RD373 - 2008 Catalog of State and Federal Mandates on Local Governments


Executive Summary:
In response to increasing interest in the effect of mandates on localities, the 1993 General Assembly enacted legislation directing the Commission on Local Government to compile and annually update a catalog of State and federal mandates imposed on the Commonwealth’s local governments, including, where available, a summary of the fiscal impact of any new mandates.(*1) This 2008 edition of the catalog published by the Commission on Local Government includes mandates identified as of October 2008.(*2) The Commission examined all legislation passed by the 2008 General Assembly session, surveyed executive branch agencies, and contacted the local government associations (the Virginia Association of Counties and the Virginia Municipal League) for information on new mandates and mandates not previously identified.

In the development of this document, the Commission adhered to the definition of “mandate” originally adopted by the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission (JLARC) and reconfirmed in Executive Order 58 (2007), which defines a mandate as a State or federal constitutional, statutory, or administrative action that places a requirement on local governments.(*3) This definition encompasses the four types of mandates classified in Executive Order 58: compulsory orders, conditions of financial aid, regulation of optional activities, and state fiscal preemption. Under this classification scheme, “compulsory orders” require local government compliance regardless of receipt of aid or other circumstances. Mandates termed “conditions of financial aid” require compliance only if the locality accepts the State or federal assistance in question.

Mandates classified as “regulation of optional activities” result from State or federal regulation of activities that local governments undertake voluntarily. Finally, mandates termed “state fiscal preemption” involve measures that result in a net reduction of revenues collected by a locality or a restriction on the locality’s authority to collect such revenues. This last type of mandate was introduced by Executive Order 58 and was not considered for inclusion in the catalog prior to this edition.
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(*1) Sec. 15.2-2903(7), Code of Va.
(*2) As was the case with previous editions, this most recent update is founded upon the prior research of the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission published in its two catalogs of mandates: the 1992 study, Catalog of State and Federal Mandates on Local Governments (H. D. 53/1992) and the 1993 Update: Catalog of State and Federal Mandates on Local Governments (H. D. 2/1994; hereinafter referred to as the 1993 Update).
(*3) 1993 Update. It is important to note that, as a result, this catalog does not include those requirements imposed on local governments by judicial decision nor by burden resulting from a reduction of State or federal financial assistance without a corresponding decrease in required services, which arguably also constitute mandates that can significantly affect localities.