An Act to amend and reenact § 15.2-106 of the Code of Virginia, relating to fee for passing bad checks to localities; payment order not paid by recipient.
HB177 amends Virginia Code § 15.2-106 to clarify when a locality may charge a fee for a bad check or failed payment made to the locality. Under the bill, a locality may adopt an ordinance imposing a fee of up to $50 when a check, draft, order, or electronic payment order tendered for taxes or other amounts due is returned unpaid because of insufficient funds, a closed account, no account, or a bad-faith stop-payment order. The bill expressly includes electronic payment orders within the bad-check fee framework.
The bill also creates a narrow exception for certain failed electronic payment orders. No fee may be imposed when an electronic payment order is not honored solely because no account exists that matches the account information provided by the taxpayer, so long as the taxpayer has not had another dishonored electronic payment order within the prior 12 months. In effect, the measure updates local collection authority to address modern payment methods while limiting fees in a specific no-account mismatch scenario.
The bill changes the authority of Virginia localities under § 15.2-106 by expressly covering electronic payment orders alongside traditional checks, drafts, and orders. It preserves the existing local option to charge up to $50 for returned payments made to local governments, including payments for taxes and other sums due, and it adds a statutory carve-out that prevents a fee in a limited electronic-payment circumstance. The practical effect is to standardize local fee authority for failed electronic transactions and to reduce fees for some taxpayers whose electronic payment fails because the account information does not correspond to an existing account.
The available record shows no committee transcript, recorded votes, or other debate, so there is no documented opposition or support to gauge from discussion. The bill’s enactment suggests it was noncontroversial or at least not subject to recorded dispute in the materials provided. Its subject matter is administrative and technical, focusing on local fee collection and payment processing rather than a broader policy change.
No specific points of contention are documented in the provided materials. If any concerns existed, they would likely have centered on the scope of local fee authority, the treatment of electronic payments, or the fairness of charging fees for failed transactions. The bill’s narrow exception for certain electronic payment failures indicates an effort to balance local revenue collection with consumer protection for taxpayers who submit payment information that does not match an existing account.