Updated Bill Tracker

Throughout the General Assembly session, VCN maintains an updated conservation bill tracker online. This bill tracker is updated every Friday after VCN’s Board of Directors votes on positions recommended by VCN’s Legislative Committee.

[table “9” not found /]

Top Three

#1: Oppose Efforts to Undermine Responsible Government — A package of legislation was introduced this year that would undermine and circumvent Virginia’s Administrative Process. One of the most concerning pieces — HJ111 — passed committee on Friday and will be voted on the House Floor next week. As a constitutional amendment, it cannot be vetoed by the Governor. Instead, if passed, it will be put on the ballot in the fall. HJ111 would allow the General Assembly to suspend or nullify any or all portions of any administrative rule or regulation by a joint resolution and enable the General Assembly to authorize a legislative committee or commission to suspend any or all portions of any administrative rule or regulation.

Call your delegate and urge him/her to VOTE NO on HJ111. Talking points for this constitutional amendment can be accessed here.

#2: Pipelines — Yesterday, the House Rules committee re-referred all four House pipeline bills to other committees. There are now five bills that are still alive on the House and Senate side aimed at protecting water quality and landscapes from pipeline construction. See below for a list of these bills and their committee assignments.

  • HB1141; Rasoul — Deals with water quality and 401 certifications; adds transparency (companion to SB950). House Agriculture, Conservation, and Natural Resources (subcommittee referral pending).
  • HB1294; Rasoul — Water quality impact bond. House Agriculture, Conservation, and Natural Resources (subcommittee referral pending).
  • HB1188; Hurst — Discharge plan and penalty. House Agriculture, Conservation, and Natural Resources (subcommittee referral pending).
  • HB1187; Hurst — Right of entry on property. House Commerce and Labor.
  • SB950; Hanger — Water quality and 401 certifications; adds transparency (companion to HB1141). Senate Finance.

To help support these bills:

  1. Thank the patrons for introducing these bills. Delegate Rasoul can be reached at (804) 698-1011 and DelSRasoul@house.virginia.gov. Delegate Hurst can be reached at (804) 698-1012 and DelCHurst@house.virginia.gov. Senator Hanger can be reached at (804) 698-7524 and district24@senate.virginia.gov.
  2. If you legislators sit on the House Agriculture, Conservation, and Natural Resources Committee, the House Commerce and Labor Committee, and/or the Senate Finance Committee, please contact them before the end of the day on Monday expressing your support for the bills listed above.

#3: Coal Ash — Following a moratorium placed on solid waste permits for coal ash last year, lawmakers with some of the largest coal ash sites in their districts are now working to ensure these storage facilities are properly cleaned up to protect our waterways and public health. Yesterday, the suite of bills addressing the proper disposal of coal ash in Virginia were referred to the Senate Commerce and Labor Committee. Please contact members of the Senate Commerce and Labor Committee (see below for priority targets) and ask that they support the following bills:

  • SB708; Chase — DEQ to require closure.
  • SB765; Surovell — Mandatory testing of drinking water wells.
  • SB766; Surovell — Citizen water quality monitoring; use as evidence in enforcement actions.
  • SB767; Surovell — Flaws in closure plans, delay of permit.
  • SB768; Surovell — Recovery of costs associated with closure in place of coal ash facilities.
  • SB807; Surovell — Rate adjustment clause costs of coal ash benefaction facility.

Target legislators on the Senate Commerce and Labor Committee are below:

  • Senator John Cosgrove — (804) 698-7514  |  district14@senate.virginia.gov
  • Senator Rosalyn Dance — (804) 698-7516  |  district16@senate.virginia.gov
  • Senator Dick Black — (804) 698-7513  |  district13@senate.virginia.gov
  • Senator Glen Sturtevant — (804) 698-7510  |  district10@senate.virginia.gov

Week Four Legislative Update

Dominion’s Rate Freeze — Since announcing his concerns with Dominion’s rate freeze bill last week, Governor Northam has convened a moderated stakeholder working group. This group includes representation from the conservation community, utilities, consumer groups, the clean energy industry, manufacturers, and the Governor’s office. The group has met several days this week to try to reach an agreement. We expect to see revised legislation by early next week. We will be sure to keep you updated on the content of the bills, as well as any next steps.

Clean Energy Legislation — All bills that would have had Virginia join the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) — a market-based, cap-and-trade collaborative of nine Northeastern States — have died. Many other clean energy bills we supported also died this week. HB1451 is one of the clean energy bills we do support that did make it out of committee. This bill says that if a school produces more energy than it consumes, it can send the surplus to other schools in the district. The House Commerce and Labor Committee will likely hear this bill next Thursday.

Budget Amendments — The money subcommittees are tasked with making decisions about which budget amendments to support. Their recommendations will be announced on Sunday, February 18th. This means that now is the time to contact those members and urge them to include adequate funding for critical conservation programs. After decisions on the budget amendments are made, conferees will be appointed to hammer out the differences in the House and Senate budgets.

We are still supporting the suite of budget amendments that VCN’s Legislative Committee and Board of Directors have taken positions on — see above for our online bill tracker that includes the full list of budget amendments. Piedmont Environmental Council has also published an excellent action alert on some of our community’s funding requests — click here to access and share this alert.

Metro Funding — This General Assembly session is critical for finding new, long-term, dedicated, and bondable funding for Metro and for closing a statewide transit funding gap. Two bills — SB856 and HB1319 — are still under negotiation to confirm the sources of funding. We need to continue to make the case to legislators statewide that there are many benefits to transit and that it needs adequate funding. For reference, Virginia spends only 10.6% of the Commonwealth Transportation Fund on transit. Our message to legislators is simple:

  • Approve $154 million in long-term, dedicated funding for Metro, representing Virginia’s formula share of $500 million in annual funding by D.C., Maryland, and Virginia.
  • Approve another $110 million in annual funding for statewide transit funding needs.

Freedom of Information Act — This year’s trade secret bill — HB904 — would create a sweeping blanket exemption to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) for any trade secret claimed. If passed, HB904 would exempt an unlimited number of claimed trade secrets from FOIA, removing citizens’ access to vast amounts of information that FOIA exists to provide. Essentially, this bill would hide fracking chemical information from the public. HB904 passed out of subcommittee last week and still has not appeared before the full committee. We hope to work with the patron and the FOIA Council to address our concerns — stay tuned.