The Committee on Counties, Cities and Towns held an organizational meeting for the 2026 session, with no bills presented or votes taken. Guest speakers from the Virginia Municipal League, Virginia Association of Counties, and Virginia Chapter of the American Planning Association introduced their organizations and legislative priorities, and the chair announced subcommittee assignments.
Joseph P. McNamara questioned whether the subcommittee composition of six Democrats to two Republicans followed the House's proportionality rules. Chair Dan I. Helmer confirmed that the composition was correct, stating: 'I think you have found the answer to your own question. The answer is yes. That is the correct proportion of folks on the committees and subcommittees.'
“Our priorities this year, maintaining local land use authority, the 1% school construction bill, and ensuring that we have local revenue sources and we maintain the sources that we have available.”
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Sign in to subscribeCommittee will come to order. Good morning. The House Committee of Counties, Cities and Towns will now come to order. Why aren't we shires, counties, cities and towns? We still got shires in Virginia, but. All right. Members are going to answer the roll call by recording their attendance on the electronic voting system. The clerk will open the roll. The clerk will close the roll. Mr. Clerk, do we have a quorum? We have a quorum, Madam Clerk, but it doesn't work. Okay, can we record that? Can we just record that Delegate Dougherty is present, please, and Delegate Moorefield. I don't know if Delegate Moorefield was present. Delegate Moorfield was close to present. All right, welcome, everybody. Thank you for joining. As this is the committee's first meeting of 2026 session. I just want to take a few minutes to both make some announcements. We'll share some committee business and we'll hear from a few guests today and then. But I'd like the committee members and staff to introduce themselves. I'm Delegate Dan Helmer. I represent the 10th district in Southwest Fairfax county, which is Centerville, Fairfax Station, parts of Fairfax and Clifton. And what I'd like to…
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