As a person of Faith it is my calling to support these areas of concern and I ask you to consider how important these issues are and to vote to approve them!

On behalf of Virginia Conservation Network's 150 organizational members statewide, I wish to communicate VCN's full support of Delegate Wilt's HB1763. Case for SUPPORT: http://www.vcnva.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/HB1763-Ag-BMPs-tax-credit-talking-points.pdf

I am writing to ask your support for HB 1763, “Tax credit; agricultural best management practices,” by Delegate Wilt. As a landscape photographer I am often photographing scenes of the Potomac River and its tributaries and I believe it is important to protect the river from pollution. To accomplish this goal, partners from many different sectors are essential, including Virginia’s important agriculture sector. The implementation of “best management practices” is an important means to curb pollution and improve water quality. Nevertheless, actions like stream-side fencing and riparian buffers of trees and shrubs can be a costly endeavor which can be a barrier to these efforts. This bill increases the amount available through tax credits to farmers for implementing water quality improvement practices approved by the Soil and Water Conservation Districts, practices that tend to also lead to increased herd-health and farm productivity. So, in my view this bill is win-win-win for farmers, our water and our local agriculture economy. Therefore, I urge you to recommend it for reporting and will vote for its passage when it reaches the House Floor.

As a person of Faith it is my calling to support these areas of concern and I ask you to consider how important these issues are and to vote to approve them!

HB1771 - As a representative of the Fleet Reserve Association and as Chairman of the Joint Leadership Council representing over 250,000 Veterans in the Commonwealth, we support this bill. OBJECTIVE: To promote the hiring of members of the Virginia National Guard and the Reserves by recognizing Virginia employers who hire our citizen-soldiers. BACKGROUND:  Members of the Virginia National Guard and the Armed Forces Reserves are citizen-soldiers, meaning that when they are not serving on federal or state missions, they are in their communities and working to support their families.  As a Commonwealth and a Nation, it is important that we recognize our employers who hire our citizen-soldiers. One way to do this is through a small-scale grant to encourage and incentivize hiring.  After the Virginia Values Veterans (V3) Program was established, the Governor and General Assembly authorized the creation of a grant program to recognize small to medium-sized employers that hire Virginia veterans.  If a Guardsman or Reservist serves on federal active duty, they earn Veterans status. Employers who hire these members of the Guard and Reserve would qualify for a V3 employer grant.  However, if a Guardsman or Reservist is not called to federal active duty, they are not considered a Veteran. Employers who hire them do not qualify for the V3 grant program. DISCUSSION:  This proposal seeks to build on the V3 Program employer grant model by awarding a one-time grant of $1,000 to a Virginia employer who hires a member of the Virginia National Guard or the Armed Forces Reserves.  Extending eligibility for a V3-type grant to Virginia employers who hire Virginia’s citizen-soldiers will both incentivize hiring of these talented individuals and recognize the vital dual role played by citizen-soldiers in our work places and our Commonwealth.  The JLC recommends a small-scale initial investment of $50,000 in FY22, sufficient to award 50 grants of $1,000 each. The Departments of Veterans Services and Military Affairs would report back to the Governor and General Assembly of the demand for this grant, and whether any shortfalls exist that should be addressed in future fiscal years.  The JLC recommends that the eligibility requirements for the $1,000 grant be modeled on the V3 employer grant requirements. RECOMMENDATION: That the Governor and General Assembly approve $50,000 to create a grant program to incentivize small to medium-sized Virginia employers to hire members of the Virginia National Guard and Armed Forces Reserves

As The American Legion representative to the Joint Leadership Council I echo the comments and endorsement of Bill Ashton, our Chairman. This bill addresses the number 2 priority of the JLC for this year. While the Fiscal Impact is unknown it is unlikely that the loss of revenue would be large given that it is unlikely that a large number of Guardsman would be on military pay status for over 45 days in a year. That said, providing an incentive to businesses to hire and retain Virginia National Guard members and encourage self employed personnel to serve in the National Guard would seem to be a win-win for both the Commonwealth and the businesses. As a retired active duty officer I highly encourage support of our part-time soldiers who honorably serve in a much more significant capacity than when I was in service.

