Terms Used In Virginia Code > Title 54.1 > Subtitle I - General Provisions Relating to Regulatory Boards

• Adult: means a person 18 years of age or more. See Virginia Code 1-203
• 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.
• Amendment: A proposal to alter the text of a pending bill or other measure by striking out some of it, by inserting new language, or both. Before an amendment becomes part of the measure, thelegislature must agree to it.
• Answer: The formal written statement by a defendant responding to a civil complaint and setting forth the grounds for defense.
• Appeal: A request made after a trial, asking another court (usually the court of appeals) to decide whether the trial was conducted properly. To make such a request is "to appeal" or "to take an appeal." One who appeals is called the appellant.
• Appropriation: The provision of funds, through an annual appropriations act or a permanent law, for federal agencies to make payments out of the Treasury for specified purposes. The formal federal spending process consists of two sequential steps: authorization
• Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
• Balanced budget: A budget in which receipts equal outlays.
• Baseline: Projection of the receipts, outlays, and other budget amounts that would ensue in the future without any change in existing policy. Baseline projections are used to gauge the extent to which proposed legislation, if enacted into law, would alter current spending and revenue levels.
• Board: means the Board of Health. See Virginia Code 32.1-276.3
• Board: means the Board of Medical Assistance Services. See Virginia Code 32.1-343
• Board: means the Commonwealth Transportation Board, or if the Commonwealth Transportation Board is abolished, any board, commission, or officer succeeding to the principal functions thereof or upon whom the powers given by this chapter to the Board shall be given by law. See Virginia Code 33.2-1700
• Board: means the Board of Medical Assistance Services. See Virginia Code 32.1-331.12
• Board: means the Board of Agriculture and Consumer Services. See Virginia Code 3.2-100
• certified mail: means electronically certified or postal certified mail, except that this provision shall apply only to the mailing of plan approvals, permits, or certificates issued under the provisions of this chapter and those of the Air Pollution Control Law (§ Virginia Code 10.1-1183
• City: means an independent incorporated community which became a city as provided by law before noon on July 1, 1971, or which has within defined boundaries a population of 5,000 or more and which has become a city as provided by law. See Virginia Code 1-208
• Commission: means the State Corporation Commission. See Virginia Code 6.2-100
• Commissioner of Highways: means the individual who serves as the chief executive officer of the Department of Transportation. See Virginia Code 33.2-100
• Committee: means the Medicaid Prior Authorization Advisory Committee established pursuant to this article. See Virginia Code 32.1-331.12
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
• Construction project: means any land-disturbing activity that involves construction of infrastructure, including interstate highways, pipelines, or energy generation and transmission facilities. See Virginia Code 10.1-1181.13
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• Control: means (i) ownership by a person of 25 percent or more of the voting stock of a trust company; (ii) control as defined in the Bank Holding Company Act of 1956 (Virginia Code 6.2-1013
• Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
• Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
• covered farm: as used in this chapter , unless the context requires a different meaning. See Virginia Code 3.2-5147
• Covered produce: includes all of the following:

