                                 CODE OF VIRGINIA

VIRGINIA NATURAL RESOURCES COMMITMENT FUND ESTABLISHED (§ 10.1-2128.1)

A. There is hereby created in the state treasury a special nonreverting fund to
be known as the Virginia Natural Resources Commitment Fund hereafter referred to
as &#8220;the Subfund,&#8221; which shall be a subfund of the Virginia Water
Quality Improvement Fund and administered by the Department of Conservation and
Recreation. The Subfund shall be established on the books of the Comptroller.
All amounts appropriated and such other funds as may be made available to the
Subfund from any other source, public or private, shall be paid into the state
treasury and credited to the Subfund. Interest earned on moneys in the Subfund
shall remain in the Subfund and be credited to it. Any moneys remaining in the
Subfund, including interest thereon, at the end of each fiscal year shall not
revert to the general fund but shall remain in the Subfund. Moneys in the
Subfund shall be used as provided in subsection B solely for the Virginia
Agricultural Best Management Practices Cost-Share Program administered by the
Department of Conservation and Recreation.

B. Beginning on July 1, 2008, and continuing in each subsequent fiscal year
until July 1, 2018, out of such amounts as may be appropriated and deposited to
the Subfund, distributions shall be made in each fiscal year for the following
purposes:

   1. Eight percent of the total amount distributed to the Virginia Agricultural
   Best Management Practices Cost-Share Program shall be distributed to soil and
   water conservation districts to provide technical assistance for the
   implementation of such agricultural best management practices. Each soil and
   water conservation district in the Commonwealth shall receive a share
   according to a method employed by the Director of the Department of
   Conservation and Recreation in consultation with the Virginia Soil and Water
   Conservation Board, that accounts for the percentage of the available
   agricultural best management practices funding that will be received by the
   district from the Subfund;

   2. Fifty-five percent of the total amount distributed to the Virginia
   Agricultural Best Management Practices Cost-Share Program shall be used for
   matching grants for agricultural best management practices on lands in the
   Commonwealth exclusively or partly within the Chesapeake Bay watershed; and

   3. Thirty-seven percent of the total amount distributed to the Virginia
   Agricultural Best Management Practices Cost-Share Program shall be used for
   matching grants for agricultural best management practices on lands in the
   Commonwealth exclusively outside of the Chesapeake Bay watershed.

C. The Department of Conservation and Recreation, in consultation with
stakeholders, including representatives of the agricultural community, the
conservation community, and the Soil and Water Conservation Districts, shall
determine an annual funding amount for effective Soil and Water Conservation
District technical assistance and implementation of agricultural best management
practices pursuant to &#xA7; 10.1-546.1. Pursuant to &#xA7; 2.2-1504, the
Department shall provide to the Governor the annual funding amount needed for
each year of the ensuing biennial period. The Department shall include the
annual funding amount as part of the reporting requirements in &#xA7;
62.1-44.118.

HISTORY: 2008, cc. 643, 701; 2009, cc. 209, 263; 2011, c. 245.