About the Catalog of State and Federal Mandates on Local Governments
Pursuant to §15.2-2903, the Commission on Local Government (CLG) is required:
"To prepare and annually update a catalog of state and federal mandates imposed on localities including, where available, a summary of the fiscal impact on localities of all new mandates. All departments, agencies of government, and localities are directed to make available such information and assistance as the Commission may request in maintaining the catalog."
In order to annually update the catalog, the CLG examines all legislation passed during the General Assembly session and coordinates with executive branch agencies on entering the relevant information on each mandate into the mandates database. The CLG normally reviews and formally adopts the catalog in September of each year.
Mandates are organized and named according to their secretariat and agency and then assigned an entry number. There are some mandates that are administered by non-executive or independent agencies or have no state oversight. A mandate can be searched for by secretariat, agency, mandate type, mandate status, edition year of the catalog, or by a key word search. A description for each database search field is below.
Secretariat: Name of Secretary that oversees the agency that has purview over a mandate
Agency: State agency responsible for overseeing a mandate
Mandate Type: Mandates are a constitutional, statutory, or administrative measure or action that places a requirement on local governments. Pursuant to Executive Order 58 (2007), there are four types of mandate classifications within the catalog:
- Compulsory Orders: measures or actions that impose requirements with which localities must comply in the performance of their prescribed responsibilities.
- Non-Discretionary Conditions of Aid: requirements imposed as a condition of receiving state and/or federal financial aid for which localities are obligated/encouraged to apply.
- Regulation of Optional Activities: measures imposing state and/or federal government requirements relative to the performance of activities that are not mandated but are subject to such regulation if performed.
- State fiscal preemption: a measure or action that results in a net reduction of revenues collected by a locality or restricts a locality’s authority to collect such revenues.
Mandate Status:In order to annually update the catalog, the CLG examines all legislation passed during the General Assembly session and coordinates with executive branch agencies on entering the relevant information on each mandate into the mandates database. A mandate status is identified using one of the following terms:
- New Mandate: Indicates a newly created mandate as a result of recent legislation passed by the General Assembly.
- Newly Identified Mandate:Indicates a mandate that was passed by the General Assembly in a previous year but had not been identified by the Commission.
- Expanded Mandate: A mandate that had significant changes to the code section which warrants a new assessment and significant changes to the catalog entry.
- Eliminated Mandate: A mandate that had its code section redacted and is no longer a valid mandate.
- Other Changes: A mandate that has its code section altered or expanded but did not affect the substance of the original mandate.
- Minor Edits: Mandates that had grammatical or other minor edits made to the entry during the Commission’s annual review of the catalog.
Edition Year: Each year the Commission reviews and approves of a new edition of the catalog. One can search for different editions to the catalog and what has changed over the years.
Assessment of Mandates
The catalog also contains links to completed assessments done by agencies that administer mandates. A schedule is created based on mandates that are new, newly identified, or significantly expanded as to warrant an assessment on the impact made by the changes to the mandate.
The Commission adopts a schedule for each fiscal year at their March meeting. Pursuant to Executive Order 58 (2007) and §15.2-2903 of the Code of Virginia, all state executive branch agencies are required to review mandates that they administer on local governments, and to report which, if any,
might be altered or eliminated without interruption of local service delivery or undue threat to the health, safety, and welfare of citizens of the Commonwealth. The CLG is responsible for notifying the Governor and the General Assembly when an agency assessment recommends the alteration or elimination of a mandate.
For more information on the assessment process, including the current approved assessment schedule by the Governor, please visit our website here.