Terms Used In Virginia Code > Title 54.1 > Subtitle II > Chapter 11 - Contractors

• Accessibility mechanic: means an individual who is engaged in erecting, constructing, installing, altering, servicing, repairing, testing or maintaining wheelchair lifts, incline chairlifts, dumbwaiters with a capacity limit of 300 pounds, and private residence elevators, in accordance with the Uniform Statewide Building Code (§ 36-97 et seq. See Virginia Code 54.1-1140
• Accredited residential building energy analyst training program: means a training program that has been approved by the Board to provide training for individuals to engage in blower door, duct blaster, or similar testing to measure energy efficiency, conduct energy modeling, prepare a residential building energy analysis report, and provide recommendations for improvements with return on investment or third-party verification for nationally accredited energy efficiency programs. See Virginia Code 54.1-1144
• Act: means the Virginia Contractor Transaction Recovery Act. See Virginia Code 54.1-1118
• Adult: means a person 18 years of age or more. See Virginia Code 1-203
• Advanced recycling: means a manufacturing process for the conversion of post-use polymers and recovered feedstocks into basic hydrocarbon raw materials, feedstocks, chemicals, liquid fuels, waxes, lubricants, or other products through processes that include pyrolysis, gasification, depolymerization, reforming, hydrogenation, solvolysis, catalytic cracking, and similar processes. See Virginia Code 10.1-1400
• Advanced recycling facility: means a facility that, using advanced recycling, receives, stores, and converts post-use polymers and recovered feedstocks that it receives. See Virginia Code 10.1-1400
• Affidavit: A written statement of facts confirmed by the oath of the party making it, before a notary or officer having authority to administer oaths.
• Allegation: something that someone says happened.
• Annuity: A periodic (usually annual) payment of a fixed sum of money for either the life of the recipient or for a fixed number of years. A series of payments under a contract from an insurance company, a trust company, or an individual. Annuity payments are made at regular intervals over a period of more than one full year.
• Applicant: means any and all persons seeking or holding a permit required under this chapter. See Virginia Code 10.1-1400
• Arrest: Taking physical custody of a person by lawful authority.
• Attachment: A procedure by which a person's property is seized to pay judgments levied by the court.
• Bankruptcy: Refers to statutes and judicial proceedings involving persons or businesses that cannot pay their debts and seek the assistance of the court in getting a fresh start. Under the protection of the bankruptcy court, debtors may discharge their debts, perhaps by paying a portion of each debt. Bankruptcy judges preside over these proceedings.
• Beneficiary: A person who is entitled to receive the benefits or proceeds of a will, trust, insurance policy, retirement plan, annuity, or other contract. ^{Source: OCC}
• Biennium: means a two-year period beginning on July 1 of an even-numbered year and continuing through June 30 of the next even-numbered year. See Virginia Code 54.1-1118
• Board: means the State Air Pollution Control Board. See Virginia Code 10.1-1300
• Board: means the Virginia Waste Management Board. See Virginia Code 10.1-1400
• Board: means the Board for Contractors. See Virginia Code 54.1-1100
• Center: means the Virginia Center for Coal and Energy Research. See Virginia Code 10.1-1332
• Certified accessibility mechanic: means an individual who is certified by the Board in accordance with this article to engage in work as an accessibility mechanic. See Virginia Code 54.1-1140
• Certified food protection manager: means a person who has demonstrated proficiency in food safety issues, regulations, and techniques in maintaining a safe-food environment by passing a test and receiving a certification as part of a program that is accredited by the Board. See Virginia Code 35.1-1
• Charity: An agency, institution, or organization in existence and operating for the benefit of an indefinite number of persons and conducted for educational, religious, scientific, medical, or other beneficent purposes.
• Claimant: means any person with an unsatisfied judgment involving residential construction against a regulant, who has filed a verified claim under this Act. See Virginia Code 54.1-1118
• Commissioner: means the State Health Commissioner. See Virginia Code 35.1-1
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
• Continuance: Putting off of a hearing ot trial until a later time.
• Contractor: means any person, that for a fixed price, commission, fee, or percentage undertakes to bid upon, or accepts, or offers to accept, orders or contracts for performing, managing, or superintending in whole or in part, the construction, removal, repair or improvement of any building or structure permanently annexed to real property owned, controlled, or leased by him or another person or any other improvements to such real property. See Virginia Code 54.1-1100
• Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
• Decedent: A deceased person.
• Deed: The legal instrument used to transfer title in real property from one person to another.
• Department: means the State Department of Health. See Virginia Code 35.1-1
• Department: means the Department of Environmental Quality. See Virginia Code 10.1-1300
• Department: means the Department of Environmental Quality. See Virginia Code 10.1-1400
• Department: means the Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation. See Virginia Code 54.1-1100
• Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
• Depolymerization: means a manufacturing process in which post-use polymers are broken into smaller molecules, including monomers and oligomers; raw, intermediate, or final products; plastics and chemical feedstocks; basic and unfinished chemicals; crude oil; naphtha; liquid transportation fuels; waxes; lubricants; coatings; and other products. See Virginia Code 10.1-1400
• Designated employee: means the contractor's full-time employee, or a member of the contractor's responsible management, who is at least 18 years of age and who has successfully completed the oral or written examination required by the Board on behalf of the contractor. See Virginia Code 54.1-1100
• Director: means the Director of the Department of Environmental Quality. See Virginia Code 10.1-1400
• Director: means the Director of the Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation. See Virginia Code 54.1-1100
• Disclosure statement: means a sworn statement or affirmation, in such form as may be required by the Director, which includes:

