An Act to amend and reenact § 46.1-299, as amended, of the Code of Virginia, relating to devices signalling intention to turn or stop and rules therefor.
Volume 1968 Law 99
Volume | 1954 |
---|---|
Law Number | 670 |
Subjects |
Law Body
CHAPTER 670
An Act to amend and reenact §§ 21-8, 21-6 and 21-11, as amended, and
§§ 21-29, 21-81, 21-82, 21-48, 21-45 and 21-65 of the Code of Virginia,
relating to soil conservation districts.
[H 572]
Approved April 7, 1954
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:
1. That §§ 21-3, 21-6 and 21-11, as amended, and §§ 21-29, 21-31, 21-32,
21 21-45 and 21-65 of the Code of Virginia be amended and reenacted
as follows:
§ 21-8. Whenever used or referred to in this chapter, unless a dif-
ferent meaning clearly appears from the context:
| (1) “Agency of this State” includes the government of this State
and any subdivision, agency, or instrumentality, corporate or otherwise,
of the government of this State.
(2) “Committee” or ‘State Soil Conservation Committee”? means the
agency created in § 21-6.
(3) “District” or “soil conservation district” means a governmental
subdivision of this State, and a public body corporate and politic, organized
in accordance with the provisions of this chapter, for the purposes, with
the powers, and subject to the restrictions hereinafter set forth.
(4) “Due notice” means notice published at least twice, with an
interval of at least seven days between the two publication dates, in a
newspaper or other publication of general circulation within the appro-
priate area, or if no such publication of general circulation be available,
by posting at a reasonable number of conspicuous places within the
appropriate area, such posting to include, where possible, posting at public
places where it may be customary to post notices concerning county or
municipal affairs generally. At any hearing held pursuant to such notice,
at the time and place designated in such notice, adjournment may be made
from time to time without the necessity of renewing such notice for such
adjourned dates.
(5) “Government” or “governmental” includes the government of
this State, the government of the United States, and any subdivision, or
agency, or instrumentality, corporate or otherwise, of either of them.
: (6) “Land occupier” or “occupier of land” includes any person, firm
or corporation who shall hold title to, or shall be in possession of, any
lands lying within a district organized, or proposed to be organized, under
the provisions of this chapter, in the capacity of owner, lessee, renter,
tenant, or cropper. Provided that the term “land occupier” or “occupier
of lands” shall not be construed to include an ordinary employee or hired
hand who may be furnished a dwelling, garden, utilities, supplies, or the
like, as part payment, or payment in full, for his labor.
(7) “Nominating petition” means a petition filed under the provisions
of § 21-33 to nominate candidates for the office of supervisor of a soil
conservation district.
(8) “Petition” means a petition filed under the provisions of § 21-12
for the creation of a district. =
(9) “Qualified elector” means any person who is qualified under the
Constitution and laws of this State to vote for members of the General
Assembly and other officers elective by the people. c
(10) “State” or “Commonwealth” means the Commonwealth of
Virginia.
(11) “Supervisor” means one of the members of the governing body
of a district, elected or appointed in accordance with the provisions of
this chapter.
(12) “United States” or “agencies of the United States” includes
the United States of America, * the United States Department of Agricul-
ture and any other agency or instrumentality, corporate or otherwise, of
the United States of America.
§ 21-6. There is established, to serve as an agency of the State and
to perform the functions conferred upon it in this chapter, the State Soil
Conservation Committee. The Committee shall consist of not less than
seven and not more than eight members. The following shall serve, ex
officio, as members of the Committee: the director of the State agriculture
extension service, the director of the State agricultural experiment station
located at Blacksburg, and the State Commissioner of Agriculture and
Immigration. One member of the Committee shall be appointed by the
Governor to serve at the pleasure of the Governor, for a term coincident
with that of the Governor making the appointment; vacancies in the office
of such appointed member shall be filled by the Governor. Three members
of the Committee shall be farmers, appointed by the Governor from a list
of six qualified nominees submitted by the Executive Committee of the
Association of Soil Conservation Districts * and the State Soil Conserva-
tion Committee in joint session, each for a term of three years; provided
that those first appointed shall serve for one, two and three years respec-
tively; an appointment to fill a vacancy shall be made in the same manner
as described above, except that such appointment shall be for the unexpired
term only. The Committee may invite the Secretary of Agriculture of the
United States of America to appoint one person to serve with the above-
mentioned members as a member of the Committee; the term of any
member so appointed shall be for one year, except that an appointment to
fill a vacancy shall be for the unexpired term. The committee shall keep
a record of its official actions, shall adopt a seal, which seal shall be judi-
cially noticed, and may perform such ‘acts, hold such public hearings, and
promulgate such rules and regulations as may be necessary for the execu-
tion of its functions under this chapter.
