Wednesday, January 10th marked the first day of the 2018 General Assembly session. Over the next eight weeks, our elected representatives will convene in Richmond to introduce, debate, and vote on potential policy change.
To keep our Network Partners and supporters informed on how General Assembly happenings may influence Virginia’s air, water, landscapes, and wildlife, Virginia Conservation Network (VCN) will do the following:
- Post a weekly update highlighting the most notable bills and the conservation community’s position on each. In each of these updates, we will also include upcoming events, moments of opportunity, and action alerts, as well as noteworthy articles covering the Virginia General Assembly.
- Maintain an updated conservation bill tracker on our website. This bill tracker will be updated every Friday after VCN’s Board of Directors votes on positions recommended by VCN’s Legislative Committee. To view the updated list of VCN positions, visit vcnva.org/bill-tracker.
Top Three
#1: Register for Conservation Lobby Day, January 22. With fewer scheduled lobby days this year due to the renovations at the General Assembly Building, Conservation Lobby Day is our greatest opportunity to come together as a community and ensure a strong conservation voice is heard early in the legislative session. Registration closes at 5:00 p.m. on Tuesday, January 16th. Click here for more information and to register.
#2: Thank Delegate Rasoul, Delegate Hurst, and Senator Edwards for introducing legislation addressing issues around fracked gas pipelines. These three legislators — who all represent districts along the proposed route of the Mountain Valley Pipeline — held a joint press conference last Thursday to release a package of bills aimed at protecting water quality and landowner rights from the construction of the fracked gas pipelines. VCN live streamed the press conference — you can view the video here. While the bills are still working their way through VCN’s Legislative Committee, many Network Partners worked with these local legislators to take action on this important issue. The Delegates’ and Senator’s contact information is included below for thank yous.
Delegate Rasoul (House District 11)
Pocahontas Building, Room E320
phone: (804) 698-1011
email: DelSRasoul@house.virginia.gov
twitter: @Sam_Rasoul
Delegate Hurst (House District 12)
Pocahontas Building, Room W428
phone: (804) 698-1012
email: DelCHurst@house.virginia.gov
twitter: @ChrisHurstVA
Senator Edwards (Senate District 21)
Pocahontas Building, Room E506
phone: (804) 698-7521
email: district21@senate.virginia.gov
twitter: @SenEdwardsVA
#3: Tune into committee meetings via new video streaming. During the 2018 General Assembly session, live and archived video streams will be available for all House and Senate Full Committee meetings. This is the first year committee meetings will be video recorded and available to the public — it is a big win for transparency. This is an excellent way to follow along with the legislative session if you’re not able to regularly travel to Richmond. To view the Senate Full Committee meetings, click here. For instructions on how to view the House Full Committee meetings, click here.
Week One Update
With week one of the 2018 General Assembly session officially behind us, we have many updates related to conservation-related policies, as well as more general legislative happenings.
First and foremost, Saturday, January 13 was a big day for Virginia’s conservation community. Governor Ralph Northam, a long-time friend of VCN, was inaugurated as the 73rd Governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia. Governor Northam has been a champion of cleaning up the Chesapeake Bay and fighting climate change — we are looking forward to working with him over the next four years.
Second, as most of you are already aware, there are over a dozen new members joining the House of Delegates. Given the 51-49 split in the House of Delegates, the House committees now have close-to-equal representation. It’s important to note that with so many new representatives, it is imperative that we educate these lawmakers about our community’s priorities early and often. Delegate Kirk Cox was unanimously approved as the Speaker of the House.
Third, it’s important to note that — due to renovations taking place at the General Assembly Building — all legislative affairs are happening at the Pocahontas Building on 9th & Main Street. This building is significantly smaller, which has made accessibility a greater challenge than in years past.
Now, onto the issues. We’ll start with an issue that has gained a ton of press over the past year: Fracked gas pipelines. On Thursday, Delegate Rasoul, Delegate Hurst, and Senator Edwards held a joint press conference introducing a package of bills aimed at protecting their constituents’ water quality and landowner rights. VCN’s Board of Directors took a position on Friday in support of SB324 and HB1187. We expect pipeline legislation to be a big priority throughout session.
Because this is a budget year — meaning legislators and Governor Northam will propose, debate, and finalize a two-year budget for the Commonwealth — a big focus of the conservation community is on ensuring adequate funding for important conservation programs. Governor McAuliffe’s proposed budget (announced in December 2017) did not include sufficient funding for water quality and transportation; therefore, it’s critical that we speak with our legislators about the importance of providing full funding for these programs.
In addition to pipeline legislation and the budget, we expect coal ash, smart scale, and Dominion’s rate freeze to also be big issues this legislative session. We will keep you all updated throughout session.