  1. See Virginia Code 3.2-5146

• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Decedent: A deceased person.
• Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
• Department: means the Department of Transportation. See Virginia Code 33.2-100
• Department: means the State Department of Health. See Virginia Code 32.1-3
• Department: means the Department of Medical Assistance Services. See Virginia Code 32.1-331.12
• Department: means the Department of Environmental Quality. See Virginia Code 10.1-1182
• Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
• Devise: To gift property by will.
• Director: means the Director of the Department of Medical Assistance Services. See Virginia Code 32.1-343
• Director: means the Director of Medical Assistance Services. See Virginia Code 32.1-331.12
• Director: means the Director of the Department of Environmental Quality. See Virginia Code 10.1-1182
• Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
• Disposition: means the burial, interment, entombment, cremation, or other authorized disposition of a dead body permitted by law. See Virginia Code 32.1-309.1
• Docket: A log containing brief entries of court proceedings.
• 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}
• Environment: means the natural, scenic, and historic attributes of the Commonwealth. See Virginia Code 10.1-1182
• Environmental justice: means the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of every person, regardless of race, color, national origin, faith, disability, or income, in the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies. See Virginia Code 10.1-1182
• Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
• Executor: A male person named in a will to carry out the decedent
• 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
• Fiscal year: The fiscal year is the accounting period for the government. For the federal government, this begins on October 1 and ends on September 30. The fiscal year is designated by the calendar year in which it ends; for example, fiscal year 2006 begins on October 1, 2005 and ends on September 30, 2006.
• Forest mitigation: means addressing the direct and indirect adverse impacts to forests that may be caused by a construction project by avoiding and minimizing impacts to the extent practicable and then compensating for the remaining impacts. See Virginia Code 10.1-1181.13
• Forester: means any person who is engaged in the science, profession and practice of forestry and who possesses the qualifications required by this article. See Virginia Code 10.1-1181.8
• Forestry: means the science, art and practice of creating, managing, using and conserving forests and associated natural resources for human benefit and in a sustainable manner to meet desired goals, needs, and values. See Virginia Code 10.1-1181.8
• Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
• Freedom of Information Act: A federal law that mandates that all the records created and kept by federal agencies in the executive branch of government must be open for public inspection and copying. The only exceptions are those records that fall into one of nine exempted categories listed in the statute. ^{Source: OCC}
• Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
• 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.
• Health care provider: means (i) a general hospital, ordinary hospital, outpatient surgical hospital, nursing home or certified nursing facility licensed or certified pursuant to Article 1 (§ Virginia Code 32.1-276.3
• Highway: means the entire width between the boundary lines of every way or place open to the use of the public for purposes of vehicular travel in the Commonwealth. See Virginia Code 33.2-100
• highway construction: means highway, passenger and freight rail, or public transportation purposes. See Virginia Code 33.2-100
• in writing: include any representation of words, letters, symbols, numbers, or figures, whether (i) printed or inscribed on a tangible medium or (ii) stored in an electronic or other medium and retrievable in a perceivable form and whether an electronic signature authorized by Virginia Code 1-257
• 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.
• Irrevocable trust: A trust arrangement that cannot be revoked, rescinded, or repealed by the grantor.
• Joint committee: Committees including membership from both houses of teh legislature. Joint committees are usually established with narrow jurisdictions and normally lack authority to report legislation.
• Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
• Lease: A contract transferring the use of property or occupancy of land, space, structures, or equipment in consideration of a payment (e.g., rent). ^{Source: OCC}
• Liabilities: The aggregate of all debts and other legal obligations of a particular person or legal entity.
• 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
• mail: means electronic or postal delivery. See Virginia Code 10.1-1183
• Maintenance: means (i) ordinary maintenance; (ii) maintenance replacement; (iii) operations that include traffic signal synchronization, incident management, and other intelligent transportation system functions; and (iv) any other categories of maintenance that may be designated by the Commissioner of Highways. See Virginia Code 33.2-100
• Medical care facility: means any institution, place, building, or agency, whether or not licensed or required to be licensed by the Board or the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services, whether operated for profit or nonprofit, and whether privately owned or privately operated or owned or operated by a local governmental unit, (i) by or in which health services are furnished, conducted, operated, or offered for the prevention, diagnosis, or treatment of human disease, pain, injury, deformity, or physical condition, whether medical or surgical, of two or more nonrelated persons who are injured or physically sick or have mental illness, or for the care of two or more nonrelated persons requiring or receiving medical, surgical, nursing, acute, chronic, convalescent, or long-term care services, or services for individuals with disabilities, or (ii) which is the recipient of reimbursements from third-party health insurance programs or prepaid medical service plans. See Virginia Code 32.1-3
• Month: means a calendar month and "year" means a calendar year. See Virginia Code 1-223
• Nonprofit organization: means a nonprofit, tax-exempt health data organization with the characteristics, expertise, and capacity to execute the powers and duties set forth for such entity in this chapter. See Virginia Code 32.1-276.3
• Oath: A promise to tell the truth.
• Oath: includes affirmation. See Virginia Code 1-228
• Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
• Oversight: Committee review of the activities of a Federal agency or program.
• Partnership: A voluntary contract between two or more persons to pool some or all of their assets into a business, with the agreement that there will be a proportional sharing of profits and losses.
• Person: means an individual, corporation, partnership, or association or any other legal entity. See Virginia Code 32.1-3
• Person: means any individual, corporation, partnership, association, cooperative, limited liability company, trust, joint venture, government, political subdivision, or other legal or commercial entity. See Virginia Code 6.2-100
• Person: includes any individual, corporation, partnership, association, cooperative, limited liability company, trust, joint venture, government, political subdivision, or any other legal or commercial entity and any successor, representative, agent, agency, or instrumentality thereof. See Virginia Code 1-230
• 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
• 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}
• Precedent: A court decision in an earlier case with facts and law similar to a dispute currently before a court. Precedent will ordinarily govern the decision of a later similar case, unless a party can show that it was wrongly decided or that it differed in some significant way.
• Presentence report: A report prepared by a court's probation officer, after a person has been convicted of an offense, summarizing for the court the background information needed to determine the appropriate sentence. ^{Source: U.S. Courts}
• Presiding officer: A majority-party Senator who presides over the Senate and is charged with maintaining order and decorum, recognizing Members to speak, and interpreting the Senate's rules, practices and precedents.
• Principal: means any person who, directly or indirectly, owns or controls (i) 10 percent or more of the outstanding stock of a stock corporation or (ii) a 10 percent or greater interest in a nonstock corporation or a limited liability company. See Virginia Code 6.2-1013
• Probate: Proving a will
• Probation: A sentencing alternative to imprisonment in which the court releases convicted defendants under supervision as long as certain conditions are observed.
• Process: includes subpoenas, the summons and complaint in a civil action, and process in statutory actions. See Virginia Code 1-237
• Project: means any one or more of the following:

