAV can keep up with all of the actions of the state legislature that may impact the housing industry this year by watching for the weekly HBAV Legislative Bulletin in their e-mail address inbox every Friday. HBAV members may also keep pace with all of the activities of the state legislature by visiting hbav or the Virginia General Assembly website. The website for the state legislature is leg1.state.va.us/. Now is the time for HBAV members to send their support to HBAV Build-PAC. It is the political wing of the HBAV. It helps elect pro-housing and pro-business candidates to the Virginia House of Delegates, Senate of Virginia and the three statewide offices in the Commonwealth. HBAV Build-PAC can accept business, corporation and personal contributions. It is a very important component of the annual success of the home building industry in Richmond. PLEASE SEND YOUR HBAV BUILD-PAC CONTRIBUTION TODAY TO HBAV BUILD-PAC, 707 EAST FRANKLIN STREET, RICHMOND, VIRGINIA 23219. HBAV LEGISLATIVE AGENDA BEGINS TO ADVANCE Threatening State Legislation was set aside This week, parts of the HBAV legislative agenda advanced and threatening legislation was killed. Following is a brief summary of the HBAV agenda for the 2014 Session of the Virginia General Assembly and the status of each. 1. House Bill 1084, by Delegate Rick Morris and Senate Committee Substitute for Senate Bill 578, by Senator Mark Obenshain. Make it more clear landowners in Virginia may seek damages and relief in a State Court in Virginia, as outlined by the U.S. Supreme Court in the Koontz case: This past summer, the United States Supreme Court made an important ruling related to the so-called Nollan/Dolan test, which generally requires land use permit conditions to be both closely related and roughly proportional to the impact of the applicants development. In Koontz v. St. Johns River Water Management District, the Court clarified the Nollan/Dolan rule in two key ways: 1) the Court made clear that a proposed permit condition may be struck down as an unconstitutional condition even where the permit has not been issued (and no property has actually been taken); and 2) the Court made clear that the Nollan/Dolan requirements apply to monetary exactions (such as cash proffers) in addition to other types of non-cash exactions. To make it more clear, landowners in Virginia may seek damages and relief in a State Court in Virginia, as outlined by the U.S. Supreme Court in the Koontz case, HBAV will request legislation to authorize a landowner aggrieved by an unconstitutional condition by a local government to recover damages, reasonable attorneys fees and court costs as well as an order directing the local government to grant or issue the permit or approval without the unconstitutional condition. The goal of the legislation is to encourage localities to stay within the parameters of the Nollan/Dolan test when considering local land use decisions in the future. This week, House Bill 1084 was assigned to the Civil Subcommittee of the House Courts of Justice Committee and it is set for a public hearing this coming Monday afternoon. Senate Bill 578 was referred to the Senate Committee on Courts this week from the Senate Local Government Committee and set for a hearing before the full Senate committee this coming Monday morning. 2. House Bill 899, by Delegate Chris Peace. Reduce the current 10-calendar day New Condominium Sales Contract Rescission Period to 5-calendar days: New Condominium unit buyers and sellers currently have to wait 10 days after a contract sale, or the delivery of condominium documents, whichever is later, for a sales contract to be valid. The 10-day rescission period was established in the 1970s to provide new condominium buyers extra time to review what were then viewed as complex condominium association documents. By contrast, for new single-family home buyers in developments with a Home Owners Association (HOA), buyers have 3 days to review the HOA documents, after delivery of the association documents. In like manner, in the resale of the Condominium Unit, the buyer enjoys only a 3-day rescission period after the delivery of the association documents or the date of the sales contract, whichever is later. After more than 40 years of an active condominium marketplace in Virginia, HBAV believes it is reasonable to shorten the 10-day rescission period following the sale of a new condominium to a 5-day period. Such a change will make a new Condominium unit sale more efficient for buyers and sellers and still provide new Condominium unit owners ample time to review association documents. HB 899 cleared the House of Delegates this week and will soon be assigned to the Senate Committee on General Laws. 3. House Bill 