General Assembly
“More than a dozen bills have been submitted to the 2014
General Assembly that address stormwater management. It is likely that the
various House and Senate bills will be lumped into a comprehensive piece of
legislation in each chamber that addresses many of the issues raised in the
individual bills. The likely vehicles for the revised provisions are HB 261 and
SB 423. As introduced, these bills authorize the State Water Control Board to
adopt regulations that create a procedure for approving permits for individual
parcels in a common plan of development, provide a General Permit for
Discharges of Stormwater from Construction Activities that omits unneeded
information on post-construction water quality standards, and provide
reciprocity with other states regarding certification of best management
practices. These bills also allow the submission of an agreement in lieu of a
permit where land-disturbing activity results from the construction of a
single-family residence, but neither provides any delay of the July 1, 2014
requirement for local management of stormwater programs (these final two items
are positions taken by the TJPD Legislative Program). Four introduced bills
would provide a one year delay in the requirement. Another, HB 1173, allows any
locality that does not operate a municipal separate storm sewer system (MS4) to
opt out of establishing its own stormwater management program.”
~Writes David Blount of the Thomas Jefferson PDC
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