Task force to look at state-imposed mandates on local government

The governor’s task force on state-imposed mandates is proposing a moratorium on new requirements and will start pushing to eliminate or reduce existing mandates in the next General Assembly session.

With just two meetings under its belt, the Task Force for Local Government Mandate Review has compiled a 31-page list of requirements it feels are ineffective, redundant or burdensome.

Regulations in the crosshairs so far range from minor — like a prohibition on localities posting “Watch for Children” caution signs — to major items such as:

- new dam safety and storm water quality regulations

- the required post-Labor Day school starting date

- stipulated response times for Freedom of Information Act requests and a mandate that certain public notices be published in a newspaper

- restrictions on how local governments can manage their employee retirement costs.

The task force — a five-member body including Lynchburg City Manager Kimball Payne — was commissioned earlier this year to identify ways to reduce the regulatory burden on local governments.

The group is accepting public input on its short list. It hopes to be ready to submit an interim report to Gov. Bob McDonnell after its Dec. 9 meeting.

Payne said the task force has been moving at a “frenetic” pace and already has received suggestions from about 40 local governing bodies.

“I think everybody is very optimistic and is devoting a lot of time and energy to this,” he said. “People are taking it seriously and trying to seize the opportunity.”

Payne said the task force wants to start recommending mandates to eliminate or reduce in the 2012 General Assembly session. At the same time, it wants to spark a longer-term discussion about how the state interacts with localities.

“It’s not just as easy as saying let’s do away with this or that,” Payne said. “Some of this is very complicated … The partnership between the state and its localities is broken. We need to figure out how we’re going to work together.”

Several of the ideas submitted criticized mandates, not because they were faulty, but because they did not come with supporting state funding. But participants were advised early on any measure cutting into the state’s bottom line would not be well received in the current budget climate, Payne said.

Many of the proposals on the task force’s short list deal with procedural concerns such as state oversight and reporting requirements.

The task force has not identified which of the items to recommend for consideration in the next session, but it has said it wants to advance a moratorium on new mandates.

Payne said at least three pending mandates are causing heartburn among local officials: a proposal to shift more responsibility for road maintenance onto localities; a potential push to divert more revenue from court fines to the state; and an already-approved requirement that all seventh-graders have an academic and career plan in place starting in 2012.

The task force plans to draft a proposal fleshing out how a moratorium might work. Payne declined to speculate on how popular a moratorium would be among state officials.

“It will be incredibly popular with localities,” he said.

The task force’s short list includes 105 education mandates and 80 local government mandates.

In the latter category, environmental mandates were most frequently criticized, accounting for 12 of the items proposed for elimination or amendment. Transportation and FOIA/Transparency mandates tied for second with 11 items each.

Some of the ideas raised included:

- Eliminating a required salary formula allowing law enforcement officers and firefighters to earn overtime for annual and sick leave.

- No longer requiring localities to investigate claims of child abuse at juvenile detention centers. The centers are state facilities and some feel the cases are state matters.

- Allowing local governing bodies to compel school divisions to comply with administrative consolidation.

- Striking the authority of Circuit Courts to order localities to build new courthouses.

- Amending the new 100 percent real estate tax exemption for disabled veterans to take into account their income and property value.

n Possibly eliminating a requirement that all localities factor household pets and service animals into their emergency response plans. The necessity of this mandate has been called into question. The task force recommends it be put under review.

- Allowing local health departments to pick their own IT service provider instead of requiring them to use the Virginia Information Technologies Agency. Costs have risen significantly since VITA was outsourced to Northrop Grumman.