§ 21-11. In addition to the other powers and authority conferred
and the duties imposed upon it by this chapter, the Committee is authorized
and it is its duty to purchase, operate and maintain necessary machinery
and other equipment suitable for engineering and other operations incident
to soil conservation and other purposes of the Committee to the extent of
the appropriation therefor. The Committee shall have the custody and
control of the machinery and other equipment, and shall provide storage
for it, and it shall be available to the districts upon such terms as the
Committee prescribes. * The income derived from the rental provided for
in this section and in § 21-65 shall be paid into the State treasury, segre-
gated, and placed in a revolving fund for use for the maintenance, storage,
repairs and replacements of the machinery and other equipment.
§ 21-29. The Secretary of the Commonwealth shall examine the
application and statement and, if he finds that the name proposed for the
district is not identical with that of any other soil conservation district of
this State or so nearly similar as to lead to confusion or uncertainty, he
shall receive and file them and shall record the application in an appro-
priate book of record in his office. If the Secretary of the Commonwealth
shall find that the name proposed for the district is identical with that
of any other soil conservation district of this State, or so nearly similar
as to lead to confusion and uncertainty, he shall certify such fact to the
State Soil Conservation Committee, which shall thereupon submit to the
Secretary of the Commonwealth a new name for the district, which shall
not be subject to such defects. Upon receipt of such new name, free of
such defects, the Secretary of the Commonwealth shall record the applica-
tion, with the name so modified, in an appropriate book of record in his
office. When the application and statement have been made, filed, and
recorded, as herein provided, the district shall constitute a governmental
subdivision of this State and a public body corporate and politic. The
Secretary of the Commonwealth shall make and issue to the supervisors
a certificate, under the lesser seal of the Commonwealth, of the due
organization of the district and shall record such certificate with the
application and statement. The boundaries of such district shall include
the territory as determined by the Committee as aforesaid, but in no event
shall they include any area included within the boundaries of another
soil conservation district organized under the provisions of this chapter.
The name of any soil conservation district may be changed if a petition for
such change is subscribed by twenty-five or more landowners from each
county comprising the district and adopted by resolution of the supervisors
at any regular meeting. The supervisors shall submit a copy of such
resolution to the Committee and, if the Committee concurs, it shall present
the resolution, together with a statement certifying its concurrence, to the
Secretary of the Commonwealth who, if it be free from such defects as
outlined herein, shall file the resolution and issue a new (or amended)
certificate of organization.
§ 21-31. Petitions for including additional territory within an
existing district or to divide an existing district for the purpose of
reorganizing the territory along new district lines, may be filed with the
* Committee and the proceedings herein provided for in case of petitions
to organize a district shall be observed in the case of petitions for such
inclusion or division, except that a petition for division of an existing
district may be filed upon being subscribed by twenty-five landowners
from each county of the district being divided and concurred in by the
district board of supervisors. The Committee shall prescribe the form
for such petitions, which shall be as nearly as may be in the form pre-
scribed in this article for petitions to organize a district. Where the total
number of landowners in an area proposed for inclusion shall be less
than twenty-five, or being more than twenty-five and a majority of all
such owners sign a petition for inclusion. the petition may be filed when
so signed * and in such case no referendum need be held. In referenda
upon petitions for such inclusion, all owners of lands lying within the
proposed additional area shall be eligible to vote. In referenda upon peti-
tions for division of a district, all owners of land lying within the district
being divided shall be eligible to vote.
§ 21-32. In any suit, action, or proceeding involving the validity
or enforcement of, or relating to, any contract, proceeding, or action of
the district, the district shall be deemed to have been established, re-
organized, and/or renamed, in accordance with the provisions of this
chapter upon proof of the issuance of the aforesaid certificate by the
Secretary of the Commonwealth. A copy of such certificate duly certified
by the Secretary of the Commonwealth shall be admissible in evidence
in any such suit, action, or proceeding and shall be proof of the * issuance
and contents thereof.
§ 21-43. The two supervisors appointed by the Committee shall be
persons who are by training and experience qualified to perform the
specialized skilled services which will be required of them in the per-
formance of their duties hereunder. One of the appointed supervisors
shall be the county agricultural agent of the county, or of one of the
counties, constituting the district, or a part thereof. Other appointed and
elected supervisors shall reside within the boundaries of the district.
§ 21-45. The term of office of each supervisor shall be three years,
except that the supervisors who are first appointed shall be designated
to serve for terms of one and two years, respectively, from the date of
their appointment. A supervisor shall hold office until his successor has
been elected or appointed and has qualified. Vacancies shall be filled for
the unexpired term. The selection of successors to fill an unexpired term
or for a full term, shall be made in the same manner in which the retir-
ing supervisors shall, respectively, have been selected, except that the Com-
mittee may fill vacancies in elective supervisor positions by appointment
until the next general election.
§ 21-65. The district supervisors shall have authority to rent the
machinery and other equipment made available to them by the Committee
to the governing bodies of counties, to individuals, or to groups of indi-
viduals to be used by them for the purpose of soil conservation upon
such terms as the district supervisors deem proper. *