Amendments Rejected, “Mulch Bill” Sent Back to Governor’s Desk 

The General Assembly rejected unfriendly amendments made by the Governor to AOBA-supported legislation regarding local regulation of landscape cover materials. The bill now heads back to the Governor’s desk in its original form. The Governor has the option to sign the bill into law or veto the measure.

At AOBA’s request, Senator Mark Obenshain (R-Harrisonburg) and Delegate Tony Wilt (R-Harrisonburg) introduced S.B. 972 and H.B. 1595 to prohibit local governments from enacting expensive and overreaching mandates to require property owners to retrofit or preclude them from refreshing or maintaining landscape cover materials. The bills were responsive to overreaching local government action in the City of Harrisonburg that could possibly be replicated in other jurisdictions across the Commonwealth without legislative action.

As passed by the General Assembly, the bills would have precluded local governments from retroactively requiring property owners to change their landscaping after they had already been developed and landscaped to the specifications of the local government. However, the Governor handed down amendments to the bill which would have prohibited such policies only for commercial properties and allowed local governments to adopt such measures applied to any property that serves as a dwelling. Failure to comply with this costly and burdensome regulation could result in fines up to $2,500, a Class 1 misdemeanor, and/or up to 12 months of jail time.

Working with a coalition of real property and business groups, AOBA successfully appealed to the General Assembly to reject the Governor’s amendments and send the bill back to the Governor in its original form. At its reconvened “veto” session on Wednesday, April 18, the House and Senate voted 51-42 and 23-16 respectively to reject the Governor’s amendments over a strong push from the administration.

Fire services organizations and local government groups continue to oppose the bill out of concern for mulch fires initiated by discarded cigarettes. AOBA will continue to work with the Governor to stave off a veto.