Virginia Gov. McDonnell signed SB 1257 last week, formally creating a real property inventory in the Commonwealth. This is an idea that we’ve written about repeatedly at Reason, including a paper last year. John Palatiello has the story over at Bacon’s Rebellion:
The Virginia General Assembly passed and Governor McDonnell signed SB 1257, “An Act to amend and reenact §§ 2.2-1136, 2.2-1153, and 2.2-1156 of the Code of Virginia, relating to the Department of General Services (DGS); sale of surplus real property; inventory of state-owned land.” This bill by Senator Jill Holtzman Vogel (identical on introduction to HB 2003 by Delegate Jim LeMunyon), requires DGS to conduct an inventory of all real property owned by state departments, agencies and institutions by January 1, 2012, and update the inventory at least annually thereafter. The bill requires DGS to provide a listing of surplus properties on the Department’s website, to include parcel identification consistent with national spatial data standards in addition to a street address. This will provide greater transparency into state government.
See the rest of John’s post here for more background on the new legislative initiative and resources on the value of RPIs.
We have more details on the bill here as well from our post when the legislation passed the state Senate.
Also see this paper on the need for a federal real property inventory.