Virginia Law

A. On and after July 1, 1981, the conditional consent of the Commonwealth is hereby given in accordance with clause 17, § 8, Article 1 of the United States Constitution to the acquisition by the United States, or under its authority, by purchase, lease, condemnation, or otherwise, of any lands in the Commonwealth, whether under water or not, required for customhouses, post offices, arsenals, forts, magazines, dockyards, military reserves, or for needful public buildings.

B. The acquisition by condemnation of any property within the Commonwealth, not expressly consented to in subsection A of this section, shall require the prior approval of the General Assembly.

C. Over all lands hereafter acquired by the United States, the Commonwealth hereby cedes to the United States concurrent governmental, judicial, executive and legislative power and jurisdiction.

D. There is hereby expressly reserved in the Commonwealth, over all lands so acquired by the United States the following:

1. Tax on motor vehicle fuels and lubricants. -- The Commonwealth shall have the jurisdiction and power to levy a tax on oil, gasoline and all other motor fuels and lubricants thereon owned by others than the United States and a tax on the sale thereof, on such lands, except sales to the United States for use in the exercise of essentially governmental functions.

2. Service of civil and criminal process. -- The Commonwealth shall have the jurisdiction and power to serve criminal and civil process on such lands.

3. Sale of intoxicating liquors. -- The Commonwealth shall have the jurisdiction and power to license and regulate, or to prohibit, the sale of intoxicating liquors on any such lands.

4. Tax on property and businesses. -- The Commonwealth shall have the jurisdiction and power to tax all property, including buildings erected thereon, not belonging to the United States, and to require licenses and impose license taxes upon any business or businesses conducted thereon.

E. For all purposes of taxation and of the jurisdiction of the courts of the Commonwealth over persons, transactions, matters and property on such lands, the lands shall be deemed to be a part of the county or city in which they are situated.

F. Any such acquisition by or conveyance or lease to the United States, as provided in this section, shall be deemed to have been secured or made upon the express condition that the reservations of power and limitations provided in this section are recognized as valid by the United States and, in the event the United States shall deny the validity of the reservations, as to all or any part of such lands, then and in that event, the title and possession of all or any such part of such lands, conveyed to the United States by the Commonwealth, shall immediately revert to the Commonwealth.

G. Nothing contained in this section shall affect any special act adopted ceding jurisdiction to the United States, nor any deeds executed pursuant to § 1-401.

1976, c. 211, § 7.1-18.1; 1981, c. 533; 2005, c. 839.

A. Whenever the head or other authorized officer of any department or independent establishment or agency of the United States shall deem it desirable that additional jurisdiction or powers be ceded over any lands in the Commonwealth acquired or proposed to be acquired by the United States under his immediate jurisdiction, custody or control, and whenever the Governor and Attorney General of the Commonwealth shall agree to the same, the Governor and Attorney General shall execute and acknowledge a deed in the name of and under the lesser seal of the Commonwealth ceding such additional jurisdiction. The deed shall accurately and specifically describe the area and location of the land over which the additional jurisdiction and powers are ceded and shall set out specifically what additional jurisdiction and powers are ceded, and may set out any reservations in the Commonwealth of jurisdiction which may be deemed proper in addition to those referred to in subsection D.

B. No such deed shall become effective or operative until the jurisdiction therein provided for is accepted on behalf of the United States as required by 40 U.S.C. § 255. The head or other authorized officer of a department or independent establishment or agency of the United States shall indicate such acceptance by executing and acknowledging such deed and admitting it to record in the office of the clerk of the court in which deeds conveying the lands affected would properly be recorded.

C. When such deed has been executed and acknowledged on behalf of the Commonwealth and the United States, and admitted to record as provided in subsection B, it shall have the effect of ceding to and vesting in the United States the jurisdiction and powers therein provided for and none other.

D. Every such deed as is provided for in this section shall reserve in the Commonwealth over all lands therein referred to the jurisdiction and power to serve civil and criminal process on such lands and in the event that the lands or any part thereof shall be sold or leased to any person, under the terms of which sale or lease the vendee or lessee shall have the right to conduct thereon any private industry or business, then the jurisdiction ceded to the United States over any such lands so sold or leased shall cease and determine, and thereafter the Commonwealth shall have all jurisdiction and power she would have had if no jurisdiction or power had been ceded to the United States. This provision, however, shall not apply to post exchanges, officers' clubs and similar activities on lands acquired by the United States for purposes of national defense. It is further provided that the reservations provided for in this subsection shall remain effective even though they should be omitted from any deed executed pursuant to this section.

E. Nothing contained in this section shall be construed as repealing any special acts ceding jurisdiction to the United States to acquire any specific tract of land.

Code 1950, § 7-24; 1966, c. 102, § 7.1-21; 1972, c. 597; 1976, c. 211; 2005, c. 839.

