Subcommittee advances several tax and local-option bills; film incentives bill tabled

Subcommittee 2 of the House Finance Committee met to consider a series of tax and local-option measures and advanced multiple bills to the full committee while tabling one contentious film-industry measure.

The subcommittee voted to report House Bill 13-58 (committee substitute) 9-0. The substitute moves a proposed mandatory real-estate disclosure into a standardized buyer-beware statement and narrows the set of settlement agents required to give notice; it also reduces the maximum civil penalty on willful failure to give notice from $5,000 to $250, according to Delegate Runyon, who presented the substitute.

The panel also reported House Bill 13-41 by voice vote, 9-0. The bill removes a 4% transient-occupancy tax cap in the City of Fairfax’s charter so the city may set a rate by ordinance, Delegate Bulova said. Chair Watts explained that putting the rate in ordinance aligns Fairfax with other localities.

House Bill 5-57, a permissive local tax incentive to encourage businesses to adopt electric landscaping equipment, was reported (vote tally recorded on the record). Delegate Reeser said the measure is intended to provide localities an optional tool to reduce emissions from lawn equipment.

House Bill 1-67, which would end certain longstanding tax carve-outs for Confederate heritage organizations and subject those organizations to standard state taxes, was reported by the subcommittee. Delegate Askew described the bill as removing “outdated tax favors.”

House Bill 9-15, amended to clarify coverage for federal ‘‘essential’’ employees required to work during shutdowns, was reported as amended by a 9-2-0 vote. Delegate Lopez said the amendments extend local options to grant 90-day personal-property tax payment extensions to furloughed federal workers and to deployed service members; Wendy Ginsberg of the City of Alexandria testified in support.

The subcommittee recorded vote tallies where the clerk opened the roll; where individual roll-call names were not read into the record the published tally was used. Several measures were moved and seconded by committee members during the session.

The committee adjourned after tabling House Bill 2-72 (film-industry community zones) by roll call, 7-3. That bill, which would have allowed localities to establish local film-industry zones offering fee reductions, zoning flexibility, or other local benefits, generated extended member questions about administration, overlap with the Virginia Film Office, and potential revenue impacts.