As the Fleet Reserve Association representative which has over 4500 members in the Commonwealth of Virginia to the Joint Leadership Council which represents over 250,000 Veterans. we support this. OBJECTIVE: To promote the hiring of members of the Virginia National Guard and the Reserves by recognizing Virginia employers who hire our citizen-soldiers. BACKGROUND:  Members of the Virginia National Guard and the Armed Forces Reserves are citizen-soldiers, meaning that when they are not serving on federal or state missions, they are in their communities and working to support their families.  As a Commonwealth and a Nation, it is important that we recognize our employers who hire our citizen-soldiers. One way to do this is through a small-scale grant to encourage and incentivize hiring.  After the Virginia Values Veterans (V3) Program was established, the Governor and General Assembly authorized the creation of a grant program to recognize small to medium-sized employers that hire Virginia veterans.  If a Guardsman or Reservist serves on federal active duty, they earn Veterans status. Employers who hire these members of the Guard and Reserve would qualify for a V3 employer grant.  However, if a Guardsman or Reservist is not called to federal active duty, they are not considered a Veteran. Employers who hire them do not qualify for the V3 grant program. DISCUSSION:  This proposal seeks to build on the V3 Program employer grant model by awarding a one-time grant of $1,000 to a Virginia employer who hires a member of the Virginia National Guard or the Armed Forces Reserves.  Extending eligibility for a V3-type grant to Virginia employers who hire Virginia’s citizen-soldiers will both incentivize hiring of these talented individuals and recognize the vital dual role played by citizen-soldiers in our work places and our Commonwealth.  The JLC recommends a small-scale initial investment of $50,000 in FY22, sufficient to award 50 grants of $1,000 each. The Departments of Veterans Services and Military Affairs would report back to the Governor and General Assembly of the demand for this grant, and whether any shortfalls exist that should be addressed in future fiscal years.  The JLC recommends that the eligibility requirements for the $1,000 grant be modeled on the V3 employer grant requirements. RECOMMENDATION: That the Governor and General Assembly approve $50,000 to create a grant program to incentivize small to medium-sized Virginia employers to hire members of the Virginia National Guard and Armed Forces Reserves

On behalf of the nearly 10,000 brave men and women serving the Virginia National Guard, I proudly support this legislation as it provides an essential benefit to those Virginians who have answered their community's call. Since 2001, the Virginia National Guard has mobilized more than 19,200 Soldiers and Airmen on State Active Duty to respond to hurricanes, winter storms, flooding and other severe weather events, the novel Coronavirus pandemic and most recently with the response to Washington, D.C. where upwards of 2,900 Virginia Guard Soldiers and Airmen provide security over our Nation's Capitol. These missions to support our communities are hand-in-hand with our missions overseas to defend freedom abroad. In 2001, thousands of Guardsmen have served in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Jordan, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Oman, Tajikistan, throughout Europe and at our own Southwest Border. When these brave men and women return home to their families, they begin the transition back to civilian life. One key tenant of that normalcy is returning to the job that they left. This bill helps to bridge the gap between employers and their Guard Soldiers and Airmen. Buy offering a tax credit to Guard employers, you solidify the value placed on their service. Thank you for your continued leadership and support of the Commonwealth's Guardians.

This voluntary tool will create an additional opportunity for uninsured Virginians to learn about health insurance and health insurance affordability options. It will also enable the Virginia Health Benefits Exchange to build a robust and targeted outreach campaign. Maryland has set up a similar program which has resulted in an increase in insured adults and children. For these reasons the Virginia Poverty Law Center supports this bill and asks you to vote yes.

The Commonwealth Institute fully supports the creation of a facilitated enrollment program. This voluntary tool will offer uninsured people in Virginia an opportunity to learn more about their health coverage options. We expect this program will decrease the amount of people who go without health coverage. Please vote yes on HB1884.

All of that personal data and its dissemination to and among multiple state agencies and their contractors is deemed by Rep. Sickles to be necessary for Virginia to build its own Health Benefit Exchange. No word on why such an exchange is necessary. No word on why it will prove so much superior to the existing federal exchange that it is worth putting personal information of Virginia taxpayers in play across the state government and its contractors.

The Virginia Oil & Gas Association opposes HB1899. While the tax credits proposed to be ended under this legislation are generally referred to as the "coal tax credits" the natural gas producers in Southwest Virginia also benefit from the Coalfield Employment Enhancement Tax Credits which would end under this bill. The natural gas industry supports significant jobs and tax revenue in a challenged part of the Commonwealth. The loss of these credits will result in a competitive disadvantage for the industry in Virginia.

It is not news that natural gas replaced coal years ago as an economic driver in this country. Virginia should not be wasting tax credits on a dying industry. Instead, Virginia should be incentivizing energy that creates jobs. The numbers tell the story - in spite of enjoying years of tax credits in Virginia, the coal industry continues to lose jobs. It is past time the state legislature passed this legislation. Thank you. ADF in Alexandria

Dear Delegates to the Committee: I am writing to ask that you support HB 1899, “Sunset of coal tax credits, by Delegate Hudson. This is a program that needs to be ended as the bill provides. According to a report by the Virginia Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission (JLARC) issued on September 14, 2020, these credits are providing “negligible returns” in Economic Benefits and Return on Revenue. Moreover, the report points out that the “Electricity generator tax credit is no longer needed because all but one of Virginia’s existing coal fired plants will close by 2025.” (page 4 of the Report). Therefore, I urge you to recommend HB 1899 for reporting and that you will vote for its passage when it reaches the House Floor. Thank you.

