Welcome to Virginia Conservation Network’s Wrap-Up of the 2021 General Assembly, Part 4: Land Use and Transportation. During this year’s virtual session VCN tracked 158 pieces of legislation and took a position on 82 bills. Of the 78 bills which VCN supported, we’re excited to see 61 of them head to the Governor’s desk to be signed! To see the status of all of VCN’s tracked legislation, see our updated Bill Tracker.
Advancing Transportation Electrification
HB1965 (Bagby), HB1979 (Reid), SB1223 (Boysko) & HB2282 (Sullivan)
Building out compact communities with robust public transit with safe, comfortable ways to walk and bike takes time. As transportation continues to be Virginia’s largest source of carbon pollution (48%), and personal vehicles account for 37% of our state’s total greenhouse gas emissions, a transition to electric vehicles needs to be a part of a shift in how we create a sustainable transportation system.
A key pillar of this year’s package of electrification bills is the Clean Car Standards introduced by Delegate Lamont Bagby. Clean Car Standards have already been passed in 14 states and D.C., and now with the passage of HB1965, Virginia dealerships will be included in the list of priority states to receive low- and zero-emission electric vehicles from manufacturers.
Also included in the package of bills is one of the most equitable and well-targeted EV Rebates in the land. With a $55,000 MSRP cap, an enhanced rebate of $2,000 for households earning below 300% of the poverty line, and identical point of sale rebates for both new and used vehicles, the incentives should only go to those who most need help to electrify their ride. Despite the bill passing, the final budget doesn’t include any funding. This is a missed opportunity to advance cleaner cars in Virginia, and we hope to see future funding allocations to help electrify Virginia’s automobiles.
In order to incorporate this electrification of transportation into a comprehensive state strategy, Senator Boysko passed a statute which adds consideration of transportation into Virginia’s Energy Plan. Now, in the first year of every new governor’s term, Virginia’s Energy Plan process will assess EV adoption and charging infrastructure development. Similarly, Delegate Sullivan passed a bill which directs the SCC to help accelerate transportation electrification through regulation and oversight.
Thank you to many of our Partners for their advocacy for this legislation – including but not limited to, Southern Environmental Law Center, Chesapeake Climate Action Network, Virginia League of Conservation Voters, Gen180, Virginia Sierra Club, the Nature Conservancy and Virginia Clinicians for Climate Action, you can see a roundup of statements regarding the passage of Clean Car Standards from the conservation community on our blog here.
The wheels on electric school bus legislation go round and round and round
HB2118 (Keam) & SB1380 (Lucas)
For the second year in a row, the final vote of the session was a rejection of Dominion’s plan to electrify school buses. Of the two bills proposed for school bus electrification, VCN supported Del Keam’s bill to electrify school buses by creating a new grant program paid for with government funding. VCN opposed the Dominion-backed bill, because it did not do enough to avoid unnecessary costs, protect school districts, and allow healthy competition in the market for transitioning to EV buses.
Ultimately lawmakers on both sides of the aisle shared our concerns around the potential for Dominion’s proposal to become unreasonably expensive and not adequately account for the needs of schools, parents, and kids. As fleet electrification becomes ever more important to combating the climate crisis, VCN partner groups have committed to working toward solutions that balance rapid deployment with reasonable costs.
We’d like to thank Mothers Out Front for their advocacy for Keam’s bus bill, and Appalachian Voices, Clean Virginia, and SELC for leading opposition to the Dominion bad bus bill for an issue that came down to the wire!
Getting to the root of our transportation crisis with safer walking and biking legislation
HB1841 (Keam), HB1903 (Carr), SB1263 (Morrissey) & HB2262 (Hurst)
As ever more people began walking and biking to get some safe exercise during the pandemic and the pedestrian death rate hit a record high last year, this session we pushed for and won on an entire slate of bills to improve pedestrian and bicyclist safety. While electrification reduces the amount of greenhouse gas emitted from the transportation sector, biking and walking produce no pollution and help to reduce traffic congestion while fostering a sense of community.
To make active transportation safer, more comfortable, and more accessible to all Virginians, this year lawmakers passed a flurry of good walking and biking bills:
- The Bicyclist Safety Act—SB1263 (Morrissey) & HB2262 (Hurst)—allows riders to ride side by side which is safer for pairs, families, and passing vehicles while requiring drivers to completely change lanes when passing bikers. It also inlcudes a study on the “safety yield” to gather more data about allowing cyclists to yield at stop signs to prevent injury and death from being rear-ended by drivers.
- The Zebra Crosswalk bill—HB1841 (Keam)— commissions a study on a policy that would require all future crosswalks be built or updated with the “zebra” pattern design, which has been found to be the most visible crosswalk design to drivers, thus helping to prevent crashes.
- Thanks to HB1903 (Carr), localities now have the authority to lower the speed limit below the previous statewide 25 mph minimum in business and residential districts. Studies show the average pedestrian struck by a driver traveling at 20 mph has a 93 percent chance of surviving. At 30 mph, such a collision kills one fifth of those hit. That’s why speed lowering legislation helps to reduce the occurrence and fatality rate of vehicle-pedestrian collisions.
Thank you to Bike Walk RVA for leading efforts on these bills with additional support from the Virginia Bicycling Federation, the Shenandoah Valley Bicycle Coalition, and the Washington Area Bicycle Association. You can read more about safe walking and biking on our blog here.
Transit-Oriented Development
HJ542 (McQuinn), SB1197 (Locke), and HB2053 & HB2054 (Samirah)
Virginia unfortunately has the two worst-funded public transportation systems in the country per capita. Beyond GRTC and HRT, public transit all across Virginia lacks the necessary infrastructure to entice folks out of their cars and help reduce our vehicle miles traveled. Thankfully, lawmakers this session passed a suite of bills designed to modernize our transit, build more sustainable communities, and lower air pollution across the Commonwealth:
- Delegate McQuinn’s HJ542 gave the Department of Rail and Public Transportation $900,000 to conduct a Transit Equity & Modernization Study to estimate the cost of adding transit necessities such as benches and shelters, bus electrification, GPS tracking, integrated payments, and mechanisms for more rider input and decision-making in transit systems throughout Virginia.
- Delegate Samirah’s HB 2054 expands upon legislation adopted last session encouraging localities to consider limiting costly and restrictive parking requirements to lower the cost of housing and foster more compact and less carbon-intensive communities. His HB2053 will convene a stakeholder study of accessory living units, such as in-law suites and carriage houses, to provide Virginians with more housing options.
- The Low-Income Housing Tax Credit—SB1197 (Locke)—creates a statewide program to offer developers incentives to build affordable housing. Through the rule-making process we hope to push this new program to encourage developers to build along frequent transit routes in order to help households across the state to live more sustainable and affordable lifestyles.
Thank you to our Partners Virginia Interfaith Power and Light, New Virginia Majority, the Coalition for Smarter Growth, and the Southern Environmental Law Center for their support!