673, by Delegate Charles Poindexter. Provide for a standard single family home construction VSMP permit fee, for land disturbances between 1 and 5 acres with the fee requirements of land disturbances of less than 1 acre: An HBAV priority for the 2014 Session will be on behalf of new homeowners in the rural areas of Virginia. The measure would reduce the Stormwater Management Permit fees for single-family home construction that disturbs between 1 and 5 acres of land from $2,700 per home to approximately $290, the same fee DEQ has set for disturbances of less than 1 acre in conjunction with the construction of a new single-family home. In rural Virginia, many landowners place new homes on small parcels of land between 1 acre and 10 acres. On those occasions, it can be easy to disturb more than one acre with the installation of a long driveway, a modest home and garage, and a well and septic system. It is unfair to charge a rural landowner a $2,700 fee for the same stormwater oversight of a new single-family home construction project for which an urban landowner would pay approximately $290. House Bill 673 was rolled into House Bill 1173, by Delegate Keith Hodges this week in the Chesapeake Subcommittee of the House Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources Committee. HB 1173 will be considered by the full House Agriculture Committee on Wednesday of this coming week. HB 1173 will exempt all separately built single-family homes for the Virginia Stormwater Management Program Permit requirements and statutorily clarifies that individual parcels in Common Plans of Development are not required to obtain a VSMP Permit or prepare a Stormwater Management Plan, provided the development as a whole has provided such required facilities. The measure also limits the required takeover of administration and enforcement of the states VSMP program to MS4 localities and those localities that choose to opt-in and manage their own VSMP program. DEQ will administer their VSMP Permit requirements in non-MS4 localities. 4. House Bill 209, by Delegate Danny Marshall. Provide an Option of landowners to waive the preliminary plan approval process for small residential construction projects (50 residential lots or less): Localities in Virginia are allowed to adopt a Preliminary Plan requirement for new subdivisions; regardless of the number of lots planned for the new the project. The Preliminary Plan process was initially designed to streamline the plan review process for Final Plan approval and in most localities it works very efficiently. Unfortunately in some localities, the Preliminary Plan Review process has become very complex, almost a duplication of the requirements of a Final Plan Review Process. And, once approved, the process is only repeated during the Final Plan review and approval. Consequently, landowners for even small subdivisions in some localities can spend many months in a duplicative plan review process and must pay two sets of fees. To make the small subdivision plan review process more efficient in the future, HBAV will request legislation to allow the owners of small subdivisions of 50 lots or less to WAIVE the Preliminary Plan review process, which will allow a landowner to take their small subdivision plan directly to a localitys Final Plan review process. The proposed legislation will allow landowners to deliver new lots to the marketplace in a more efficient time span, and allow landowners to save on the cost of a local plan review. HB 209 will be considered by Subcommittee No. 2 of the House Counties, Cities and Towns Committee this coming Thursday morning. BROADER BUILDER LIABILITY BILL STOPPED IN SENATE COURTS Senate Bill 329 was killed by the Senate Committee on Courts of Justice this week on a 14 to 1 vote The measure provided that if the vendor (builder) of a new home (i) is in the business of building or selling new dwellings and (ii) selected and installed the materials and fixtures used in the construction of the dwelling, he shall be held to warrant to the vendee (home buyer) that if a defect occurs in such materials or fixtures and the manufacturer does not fulfill any warranty that was provided, that the vendor will fulfill the warranty. The measure would have significantly broadened the liability requirements of builders in Virginia beyond the current 1-year implied warranty home builders in Virginia must furnish their new home buyers. Visit hbav for the HBAV Matrix of all legislation before the 2014 Legislative Session that would impact the home building climate in Virginia. The matrix is updated each Thursday afternoon of the 2014 legislative session.
Posted on: Wed, 29 Jan 2014 00:23:53 +0000
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