The respective jurisdiction and powers of the Commonwealth and the United States over all lands within the Shenandoah National Park, as it is now constituted or may hereafter be extended, shall be as follows:

1. Criminal and police jurisdiction. -- The United States shall have exclusive jurisdiction, legislative, executive and judicial, with respect to the commission of crimes, and the arrest, trial and punishment therefor, and exclusive general police jurisdiction thereover.

2. Sale of alcoholic beverages. -- The United States shall have the power to regulate or prohibit the sale of alcoholic beverages on such lands; provided, that, if the sale of alcoholic beverages is prohibited by general law in the Commonwealth outside of such lands, no such alcoholic beverages shall be sold on the lands contained in the Park area; and provided further, that if the general laws of the Commonwealth permit the sale of alcoholic beverages, then the regulations of the United States relating to such sales on such lands shall conform as nearly as possible to the regulatory provisions in accordance with which such sales are permitted in the Commonwealth outside of such Park lands. Nothing in this subsection shall be construed as reserving in the Commonwealth power to require licenses of persons engaged in the sale of intoxicating beverages on such lands, nor the power to require that any sales be made through official liquor stores.

3. Service of civil and criminal process. -- The Commonwealth shall have jurisdiction to serve civil process within the limits of the Park in any suits properly instituted in any of the courts of the Commonwealth and to serve criminal process within such limits in any suits or prosecutions for or on account of crimes committed in the Commonwealth but outside of the Park.

4. Tax on alcoholic beverages. -- The Commonwealth shall have jurisdiction and power to levy a nondiscriminatory tax on all alcoholic beverages possessed or sold on such lands.

5. Tax on motor vehicle fuels and lubricants. -- The Commonwealth shall have jurisdiction and power to tax the sales of oil and gasoline, and other motor vehicle fuels and lubricants for use in motor vehicles. This subsection shall not be construed as a consent by the United States to the taxation by the Commonwealth of such sales for the exclusive use of the United States.

6. Tax on businesses. -- The Commonwealth shall have jurisdiction and power to levy nondiscriminatory taxes on private individuals, associations and corporations, their franchises and properties, on such lands, and on their businesses conducted thereon.

7. Jurisdiction of courts. -- The courts of the Commonwealth shall have concurrent jurisdiction with the courts of the United States of all civil causes of action arising on such lands to the same extent as if the cause of action had arisen in the county or city in which the land lies outside the Park area, and the state officers shall have jurisdiction to enforce on such lands the judgments of the state courts and the collection of taxes by appropriate process.

8. Voting residence. -- Persons residing in or on any of the lands embraced in the Park shall have the right to establish a voting residence in the Commonwealth by reason thereof, and the consequent right to vote at all elections within the county or city in which the land or lands upon which they reside are located upon like terms and conditions, and to the same extent as they would be entitled to vote in such county or city if the lands on which they reside had not been deeded or conveyed to the United States.

9. Fugitives. -- All fugitives from justice taking refuge in the Park shall be subject to the same laws as refugees from justice found in the Commonwealth.

Code 1950, § 7-22; 1966, c. 102, § 7.1-19; 2005, c. 839.

A. The Governor is authorized to execute in the name of the Commonwealth deeds conveying, subject to the jurisdictional and other limitations and reservations contained in §§ 1-400 and 1-405, to the United States such title as the Commonwealth may have in waste and unappropriated lands entirely surrounded by lands owned by the United States, when the same are certified as being vacant and unappropriated by a duly authorized agent of the United States and are described by metes and bounds descriptions filed with the Secretary of the Commonwealth and with the clerk of the court in the county wherein such unappropriated land is situated.

B. The Governor is authorized to execute, in the name and on behalf of the Commonwealth, a deed or other appropriate instrument conveying to the United States, without any consideration but subject to the jurisdictional limitations and reservations contained in §§ 1-400 and 1-405, such right, title and interest in or easement over and across the marshes lying along the seaside of the Counties of Accomack and Northampton as may be necessary and proper for the construction, operation and maintenance of a canal or channel for small boats over and through such marshlands.

Code 1950, § 7-23; 1966, c. 102, § 7.1-20; 1976, c. 211; 2005, c. 839.

The Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control Authority may license the sale of mixed alcoholic beverages as defined in Chapter 1 (§ 4.1-100 et seq.) of Title 4.1 at places primarily engaged in the sale of meals on lands ceded by the Commonwealth to the United States or owned by the government of the United States or any agency thereof provided that such lands are used as ports of entry or egress to and from the United States, and provided that such lands lie within or partly within the boundaries of any county in this Commonwealth which permits the lawful dispensing of mixed alcoholic beverages. The Board of Directors of the Authority may adopt rules and regulations governing the sale of such spirits, and to fix the fees for such licenses, within the limits fixed by general law.

1968, c. 511, § 7.1-21.1; 1993, c. 866; 2005, c. 839; 2015, cc. 38, 730.

A. As used in this section, unless the context requires otherwise:

"Corrective action" means the response and remediation to environmental contamination to the extent required by any applicable environmental law or regulation applicable to the property.

