T he General Assembly session was overwhelmingly positive for  VMA's 2016 Legislative Agenda .  If you have not had the opportunity to do so already, please take a few minutes to review the  "VMA 2016 Legislative Wrap-Up Report"  to get an overview of VMA's legislative successes and challenges.  In addition to our statistical overview, we have expanded the detailed summary of priority and defensive priority bills.  We have also added a new section on the state operating budget that has some early warning signs about spending, political priorities and the Commonwealth's economy.  This year's report is one of the most comprehensive and impactful that we have published.  

VMA is seeking experts for a panel that will share practical examples of projects and technologies on automation and applied technology for small and medium manufacturers.  

Presentations will be made at the Virginia Industry Forum (VIF) - November 10-11, 2016 at the Kingsmill Resort in Williamsburg. Forum is our biggest conference and annual meeting. Automation, productivity, value chain, and technology are some of the key themes for Forum.  

Please contact Sharon Sykes, Member Services Director at [email protected] if you would like to recommend yourself or another to present at this year's VIF Conference.  We need a one-page synopsis of your Case Study or Best Practice for evaluation by August 5, 2016.  

On June 22, 2016 President Obama signed the bipartisan Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act, legislation to reform the nation's 40 year-old primary chemical management law, the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA).  

The Lautenberg Act is a comprehensive update of TSCA, the statute governing the manufacture of chemicals and products containing chemicals.  It is the first real update of TSCA since the law's enactment in 1976.  The Lautenberg Act creates a risk-based standard requiring that chemicals be safe for their intended use, as opposed to a precautionary principle-based approach.  It sorts the TSCA inventory of chemicals into high-priority and low-priority chemicals, and establishes a procedure for EPA assessing those chemicals.  It provides preemption of the patchwork of state chemical laws and regulations so manufacturers have clear rules of the road.  It also requires the best available science and protects manufacturers' confidential business information. 

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In this viewpoint, Ms. Davis clearly explains Virginia's machinery and tools tax laws in this piece, including some arguably counterintuitive ways they are applied. She writes that determining a piece of machinery's tax status requires an extensive step-by-step analysis of its role in the manufacturing process.

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The Virginia Department of Mines, Mineral and Energy launched the VA SAVES program in September 2015.   The VA SAVES program is an interest rate subsidy program for large scale energy efficiency, renewable energy, and alternative fuel projects in Virginia for private companies.  The interest subsidy is around 3% every year for the life of loan.  For example, if you finance an energy project at 5%, and access the subsidy, the borrower's net interest rate is 2%.  You can save hundreds of thousands of dollars in interest expense over the life of a loan.  This program will likely run out of money in 6 to 12 months- please don't miss this opportunity.

 

The ROI is clear, a central Virginia private school utilized the VA SAVES program for a $2.5 million energy efficiency upgrade and will save $500,000 in interest costs over the life of the 15 year loan.

 

To learn more, please contact Bill Greenleaf at Virginia Community Capital at 804-939-6165 or  [email protected] or visit this website- www.vasavesgcp.com