CHAPTER 218

An Act to amend and reenact § 15-8, as amended, of the Code of Vir-
ginia, relating to the general powers of boards of supervisors of
counties so as to provide certain exceptions thereto. (H 311]

Approved March 38, 1956

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That § 15-8, as amended, of the Code of Virginia be amended and
reenacted as follows:

15-8. In addition to the powers conferred by other sections, the
board of supervisors of every county shall have power:

(1) To adopt quarantine regulations affecting both persons and ani-
mals in furtherance of the protection of the health of the county and not
inconsistent with general statutes.

(2) To adopt the necessary regulations to prevent the spread of
contagious diseases among persons or animals.

(3) To provide against and prevent the pollution of water in their
respective counties whereby it is rendered dangerous to the health or
lives of persons residing in the county.

(4) To prevent trespassing by persons, animals and fowls; and to
prevent animals from trespassing and running at large upon the public
highways, whether such highways be enclosed by fence or not.

(5) To adopt such measures as they may deem expedient to secure
and promote the health, safety and general welfare of the inhabitants
of their respective counties, not inconsistent with the general laws of
this State.

(6) To prescribe building lines in villages and unincorporated towns
and the types of buildings that may be erected therein.

For carrying into effect these and their other powers, the boards of
supervisors may make ordinances and by-laws and prescribe fines and
other punishment for violations thereof which shall be enforced by pro-
ceedings before a trial justice in like manner and with like right of appeal
as if such violations were misdemeanors. Such fines, however, shall in no
case exceed three hundred dollars and if imprisonment in the county jail
be prescribed in any case such imprisonment shall not exceed thirty days.

No such ordinance or by-law shall be passed until after notice of an
intention to propose the same for passage shall have been published once
a week for two successive weeks prior to its passage in some newspaper

ublished in the county, and if there be none such, in some newspaper pub-
ished in an adjoining county or a nearby city and having a general circu-
lation in the county, and no such ordinance or by-law shall become effec-
tive until after it shall have been published in full once a week for two
successive weeks in a like newspaper.

The above provisions of this section shall apply to ordinances other
than those hereinafter set forth. No county governing body shall adopt
or amend any ordinance imposing a county capitation tax, county motor
vehicle license tax, county license tax on professions or businesses, includ-
ing wholesale merchants, or county tax on amusements, except under the
conditions hereinafter set forth, and any such ordinance adopted without
compliance with such conditions shall be void and of no effect:

(a) Any such ordinance may only be introduced at a regular meeting
of the board and may not be adopted prior to the second regular meeting
following introduction and only then if not less than sixty days have
elapsed between introduction and adoption;

(b) The proposed ordinance shall be published once a week for four
successive weeks in a newspaper published in the county, or if there be
none such, in a newspaper having general circulation in the county; and
(c) The proposed ordinance shall be posted at the front door of the
county courthouse and at each post office in the county.

The procedure prescribed in this section shall not apply to any county
which may adopt ordinances under § 15-10 and any county which may act
under that section may adopt any other ordinance in the manner pre-
scribed in § 15-10.