"Environmental contamination" means any hazardous waste, substance or toxic material, or its discharge or release, that is regulated under any environmental law or regulation applicable to the property, and shall include petroleum (including crude oil), natural gas, liquefied natural gas, ordnance, unexploded munitions, and asbestos.

B. If the United States shall cease to be the owner of any lands, or any part thereof, granted or conveyed to it by the Commonwealth; if the purposes of any such grant or conveyance to the United States shall cease; or if the United States shall for five consecutive years fail to use any such land for the purposes of the grant or conveyance, then, and in that event, the right and title to such land, or such part thereof, shall immediately revert to the Commonwealth unless such land, or part thereof, contains environmental contamination. No land containing environmental contamination shall be transferred or revert to the Commonwealth, unless and until all corrective action necessary to protect human health and the environment with respect to any environmental contamination on the lands, or portion thereof, has been completed to the satisfaction of the Commonwealth and approved by the Governor pursuant to § 2.2-1149, and the United States has executed and delivered a transfer instrument including covenants warranting that (i) all corrective action necessary to protect human health and the environment with respect to any environmental contamination on the land or any portion thereof has been taken, and (ii) any corrective action for environmental contamination occurring before the date of transfer found to be necessary after the date of the transfer of the title of the land or any portion thereof shall be conducted by the United States.

In cases where the Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission (BRAC Commission) established pursuant to P.L. 101-510 (1990), as amended, identifies United States military bases located in the Commonwealth for closure, the Commonwealth shall have, in addition to the foregoing, the right to enter upon such lands so identified for the purpose of inspection for environmental contamination. Upon completion of such inspection, the Commonwealth shall report its findings to the Governor and the appropriate federal agencies.

C. All deeds, conveyances or title papers for the transfer of title of lands to the United States shall be recorded in the county or city wherein the land or the greater part thereof lies, but no tax shall be required on any such instrument made to the United States by which they acquire lands for public purposes.

D. The jurisdiction ceded by § 1-400 shall not vest until the United States shall have acquired the title of record to such lands, or rights or interest therein, by purchase, condemnation, lease or otherwise. So long as the lands, or any rights or interest therein, are held in fee simple by the United States, and no longer, such lands, rights or interest, as the case may be, shall continue exempt and exonerated, from all state and local taxes which may be levied or imposed under the authority of the Commonwealth.

Code 1950, § 7-25; 1966, c. 102, § 7.1-22; 1975, c. 449; 1976, c. 211; 1994, c. 23; 2005, c. 839.

Whenever any land in the Commonwealth has been or is conveyed to the United States with a provision in the deed that upon abandonment or use for any purpose other than that stated in the deed such land shall revert to the Commonwealth, and if any such land is abandoned or is no longer used for the purpose for which conveyed, the Governor is hereby authorized to convey to the political subdivision in which such land is situated, all right, title and interest of the Commonwealth in and to such land. This section shall not affect any lease made under Chapter 321 of the Acts of 1952.

Code 1950, § 7-25.1; 1954, c. 170; 1966, c. 102, § 7.1-23; 2005, c. 839.

Whenever the United States government has exclusive jurisdiction over property located in the Commonwealth of Virginia, and leases the property, or part thereof, to any political subdivision to be used by it for a public purpose, the exclusive jurisdiction shall cease as to the property so leased and the Commonwealth and the United States government shall have concurrent jurisdiction over the property so long as the lease continues. At the termination of the lease the jurisdiction of the Commonwealth shall cease and the United States shall have exclusive jurisdiction thereof.

Code 1950, § 7-25.2; 1964, c. 362; 1966, c. 102, § 7.1-24; 2005, c. 839.

Whenever a duly authorized official or agent of the United States, acting pursuant to authority conferred by the United States Congress, notifies the Governor that the United States desires or is willing to relinquish to the Commonwealth the jurisdiction, or a portion thereof, held by the United States over lands located in the Commonwealth, as designated in such notice, the Governor may, in his discretion, accept such relinquishment. Such acceptance shall be made by sending a notice of acceptance to the official or agent designated by the United States to receive such notice of acceptance. The Governor shall send a signed copy of the notice of acceptance, together with the notice of relinquishment received from the United States, to the Secretary of the Commonwealth, who shall maintain a permanent file of said notices.

Upon the sending of the notice of acceptance to the designated official or agent of the United States, the Commonwealth shall immediately have such jurisdiction over the lands designated in the notice of relinquishment as the notice shall specify.

Upon receipt of a copy of the notice of relinquishment and a copy of the notice of acceptance, the Secretary of the Commonwealth shall immediately give written notice of such change in jurisdiction to the Attorney General and the attorney for the Commonwealth of the city or county in which such lands are located. The Secretary of the Commonwealth shall also certify a copy of each of the notices to the clerk of court in which deeds are admitted to record for the city or county in which such lands are located. The clerk shall record the notices in his deed book and index them in the name of the United States and the Commonwealth.

1975, c. 411, § 7.1-25.1; 2005, c. 839.