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TMCNet: Virginia House approves BVU authority bill [Bristol Herald Courier, Va.]

[February 05, 2010]

Virginia House approves BVU authority bill [Bristol Herald Courier, Va.]

(Bristol Herald Courier (VA) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Feb. 5--Legislation to establish an independent Bristol Virginia Utilities authority continued hurtling through the General Assembly on Thursday, but questions remain about its possible implementation.

Virginia's House of Delegates voted 97-0, with two abstentions, to approve House Bill 27 after its third and final reading.

On Monday, state senators voted 40-0 to approve Senate Bill 12 -- a matching version of the controversial plan -- designed to sever the city utilities provider from direct city oversight.

"We're very happy that the House has also adopted the legislation," BVU General Counsel Walt Bressler said Thursday.

The change would create an authority board that could borrow money and make business decisions without City Council approval. It also is designed to allow BVU to expand some of its OptiNet telecommunications services more easily.

An independent BVU would continue providing electricity, water, sewer and telecommunications services within its existing coverage area.

Lawmakers expect the two bills to be reconciled within the next two weeks and a bill could reach the governor's desk by month's end.

Plans call for the authority and its board of directors to be created July 1.

However, there are different schools of thought surrounding the outcome if a court eventually rules against the proposal.

City residents Lonnie and Jeanette Whitley filed a civil lawsuit last November, contending that City Council's approval of the authority plan constituted a sale of city assets. Under the charter, that should have required a three-fourths or four-vote "super majority" by the five-member council.

Circuit Court Judge Larry Kirksey last month rejected a city request to dismiss the action, saying questions about whether there was a sale of assets and the voting majority should be heard at trial. No date has been set.

The legislation addresses that question by calling it an "entity conversion." State Delegate Joe Johnson, D-Abingdon, said state experts consider the legislation "legitimate and constitutional." However, both Johnson and Senate patron William Wampler, R-Bristol, said the legislation could be moot if the court rules against the city.

"The court will have to rule on that at the appropriate time," Johnson said earlier. "The legislative branch will deal with the legislation and -- if a court rules that it is a sale of assets -- then the legislation will be void." Bressler, the BVU counsel, views it differently.

"Our position is -- if the General Assembly passes it and the governor signs it -- it is law," Bressler said.

Johnson said Thursday he disagrees.

"There is a difference of opinion about that," Johnson said. "A court could say it is a sale and what the City Council did was unconstitutional. I told Mr. Bressler time and time again, if a court rules different than what we were led to believe was constitutional, come July 1 what is the authority going to do?" David Hutton, attorney for the Whitleys, said Thursday if the bill becomes law before the case is heard, it may require a change in strategy.

"I haven't given a lot of thought to what happens if the governor signs this into law," Hutton said. "If that happens, it may require some amended pleadings be filed. There is no sense in pursuing this if BVU is right. There is no sense pursuing this if we don't get anything out of it." Whitley said he is upset the General Assembly "broke tradition" and took action while the lawsuit was pending. "We took legal action to delay it, so people could have a dialogue about this bill that gives empirical powers to an entity at taxpayers' expense," he said.

Bressler contends that the city isn't "selling" anything and all the council vote did was ask the General Assembly to create an authority.

"The creation required a special act of the assembly, which had to be adopted by two-thirds majority vote -- which it was," Bressler said. "That's where we contend the super majority comes in." | (276) 645-2532 To see more of the Bristol Herald Courier or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.tricities.com.

Copyright (c) 2010, Bristol Herald Courier, Va.

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

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