Politics & Government

McDonnell, Task Force Announce Legislation to Eliminate State Mandates

The task force's initial plan, released Monday, targets education mandates with 20 of the 61 recommendations focused on the subject. The other 41 mandates recommended for elimination are in various areas of government.

A task force has targeted 61 state mandates for elimination with the goal of unburdening local governments, the governor said this week.

Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) appointed a five-member task force, led by Fairfax County Supervisor Pat Herrity (Springfield), last fall in response to legislation passed in the 2011 General Assembly that called for a review of state mandates imposed on localities.

Legislation has been introduced in the General Assembly to address the Task Force for Local Government Mandate Review's suggestions.

Find out what's happening in Manassas Parkwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

"On the state level, we don’t like it when the federal government hamstrings us with mandates and red tape," McDonnell said. "Unnecessary or over-reaching mandates are just as detrimental to local governments."

The task force's initial plan, released Monday, targets education mandates with 20 of the 61 recommendations focused on the subject. The other 41 mandates recommended for elimination are in various areas of government.

Find out what's happening in Manassas Parkwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

"By working together, [the task force] identified costly and burdensome state mandates and rightly recommended that these decisions be made at a local level," said Joan Wodiska, who serves on the task force and is a member of the Falls Church City School Board and president of the Virginia School Boards Association. "The removal of these mandates on school districts and localities will save time, tax-payer dollars and ultimately result in better, more accountable services for Virginians and better outcomes for our children."

Some of the education mandates recommended for elimination are:

  • Remove mandate that proceeds from education surplus property go to capital improvements
  • Remove mandate for annual report on remediation programs
  • Remove mandate for civics trainings for teachers
  • Remove mandate that local school boards must apply for a waiver from the state to start school before Labor Day
  • The administration will also request that the Department of Education identify burdensome or unnecessary state statutory and federal data collection and reporting requirements and submit recommendations to the governor and General Assembly on ones to eliminate or consolidate with a goal of reducing reporting requirements by 15 percent
  • Eliminate requirement that all ninth-graders take a course in personal finance and economics.

The task force also targeted other mandates:

  • Remove mandate for state inspections of erosion and sediment control programs where localities have inspections
  • Eliminate the requirement for local governments to prepare an annual Recycling Survey Report
  • Eliminate mandates to publish requests for proposals in newspapers
  • Eliminate mandate that requires Urban Development Area reports documents be submitted to the state Commission on Local Government
  • Eliminate the mandate for state approval for leases on airport property
  • Eliminate mandate that requires VDOT approval of the location of locally-placed red light camera

The plan also lists 22 other mandates, two in education, recommended for further study.

"These recommendations are common-sense, and will provide fiscal relief to localities and the commonwealth which will enable both to more efficiently serve Virginia’s residents," Herrity said.

In addition to the legislative proposals, Governor McDonnell recommended $10 million in his fiscal year 2013 budget and $15 million in fiscal year 2014 to help offset previous reductions in aid to localities.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

More from Manassas Park