  1. See Virginia Code 33.2-1700

• Public corporation: means the Commonwealth of Virginia or any political subdivision thereof or any incorporated municipality therein or any public agency of the Commonwealth or of any political subdivision thereof or of any municipality therein. See Virginia Code 1-219.1
• Quorum: The number of legislators that must be present to do business.
• Restitution: The court-ordered payment of money by the defendant to the victim for damages caused by the criminal action.
• Revenues: includes tolls and any other moneys received or pledged by the Board pursuant to this chapter, including legally available Transportation Trust Fund revenues and any federal highway reimbursements and any other federal highway assistance received by the Commonwealth. See Virginia Code 33.2-1700
• 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.
• Special order: means an administrative order issued to any party that has a stated duration of not more than twelve months and that may include a civil penalty of not more than $10,000. See Virginia Code 10.1-1182
• State: when applied to a part of the United States, includes any of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the United States Virgin Islands. See Virginia Code 1-245
• state agency: means the same as that term is defined in § Virginia Code 1-206
• State Board: means the State Board of Health. See Virginia Code 32.1-3
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
• Subpoena duces tecum: A command to a witness to produce documents.
• Summons: Another word for subpoena used by the criminal justice system.
• Supreme Court: means the Supreme Court of Virginia. See Virginia Code 1-249
• sworn: means "affirm" or "affirmed. See Virginia Code 1-250
• Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
• Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
• Trust company: means a corporation, including an affiliated trust company, that is authorized to engage in the trust business under Article 2 (§ Virginia Code 6.2-1000
• United States: includes the 50 states, the District of Columbia the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands and the United States Virgin Islands. See Virginia Code 1-255
• Venue: The geographical location in which a case is tried.