  1. See Virginia Code 10.1-1400

• Dismissal: The dropping of a case by the judge without further consideration or hearing. ^Source:
• Disposal: means the discharge, deposit, injection, dumping, spilling, leaking, or placing of any solid waste into or on any land or water so that such solid waste or any constituent thereof may enter the environment or be emitted into the air or discharged into any waters, including ground waters. See Virginia Code 10.1-1400
• Donee: The recipient of a gift.
• Donor: The person who makes a gift.
• Electronic funds transfer: The transfer of money between accounts by consumer electronic systems-such as automated teller machines (ATMs) and electronic payment of bills-rather than by check or cash. (Wire transfers, checks, drafts, and paper instruments do not fall into this category.) ^{Source: OCC}
• Elevator mechanic: means an individual who is certified by the Board in accordance with this article to engage in erecting, constructing, installing, altering, servicing, repairing, testing or maintaining elevators, escalators, or related conveyances in accordance with the Uniform Statewide Building Code. See Virginia Code 54.1-1140
• Equitable: Pertaining to civil suits in "equity" rather than in "law." In English legal history, the courts of "law" could order the payment of damages and could afford no other remedy. See damages. A separate court of "equity" could order someone to do something or to cease to do something. See, e.g., injunction. In American jurisprudence, the federal courts have both legal and equitable power, but the distinction is still an important one. For example, a trial by jury is normally available in "law" cases but not in "equity" cases. ^{Source: U.S. Courts}
• Equity: includes both legal and equitable interests. See Virginia Code 10.1-1400
• Fair market value: The price at which an asset would change hands in a transaction between a willing, informed buyer and a willing, informed seller.
• farm: means any person that obtains at least 51 percent of its annual gross income from agricultural operations and produces the agricultural waste used as feedstock for the waste-to-energy technology, (ii) "agricultural waste" means biomass waste materials capable of decomposition that are produced from the raising of plants and animals during agricultural operations, including animal manures, bedding, plant stalks, hulls, and vegetable matter, and (iii) "waste-to-energy technology" means any technology, including but not limited to a methane digester, that converts agricultural waste into gas, steam, or heat that is used to generate electricity on-site. See Virginia Code 1-222.1
• Fire sprinkler contractor: means a contractor that provides for the installation, repair, alteration, addition, testing, maintenance, inspection, improvement, or removal of sprinkler systems using water as a means of fire suppression when annexed to real property. See Virginia Code 54.1-1100
• Forgery: The fraudulent signing or alteration of another's name to an instrument such as a deed, mortgage, or check. The intent of the forgery is to deceive or defraud. ^{Source: OCC}
• Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
• Fund: means the Virginia Contractor Transaction Recovery Fund. See Virginia Code 54.1-1118
• Gasification: means a manufacturing process through which recovered feedstocks are heated and converted in an oxygen-deficient atmosphere into a fuel and gas mixture that is then converted to crude oil, diesel fuel, gasoline, home heating oil, ethanol, transportation fuel, other fuels, chemicals, waxes, lubricants, chemical feedstocks, diesel and gasoline blendstocks, or other valuable raw, intermediate, or final products that are returned to economic utility in the form of raw materials, products, or fuels. See Virginia Code 10.1-1400
• Guardian: A person legally empowered and charged with the duty of taking care of and managing the property of another person who because of age, intellect, or health, is incapable of managing his (her) own affairs.
• Hazardous waste: means a solid waste or combination of solid waste that because of its quantity, concentration or physical, chemical, or infectious characteristics may:

  1. See Virginia Code 10.1-1400

• High-level radioactive waste: which means :

  a. See Virginia Code 10.1-1400

• Hotel: means any place offering to the public for compensation transitory lodging or sleeping accommodations, overnight or otherwise, including facilities known by varying nomenclatures or designations as hotels, motels, travel lodges, tourist homes, or hostels. See Virginia Code 35.1-1
• Household hazardous waste: means any waste material derived from households (including single and multiple residences, hotels, motels, bunkhouses, ranger stations, crew quarters, campgrounds, picnic grounds, and day-use recreation areas) which, except for the fact that it is derived from a household, would be classified as a hazardous waste, including nickel, cadmium, mercuric oxide, manganese, zinc-carbon or lead batteries; solvent-based paint, paint thinner, paint strippers, or other paint solvents; any product containing trichloroethylene, toxic art supplies, used motor oil and unusable gasoline or kerosene, fluorescent or high intensity light bulbs, ammunition, fireworks, banned pesticides, or restricted-use pesticides as defined in § Virginia Code 10.1-1400
• Improper or dishonest conduct: includes only the wrongful taking or conversion of money, property or other things of value which involves fraud, material misrepresentation or conduct constituting gross negligence, continued incompetence, or intentional violation of the Uniform Statewide Building Code (§ 36-97 et seq. See Virginia Code 54.1-1118
• improvement: shall include (i) remediation, cleanup, or containment of premises to remove contaminants or (ii) site work necessary to make certain real property usable for human occupancy according to the guidelines established pursuant to § Virginia Code 54.1-1100
• Includes: means includes, but not limited to. See Virginia Code 1-218
• Interrogatories: Written questions asked by one party of an opposing party, who must answer them in writing under oath; a discovery device in a lawsuit.
• Judgment: includes an order of a United States Bankruptcy Court (i) declaring a claim against a regulant who is in bankruptcy to be a "Debt Nondischargeable in Bankruptcy" (ii) extinguishing a claim against a regulant who is in bankruptcy and for which claim no distribution was made from the regulant's bankruptcy estate but excluding any such claim disallowed by order of the bankruptcy court, or (iii) extinguishing a claim against a regulant who is in bankruptcy and for which claim only partial distribution was made from the regulant's bankruptcy estate. See Virginia Code 54.1-1118
• key personnel: includes all key personnel of that entity, provided that where such entity is a chartered lending institution or a reporting company under the Federal Securities Exchange Act of 1934, "key personnel" does not include key personnel of such entity. See Virginia Code 10.1-1400
• Licensed residential building energy analyst: means an individual who has successfully completed an accredited residential building energy analyst training program or meets the criteria of experience required by this article and regulations of the Board and who has been licensed by the Board. See Virginia Code 54.1-1144
• Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
• Locality: means a county, city, or town as the context may require. See Virginia Code 1-221
• Notary: means notary public. See Virginia Code 1-226
• Owner-developer: means any person who, for a third party purchaser, orders or supervises the construction, removal, repair, or improvement of any building or structure permanently annexed to real property owned, controlled, or leased by the owner-developer, or any other improvement to such property and who contracts with a person licensed in accordance with this chapter for the work undertaken. See Virginia Code 54.1-1100
• Person: shall include individuals, a trust, an estate, a partnership, an association, an order, a corporation, or any other legal or commercial entity;

  6. See Virginia Code 8.01-2

• Person: means an individual, corporation, partnership, association, or any other legal entity. See Virginia Code 35.1-1
• Person: includes an individual, corporation, partnership, association, governmental body, municipal corporation, or any other legal entity. See Virginia Code 10.1-1400
• Person: means any individual, firm, corporation, association, partnership, joint venture, or other legal entity. See Virginia Code 54.1-1100
• Person under a disability: shall include :

