Retail Alliance at the Capitol

Advancing Retailers' Rights Throughout Virginia

By Margaret Ballard, Retail Alliance Vice President of Advocacy

While this year’s Virginia General Assembly session was a short one, Retail Alliance – through its partnership in the Virginia Retail Federation (VRF) - accomplished a great deal on behalf of our independent merchants. The biggest win for retailers involves a major rollback of the much derided Accelerated Sales Tax (AST). Budget conferees, lobbied long and hard by VRF staff, agreed to give merchants $47.5 million in AST relief, more than requested by Governor Bob McDonnell, who went to bat for small business on this issue.

As noted in the Richmond Times Dispatch, the budget causes more discord (than any legislative issue) because it hits interests in their most sensitive place: the pocketbook. “Retail Alliance representatives were diligent in meeting with the budget conferees on both sides of the aisle, seeking to gain support of the accelerated sales tax rollback,” says House budget Conferee Delegate S. Chris Jones, R-Suffolk. “The results of their hard efforts, working behind the scenes, will now be realized by retail members and businesses statewide.”

Please take a moment to review this brief summary of the highly successful General Assembly session:

PASSED

Accelerated Sales Tax Rollback
Strong objections from retail lobbyists to the unfair extra tax payment were accepted with a compromise relief package that raises the $1 million tax threshold to $5.4 million. The budget monies offer relief from the tax to 80 percent of merchants impacted by AST in 2010.

“I have long opposed the policy of the accelerated sales tax, which is an unfair burden on Virginia-based retailers,” says Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell. “For that reason, I submitted a budget amendment last year to move up the phase out of this policy from the scheduled 2015 to 2013, and why I proposed fast-tracking this effort to work to eliminate the requirement for the vast majority of merchants currently impacted. The support of the Retail Alliance and their work with budget conferees from both parties to get this extra tax payment eliminated for 80 percent of the impacted businesses truly helped make the difference.”

“This victory really underscores what Retail Alliance is all about,” says President and CEO Susan Milhoan. “Year in and year out, we are fighting the good fight in Richmond and beyond to create an environment where independent merchants can succeed. Everything we do is intended to save retailers money and free them from unnecessary government regulation.”

On behalf of the Virginia Retail Federation, please contact the following budget conferees and thank them for their support in providing AST tax relief:

Delegate Lacey Putney: DelLPutney@house.virginia.gov
Delegate Kirk Cox: DelKCox@house.virginia.gov
Delegate Chris Jones: DelCJones@house.virginia.gov
Delegate Bev Sherwood: DelBSherwood@house.virginia.gov
Delegate Johnny Joannou: 757.399.1700, NO EMAIL
Delegate Steve Landes: DelSLandes@house.virginia.gov

Senator Charles Colgan: district29@senate.virginia.gov
Senator Dick Saslaw: district35@senate.virginia.gov
Senator Janet Howell: district32@senate.virginia.gov
Senator Ed Houck: district17@senate.virgina.gov
Senator William Wampler: district40@senate.virginia.gov
Senator Walter Stosch: district12@senate.virginia.gov
Senator Tommy Norment: district03@senate.virginia.gov

BPOL Tax Relief
For the first time since major changes were made to BPOL in the mid 90’s, three bills passed which give local governments options to offer retailers and other businesses some BPOL relief. All three bills were strongly supported by the VRF.

Delegate Sal Iaquinto’s bill offers the opportunity to eliminate the tax for start-up companies; Delegate Mark Cole’s legislation gives a choice to tax Virginia taxable income rather than gross receipts; and Senator Frank Ruff’s bill provides the local option not to tax unprofitable businesses.

Governor’s Transportation Bond Package
A big win for Governor Bob McDonnell was the passage of a $2.9 billion transportation bond package. The VRF fully supported the Governor’s transportation proposal.

Tourism Zones for Localities
Senator Tommy Norment and Delegate Mathew James carried successful companion bills that allow tourism projects generated by localities to use tax revenues from the project to retire debt. Working with Governor McDonnell’s legislative staff, VRF was a key player in the coalition that helped pass the bills.

BYOB Wine Legislation
A bill carried by Virginia Beach Senator Jeff McWaters, allowing customers to bring a bottle of wine into a restaurant and permitting restaurants to charge a “corkage” fee, passed out of both legislative bodies with large majorities.

DEFEATED

ABC Privatization
Four bills to privatize the state’s alcohol sales never saw the light of day. Committee chairs on both sides of the aisle chose not to hear the bills, defeating the Governor’s initiatives. While the VRF does not oppose privatization in principle, it will only endorse such a plan if it includes ample opportunities for independent retailers, along with affordable license fees.

Plastic Bag Ban and Fees
A bill to allow the City of Roanoke to ban plastic bags, along with two other bills which would place consumer fees on plastic bags, were defeated in a House committee before going to the House floor or to the Senate for a vote. The VRF focused on its successful partnership with Keep Virginia Beautiful to offer plastic bag recycling in 800 retail locations across the Commonwealth.

Pre-Labor Day School Start Bills
The VRF joined forces with lobbyists from the Virginia Hospitality Travel Association and City of Virginia Beach to fight off seven bills which allowed school districts to start school before Labor Day. The business community was able to give legislators plenty of reasons to oppose the early school start efforts. Retail and hospitality groups produced a study that showed shortening the tourism season, by starting school early, would have a $369 million negative impact on Virginia’s tourism economy, including $104 million in lost wages and benefits. The coalition overturned six of the legislative proposals.

However, one bill - allowing the City of Roanoke an early school start date - created a new system to allow localities that surround such a locality with an existing waiver to mirror that early start date. The retail and hospitality lobby will watch this initiative closely and look at the possibility of overturning it next year.

Restaurant Inspections
Working with the Virginia Hospitality and Travel Association (VHTA), the VRF overturned Delegate Danny Marshall’s legislation requiring restaurants to visibly post their most recent inspection for costumer viewing. As an alternative, the VRF offered a solution to the delegate which creates a Restaurant Inspection Work Group to develop compromise ideas before the next General Assembly session.

Criminal Sentencing Bill
The VRF was called on by the Attorney General’s staff to help pass HB 2513. The bill nullified a Virginia Supreme Court decision issued in January that would, for the first time, allow judges the authority to offer an advisory sentence rather than following penalties established by the legislature in the code of Virginia. The bill was passed by the House, but defeated in the Senate. The VRF will work with the attorney general’s staff and Commonwealth’s Attorneys to submit the bill again next year.

ABC Outdoor Advertising
Although Lamar Advertising successfully sued the Virginia ABC Board to overturn its ban on outdoor advertising, a last minute political decision by House General Laws Committee members to override the court decision places retailers back under the current ABC advertising regulations. The court’s decision had allowed retailers the ability to display ABC ads in their windows, use outdoor signs, etc. Additionally, the General Assembly used the ploy to limit ABC advertising on billboards and, at the same time, re-regulated retail ABC advertising. However, the advertising regulations are now overseen by the Virginia legislature rather than the ABC Board…more to come on this issue, perhaps in court.

Retail Alliance Advocacy – Get Involved!
While the 2011 session has come to a close, issues are being debated and advanced all year long – at the local, state and federal level. If you are interested in a particular issue or would like to get involved in Retail Alliance’s Legislative Ambassador program, please contact us:

Jen Webber
Retail Alliance Public Affairs Coordinator
757.455.9323
Jwebber@retail-alliance.com