A. Any city or county may prepare and submit to the Governor a plan to reorganize the governmental structures or administrative procedures and systems of human resources agencies should provisions of law or the rules, regulations and standards of any state agency prohibit or restrict the implementation of such a reorganization. The plan shall set forth the proposed reorganization and the provisions of law or the rules, regulations or standards that prohibit or restrict the implementation of such proposed reorganization.

Terms Used In Virginia Code 15.2-964

  • City: means an independent incorporated community which became a city as provided by law before noon on July 1, 1971, or which has within defined boundaries a population of 5,000 or more and which has become a city as provided by law. See Virginia Code 1-208
  • County: means any existing county or such unit hereafter created. See Virginia Code 15.2-102
  • Governing body: means the board of supervisors of a county, council of a city, or council of a town, as the context may require. See Virginia Code 15.2-102
  • State: when applied to a part of the United States, includes any of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the United States Virgin Islands. See Virginia Code 1-245
  • state agency: means the same as that term is defined in § 2. See Virginia Code 1-206

B. The Governor shall prepare, and provide to those counties and cities which request them, guidelines for the preparation and submission to him of reorganization plans by a city or county. The Governor may consider only those reorganization plans adopted by resolution of the governing body of the city or county applying for approval to reorganize its human services agencies.

C. The several state boards and commissions which are empowered to promulgate rules, regulations and guidelines affecting the organization or administration of local human service agencies are hereby authorized to modify their respective rules, regulations and guidelines at the direction of the Governor in furtherance of any reorganization plan approved by him.

D. If a provision or provisions of law prohibit or restrict the implementation of all or part of such reorganization plan the Governor shall transmit such plan or such parts of such plan affected by such laws to each House of the General Assembly at least 45 days prior to the commencement of a regular or special session of the General Assembly. Such plan or portions of such plan so transmitted by the Governor under this section shall not become effective unless it is introduced by bill and enacted into law.

E. The plan or such portions of the plan transmitted by the Governor to the General Assembly shall set forth: (i) the provision or provisions of law that prohibit or restrict the implementation of such plan or parts of such plan; (ii) the changes in governmental structure or administrative procedure system of the human resources agencies affected; and (iii) the anticipated effects of such changes upon the efficiency and effectiveness of the agencies affected.

F. Any reorganization authorized under the provision of this section shall be implemented within appropriations or other funds which may be made available to the city or county requesting such reorganization approval.

G. Nothing in this section shall be interpreted to permit a city or county to eliminate the provision of any service required by law or to reduce the level of service below any level required by law.

H. The localities shall be required to maintain financial and statistical records in accordance with the guidelines issued by the Governor so as to allow responsible state agencies to review records and determine costs for programs for which the agency is responsible.

I. For the purposes of this section the term “human resource agencies” means agencies that deliver social, employment, health, mental health and developmental, rehabilitation, nursing, or information and referral services and such other related services.

1978, c. 832, § 15.1-36.2; 1983, c. 352; 1997, c. 587; 2012, cc. 476, 507.

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