Bill Text: VA HB22 | 2020 | Regular Session | Chaptered
Bill Title: Virginia Community Flood Preparedness Fund; loan and grant program.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 3-0)
Status: (Passed) 2020-04-22 - Governor: Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP1199) [HB22 Detail]
Download: Virginia-2020-HB22-Chaptered.html
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:
1. That §§10.1-603.24 and 10.1-603.25 of the Code of Virginia are amended and reenacted as follows:
§10.1-603.24. Definitions.
As used in this article, unless the context requires a different meaning:
"Authority" means the Virginia Resources Authority.
"Cost," as applied to any project financed under the provisions of this article, means the total of all costs incurred by the local government as reasonable and necessary for carrying out all works and undertakings necessary or incident to the accomplishment of any project.
"Department" means the Virginia Department of
Emergency Management Conservation and Recreation.
"Flood prevention or protection" means the construction of hazard mitigation projects, acquisition of land, or implementation of land use controls that reduce or mitigate damage from coastal or riverine flooding.
"Flood prevention or protection study" means the conduct of a hydraulic or hydrologic study of a flood plain with historic and predicted floods, the assessment of flood risk, and the development of strategies to prevent or mitigate damage from coastal or riverine flooding.
"Fund" means the Virginia Shoreline Resiliency
Community Flood Preparedness Fund created pursuant to §10.1-603.25.
"Local government" means any county, city, town, municipal corporation, authority, district, commission, or political subdivision created by the General Assembly or pursuant to the Constitution of Virginia or laws of the Commonwealth.
"Low-income geographic area" means any locality, or community within a locality, that has a median household income that is not greater than 80 percent of the local median household income, or any area in the Commonwealth designated as a qualified opportunity zone by the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury via his delegation of authority to the Internal Revenue Service.
"Nature-based solution" means an approach that reduces the impacts of flood and storm events through the use of environmental processes and natural systems. A nature-based solution may provide additional benefits beyond flood control, including recreational opportunities and improved water quality.
§10.1-603.25. Virginia Community Flood Preparedness Fund; loan and grant program.
There shall be set apart a permanent and perpetual fund, to
be known as the A. The Virginia Shoreline Resiliency Fund,
consisting of such is hereby continued as a permanent and perpetual fund
to be known as the Virginia Community Flood Preparedness Fund. All sums that
are designated for deposit, for the purpose of assisting localities and their
residents affected by recurrent flooding, sea level rise, and flooding from
severe weather events, in the Fund from revenue generated by the sale of
emissions allowances, all sums that may be appropriated to the Fund by the
General Assembly, all receipts by the Fund from the repayment of loans
made by it to local governments, all income from the investment of moneys held
in the Fund, and any other sums designated for deposit to the Fund from any
source, public or private, including any federal grants and awards or other
forms of assistance received by the Commonwealth that are eligible for deposit
in the Fund under federal law, shall be designated for deposit to it. Any
moneys remaining in the Fund, including any appropriated funds and all
principal, interest accrued, and payments, at the end of each fiscal year shall
not revert to the general fund but shall remain in the Fund. All loans and
grants provided under this article shall be deemed to promote the public
purposes of flood prevention or protection and enhancing flood prevention or
protection and coastal resilience. The Fund shall be administered by the
Department as prescribed in this article. The Department shall establish
guidelines regarding the distribution of loans from the Fund and prioritization
of such loans.
B. Moneys in the Fund shall be used solely for the purposes of enhancing flood prevention or protection and coastal resilience as required by this article. The Authority shall manage the Fund and shall establish interest rates and repayment terms of such loans as provided in this article in accordance with a memorandum of agreement with the Department. The Authority may disburse from the Fund its reasonable costs and expenses incurred in the management of the Fund. The Department shall direct distribution of loans and grants from the Fund in accordance with the provisions of subsection D.
C. The Authority is authorized at any time and from time to time to pledge, assign, or transfer from the Fund or any bank or trust company designated by the Authority any or all of the assets of the Fund to be held in trust as security for the payment of principal of, premium, if any, and interest on any and all bonds, as defined in §62.1-199, issued to finance any flood prevention or protection project undertaken pursuant to the provisions of this article. In addition, the Authority is authorized at any time and from time to time to sell upon such terms and conditions as the Authority deems appropriate any loan or interest thereon made pursuant to this article. The net proceeds of the sale remaining after payment of costs and expenses shall be designated for deposit to, and become part of, the Fund.
D. The Fund shall be administered by the Department as prescribed in this article. The Department, in consultation with the Secretary of Natural Resources and the Special Assistant to the Governor for Coastal Adaptation and Protection, shall establish guidelines regarding the distribution and prioritization of loans and grants, including loans and grants that support flood prevention or protection studies of statewide or regional significance.
E. Localities shall use moneys from the Fund primarily
for the purpose of creating a low-interest loan program to help residents
and businesses implementing flood prevention and protection projects and
studies in areas that are subject to recurrent flooding as confirmed by a
locality-certified floodplain manager. Moneys in the Fund may be used to
mitigate future flood damage and to assist inland and coastal communities
across the Commonwealth that are subject to recurrent or repetitive flooding.
No less than 25 percent of the moneys disbursed from the Fund each year shall
be used for projects in low-income geographic areas. Priority shall be given to
projects that implement community-scale hazard mitigation activities that use
nature-based solutions to reduce flood risk.
F. Any locality is authorized to secure a loan made
through such a low-interest loan program pursuant to this section by
placing a lien up to the value of the loan against any property that benefits
from the loan. Such a lien shall be subordinate to each prior lien on such
property, except prior liens for which the prior lienholder executes a written
subordination agreement, in a form and substance acceptable to the prior
lienholder in its sole and exclusive discretion, that is recorded in the land
records where the property is located.
G. Any locality using moneys in the Fund to provide a loan for a project in a low-income geographic area is authorized to forgive the principal of such loan. If a locality forgives the principal of any such loan, any obligation of the locality to repay that principal to the Commonwealth shall not be forgiven and such obligation shall remain in full force and effect. The total amount of loans forgiven by all localities in a fiscal year shall not exceed 30 percent of the amount appropriated in such fiscal year to the Fund by the General Assembly.
2. That any moneys in the Virginia Shoreline Resiliency Fund as created by Chapter 762 of the Acts of Assembly of 2016 shall remain in the Virginia Community Flood Preparedness Fund pursuant to §10.1-603.25 of the Code of Virginia, as amended and reenacted by this act.