From the City of Portsmouth, VA - Please Support this bill At 105.57, we have the highest score on the Fiscal Stress Index of all our neighboring cities (Hampton, Newport News, Virginia Beach, Chesapeake and Suffolk). Blighted structures continue to be a major problem in Portsmouth. Our office supports any measure that would help the city to reign on derelict structures and their owners who continue to be delinquent in tax payments. The bill allows qualified jurisdictions to impose a higher tax on these properties (by special assessment) and to acquire and sell them 6 months after they have been condemned, determined a nuisance and/or declared blighted or derelict. Success will require a combined effort between the Building Inspector (identifying the structures), the Assessor (imposing the special assessment rate) and the Treasurer (setting the time limit for rehabilitation and acting upon delinquencies and short falls when appropriate).

The members of the Virginia First Cities Coalition and the City of Roanoke are looking for tools to, on the one hand, assist with the provision of affordable housing, and on the other, get blighted/derelict properties back into productive re-use in a sensitive manner. Del. Carr's bill adjusts the qualifying criteria to include any locality with a score of 100 or above on the Virginia Commission on Local Government’s Fiscal Stress Index (Meaning they have Above Average and High fiscal stress) for two things: 1) Extending land trusts being able to receive tax delinquent properties (HB 525/Carr that passed the 2020 General Assembly and is now law); and 2) Giving the ability to levy a tax on blighted properties and derelict structures at a rate that exceeds the general real property tax rate by five and ten percent AND also gives the authority to sell delinquent tax lands six months after incurring abatement costs for buildings that have been condemned, constitute a nuisance, are derelict buildings, or are declared to be blighted. [Under current law, such sales can be conducted on the first anniversary of the date on which such taxes have become due.] (Del. Aird’s HB 755 that similarly passed the 2020 General Assembly and is now law) Passage of this bill will provide tools to our fiscally stressed localities that are dealing with blighted properties that they would like to get back into productive and taxpaying use, especially in the provision of safe and affordable housing. As regards adding localities to the list of those having expanded authority to transfer properties to the locality in lieu of a sale at public auction, all the currently named qualifying localities listed in this section have a score above 100 on the Commission on Local Government’s Fiscal Stress Index, so no one is being removed from this section. As with Delegate Carr's legislation from last year, the intent here to make clear that land trusts can receive tax delinquent properties from the locality, and in turn, develop a house and sell only the house (retaining the land in the trust) to a qualified buyer. This is a tool that has been requested by the City of Roanoke, the City of Charlottesville, and the City of Lynchburg, as they are not included in the current statute.

The Treasurer’s’ Association was involved in the drafting of the bill in order to ensure that the mechanics of the bill would work. We appreciate that opportunity and support the bill as introduced. We believe it will provide a cost-effective, practical way for persons have unrecorded, inherited interests, and potential interests, to participate in the tax sale process without having to hire a lawyer to intervene.

My name is Michael Carter Jr., an eleventh generation Virginian and farmer, and 5th generation legacy farmer at Carter Farms in Orange County Virginia. I, and my organizations Carter Farms and Africulture want to express our support for bill 2165, extending the time period on tax sales. This bill gives the approximately 43,000 small farmers and many more landowners, more opportunity to keep their land when they may hit hard or unfortunate times. Thank you.

The Virginia Poverty Law Center has been focusing on homeownership because homeownership is usually a tremendous financial boost that can both lift people out of poverty and help close the racial wealth gap. We support this Bill because it improves the likelihood that a homeowner behind on her taxes would be able to pay what is owed over time and avoid loss of the home to a tax auction. We also appreciate the recognition that often the delinquency in taxes is due to the fact that the property is owned by many people jointly as heirs. A 2019 report from the United States Department of Agriculture: Heirs’ Property and Persistent Poverty among African Americans in the Southeastern United States found the following: “Historically, relatively few African Americans in the Southeastern United States (the “South”) wrote wills; there were few African-American lawyers, and most White lawyers of the courthouse gang did not inspire trust. As a result, upon death, property in the form of homes and land was distributed as undivided shares among surviving kin. As generation followed generation, title to such property became ambiguous or “clouded,” sometimes with scores or even hundreds of claimants. This phenomenon, known as heirs’ property, is an overlooked contributing factor to persistent poverty among African Americans in the South. “ “Heirs’ property is vulnerable to loss through failure to pay property taxes … In a situation where many individuals own a share in heirs’ property, and where many of these individuals have moved away and lost connection to the land, it is sometimes difficult to ensure that property taxes are paid.”

The Virginia Oil and Gas Association supports Del. Morefield's HB2293 which extends the sunset on the local gas severance tax. Continuing the sunset allows for a periodic evaluation of the appropriateness of this tax.

Will submit letter the morning of January 25, 2021 as the County Attorney for Buchanan County

Please don't ruin our lives and State ! Thank You

I tried to check off as many as I could understand 🙃why not just get to work for the money we pay

I would like to know what the bills have in them. Don't want anything in them hidden like they do in Washington.