Legislative Priorities for 2006
Virginia General Assembly Session

January 18, 2006

With the current General Assembly session underway, the following 3 legislative initiatives are being, or have been, filed on behalf of the City of Hampton:

1. Earmark, $3 million over the FY2007-2008 biennial budget from the Governor's BRAC recovery funds (currently $30 million) to expeditiously position Fort Monroe for successful redevelopment.
   • $2 million will be necessary for administrative work required to position Fort Monroe for a privately executed and federally funded cleanup of environmental contamination.

   • $1 million will be necessary for assigning the necessary staff to the administration of the redevelopment effort and paying necessary legal fees to navigate the federal base closure process. The federal government caps grant funds for legal fees at $100,000.

2. Amend Virginia Code Sections 7.1-22 and -23 (legislation attached) as those sections relate to the Commonwealth's reversionary interest in federal property. The purpose of this legislation is two-fold:

   A. Virginia Code Section 7.1-22 provides certain protections for the Commonwealth with regard to properties with "environmental contamination" that may revert to the Commonwealth. This section purports to require the federal government to resolve the environmental contamination prior to title in such property reverting to the Commonwealth. The draft legislation creates the same protections for a locality (e.g., the City of Hampton) that the Commonwealth has for such property. So, for instance, if the Commonwealth conveys its reversionary interest in Fort Monroe to the City of Hampton, the City of Hampton could point to this section of the Virginia Code for authority as to why the Department of Defense has an obligation to resolve the "environmental contamination".

   B. Virginia Code Section 7.1-23 grants the Governor authority to convey all right, title an interest in property that is subject to the reversionary interest to the locality in which the property is located once the property is abandoned or no longer used in a manner consistent with the purposes of the original deed. The draft legislation would give the Governor the authority to convey the reversionary interest to the locality prior to the property being abandoned. There are a couple of benefits to making this change. One, if the Governor is willing to convey the reversionary interest, the City would be in a better position to negotiate with the Army on an early transfer of any of the property that is subject to that reversionary interest. Two, the Commonwealth could benefit from being taken out of the chain of title and, thus, being removed as a potentially responsible party under CERCLA.

3. Ease restrictions on Carousel Park in Downtown Hampton - transferring the park to a non-municipal entity shall not violate the public outdoor recreation park restrictions established by the Virginia Outdoors Fund Program so long as the uses and facilities on the conveyed portion enhance the public outdoor recreation park.

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