HB1346: Commonwealth Transportation Board; regional membership.

HOUSE BILL NO. 1346

Offered January 21, 2016
A BILL to amend and reenact §§ 33.2-200, as it shall become effective, and 33.2-201 of the Code of Virginia, relating to Commonwealth Transportation Board membership; regional representation.
Patron-- Villanueva

Committee Referral Pending

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That §§ 33.2-200, as it shall become effective, and 33.2-201 of the Code of Virginia are amended and reenacted as follows:

§ 33.2-200. (Effective July 1, 2016) Commonwealth Transportation Board; membership; terms; vacancies.

The Board shall have a total membership of 17 19 members that shall consist of 14 16 nonlegislative citizen members and three ex officio members as follows: the Secretary of Transportation, the Commissioner of Highways, and the Director of the Department of Rail and Public Transportation. The nonlegislative citizen members shall be appointed by the Governor as provided in § 33.2-201, subject to confirmation by the General Assembly. Appointments of nonlegislative citizen members shall be for terms of four years commencing on July 1, upon the expiration of the terms of the existing members, respectively. Vacancies shall be filled by appointment by the Governor for the unexpired term and shall be effective until 30 days after the next meeting of the ensuing General Assembly and, if confirmed, thereafter for the remainder of the term. No nonlegislative citizen member shall be eligible to serve more than two consecutive four-year terms. The remainder of any term to which a member is appointed to fill a vacancy shall not constitute a term in determining that member's eligibility for reappointment. Ex officio members of the Board shall serve terms coincident with their terms of office.

The Secretary shall serve as chairman of the Board and shall have voting privileges only in the event of a tie. The senior nonlegislative citizen member shall serve as vice-chairman of the Board and shall preside during the absence of the chairman. In the event that more than one nonlegislative citizen member of the Board may be considered the senior nonlegislative citizen member, the Board shall elect the vice-chairman from such senior nonlegislative citizen members. The Director of the Department of Rail and Public Transportation and the Commissioner of Highways shall not have voting privileges.

§ 33.2-201. Appointment requirements; statewide interest.

Of Nine of the nonlegislative citizen members appointed to the Board, shall each represent a highway construction district: one member shall be a resident of the territory now included in the Bristol highway construction district, one in the Salem highway construction district, one in the Lynchburg highway construction district, one in the Staunton highway construction district, one in the Culpeper highway construction district, one in the Fredericksburg highway construction district, one in the Richmond highway construction district, one in the Hampton Roads highway construction district, and one in the Northern Virginia highway construction district. One nonlegislative citizen member shall represent and be appointed from the membership of the Hampton Roads Transportation Accountability Commission (§ 33.2-2600 et seq.) and one nonlegislative citizen member shall represent and be appointed from the membership of the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority (§ 33.2-2500 et seq.). The remaining five nonlegislative citizen members shall be appointed from the Commonwealth at large, provided that at least two reside in metropolitan statistical areas and are designated as urban at-large members and at least two reside outside metropolitan statistical areas and are designated as rural at-large members. The at-large members shall be appointed to represent rural and urban transportation needs and to be mindful of the concerns of seaports and seaport users, airports and airport users, railways and railway users, and mass transit and mass transit users. Each appointed member of the Board shall be primarily mindful of the best interest of the Commonwealth at large instead of the interests of the highway construction district from which chosen or of the transportation interest represented.

2. That the provisions of this act shall not affect the term of any current member of the Commonwealth Transportation Board and that the two nonlegislative citizen members added by this act shall be appointed for a term beginning July 1, 2016.