Virginia Supreme Court Opinions Affecting Local Government Law, issued on April 21, 2011: The Virginia Supreme Court issued several opinions today affecting Virginia local government law.  The following summaries come from the Virginia Supreme Court website: 092583 Volpe v. City of Lexington In a suit by the administrators of a minor decedent who was an [...]

Some twenty-one years after leaving the University of Richmond with my juris doctor, I will return to campus (in a way) and return, indeed, to my old stomping grounds, the University of Richmond Law Review. I have agreed to author the 2011 update on Virginia Local Government Law for the University of Richmond Law Review’s popular Annual [...]

Virginia Local Tax Assessment Appeals: State of the Law 2011 Register for this event May 4, 2011 Noon – 2:00 p.m. Presented by the Virginia Local Government Team of attorneys at Sands Anderson PC. Faculty: Mark Flynn, Director of Legal Services, Virginia Municipal League Andrew R. McRoberts, Local Government Attorney, Sands Anderson PC FREE SESSION [...]

Today, my first guest post went up on Chris Hill’s Construction Law Musings blog!  It is entitled, “Virginia Infrastructure Needs Hurt Economic Development.”  Feel free to click on the link to read it. As a long-time local government attorney who has observed first-hand the effects of a lack of public infrastructure funding in Virginia, I [...]

The Virginia Supreme Court handed down several opinions impacting the practice of Virginia Local Government Law today.  These summaries are pulled from the Virginia Supreme Court website. They include: 092158 Ford Motor Credit Co. v. Chesterfield County   In ruling on a taxpayer’s application for refund of business, professional and occupational license taxes paid to a county, [...]

The Virginia General Assembly adjourned on Sunday, and during its 2011 session, considered, amended, killed and/or adopted thousands of pieces of legislation, plus the Virginia budget.  During the session, the state legislature adopted some important changes in the law affecting local governments.  Over the coming weeks, I will be touching on some of the most significant bills.  [...]

In Town of Leesburg v Giordano, the Virginia Supreme Court faced clearly-settled law but an interesting argument. And, as can happen in such cases, it resulted in a well-reasoned majority opinion and a strongly-worded dissent.

Summaries from the Virginia Supreme Court website of today’s opinions affecting Virginia local government law: http://www.courts.state.va.us/scndex.htm

The 2010 Virginia General Assembly adopted HB 1063, which is a helpful simplification of the process by which BZA decisions are appealed to circuit court. It is effective July 1, 2010, and is published at 2010 Virginia Acts of Assembly chapter 241.

A number of local government attorneys have been asking tough questions about HB 374 and SB 632, identical bills which became effective law on July 1. 2010 Va Acts of Assembly ch. 549, 2010 Va Acts of Assembly ch. 613.