  a. See Virginia Code 8.01-2

• Personal representative: includes the executor of a will or the administrator of the estate of a decedent, the administrator of such estate with the will annexed, the administrator of such estate unadministered by a former representative, whether there is a will or not, any person who is under the order of a circuit court to take into his possession the estate of a decedent for administration, and every other curator of a decedent's estate, for or against whom suits may be brought for causes of action that accrued to or against the decedent. See Virginia Code 1-234
• Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
• Plea: In a criminal case, the defendant's statement pleading "guilty" or "not guilty" in answer to the charges, a declaration made in open court.
• Pleadings: Written statements of the parties in a civil case of their positions. In the federal courts, the principal pleadings are the complaint and the answer.
• Power of attorney: A written instrument which authorizes one person to act as another's agent or attorney. The power of attorney may be for a definite, specific act, or it may be general in nature. The terms of the written power of attorney may specify when it will expire. If not, the power of attorney usually expires when the person granting it dies. ^{Source: OCC}
• Pyrolysis: means a manufacturing process through which post-use polymers are heated in the absence of oxygen until melted and thermally decomposed and are then cooled, condensed, and converted to crude oil, diesel fuel, gasoline, home heating oil, ethanol, transportation fuel, other fuels, chemicals, waxes, lubricants, chemical feedstocks, diesel and gasoline blendstocks, or other valuable raw, intermediate, or final products that are returned to economic utility in the form of raw materials, products, or fuels. See Virginia Code 10.1-1400
• Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
• Regulant: means any individual, person, firm, corporation, association, partnership, joint venture or any other legal entity licensed by the Board for Contractors. See Virginia Code 54.1-1118
• Remainder: An interest in property that takes effect in the future at a specified time or after the occurrence of some event, such as the death of a life tenant.
• Reporter: Makes a record of court proceedings and prepares a transcript, and also publishes the court's opinions or decisions (in the courts of appeals).
• Residential building energy analysis: means (i) an inspection, investigation, or survey of a dwelling or other structure to evaluate, measure, or quantify its energy consumption and efficiency, including lighting, HVAC, electronics, appliances, water heaters, insulation, and water conservation, and (ii) recommendations to reduce energy consumption and improve efficiency of a dwelling or other structure, including lighting, HVAC, electronics, appliances, water heaters, insulation, and water conservation for compensation conducted or made by a licensed residential building energy analyst. See Virginia Code 54.1-1144
• Resource recovery: means the recovery of material or energy from solid waste. See Virginia Code 10.1-1400
• Restaurant: means :

  1. See Virginia Code 35.1-1

• RGGI: means the program to implement the memorandum of understanding between signatory states dated December 20, 2005, and as may be amended, and the corresponding model rule that established a regional carbon dioxide electric power sector cap and trade program. See Virginia Code 10.1-1329
• Service of process: The service of writs or summonses to the appropriate party.
• Settlement: Parties to a lawsuit resolve their difference without having a trial. Settlements often involve the payment of compensation by one party in satisfaction of the other party's claims.
• Sludge: means any solid, semisolid, or liquid wastes with similar characteristics and effects generated from a public, municipal, commercial, or industrial wastewater treatment plant, water supply treatment plant, air pollution control facility, or any other waste-producing facility. See Virginia Code 10.1-1400
• Solid waste: means any garbage, refuse, sludge, and other discarded material, including solid, liquid, semisolid, or contained gaseous material, resulting from industrial, commercial, mining, and agricultural operations, or community activities, but does not include (i) solid or dissolved material in domestic sewage; (ii) solid or dissolved material in irrigation return flows or in industrial discharges that are sources subject to a permit from the State Water Control Board; (iii) source, special nuclear, or by-product material as defined by the Federal Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended; or (iv) post-use polymers or recovered feedstocks that are (a) processed at an advanced recycling facility or (b) held at or held for the purpose of conversion at such advanced recycling facility prior to conversion. See Virginia Code 10.1-1400
• Solid waste management facility: means a site used for planned treating, long-term storage, or disposing of solid waste. See Virginia Code 10.1-1400
• Solvolysis: includes hydrolysis, aminolysis, ammonolysis, methanolysis, and glycolysis. See Virginia Code 10.1-1400
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Supreme Court: means the Supreme Court of Virginia. See Virginia Code 1-249
• sworn: means "affirm" or "affirmed. See Virginia Code 1-250
• Testify: Answer questions in court.
• Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
• Transcript: A written, word-for-word record of what was said, either in a proceeding such as a trial or during some other conversation, as in a transcript of a hearing or oral deposition.
• transportation: means any movement of property and any packing, loading, or unloading or storage incidental thereto. See Virginia Code 10.1-1400
• Treatment: means any method, technique, or process, including incineration or neutralization, designed to change the physical, chemical, or biological character or composition of any waste to neutralize it or to render it less hazardous or nonhazardous, safer for transport, amenable to recovery or storage, or reduced in volume. See Virginia Code 10.1-1400
• Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
• Usury: Charging an illegally high interest rate on a loan. ^{Source: OCC}
• Value: means fair market value. See Virginia Code 54.1-1100
• Venue: The geographical location in which a case is tried.
• Verdict: The decision of a petit jury or a judge.
• Verified claim: means a completed application, on a form designed by the Board, the truthfulness of which has been attested to by the claimant before a notary public, along with all required supporting documentation, that has been properly received by the Department in accordance with this chapter. See Virginia Code 54.1-1118
• Waste: means any solid, hazardous, or radioactive waste as defined in this section. See Virginia Code 10.1-1400
• Waste management: means the collection, source separation, storage, transportation, transfer, processing, treatment, and disposal of waste or resource recovery. See Virginia Code 10.1-1400