The Professions-Occupations and Administrative Process Subcommittee advanced 16 of 17 bills heard, with most passing unanimously. The only contested vote was HB 494 — a hiring preference for former federal employees — which passed 6-2, while HB 707 was passed over and HB 992 was struck from the docket at the patron's request.
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Eli Wright, a professional wetland delineator serving on the certification committee of the Virginia Association of Wetland Professionals, argued the bill 'would eliminate having potential folks from those varied backgrounds represented and runs the risk that the board actions could occur without sufficient technical breadth and occupation, professional context in the room.' Delegate Cole countered that when boards cannot meet due to lack of quorum, it 'actually creates additional costs for business owners with items before the boards as well as the costs for the members to come who do come and then aren't able to meet,' and moved the bill forward as is.
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“One of the longstanding challenges that we've had is the process to change a fee takes longer than the statute tells us to assess our fees. We're supposed to assess our fees every two years. It takes longer than that to change our fees. And so many of our boards struggle to keep up with rising costs.”
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Sign in to subscribeGood afternoon. The professions and occupations and administrative process meet information. I'm trying to read this long title of the subcommittee. General law Subcommittee will come to order. The clerk will open the roll. Clerk will close the roll. All right, we have a quorum. So we are going to start. We've got a bill that kind of contains some administrative business. We have two identical bills. We have House Bill 228, and we have patron by delegate McNamara. And we have House Bill 870, patron by delegate Carroll. They are identical bills. So we are going to incorporate House Bill 228 into House Bill 870. And then we will have Delegate Carol come up and present House Bill 870. Mention and move to incorporate second. All right. So moved and seconded to incorporate House Bill 228 into House Bill 870. And that is a recorded vote. That's a voice. A voice vote. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? All right. Those bills are incorporated. So, Delegate Carol, if you'd like to come to the podium to present House Bill 870, we would love to hear from you now. Good afternoon, Madam Chair, members of the committee.…
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