Kristie Smith wrapped up her three-and-a-half year career with VCN yesterday and is now off to Montana. Thank you for all your dedicated work for the Commonwealth! Wyatt Gordon and Narissa Turner now serve as your Land Use/Transportation and Energy/Climate policy managers. Pictured L-R: Wyatt Gordon, Kristie Smith, Narissa Turner.  (Photo credit: Mary Rafferty, VCN)

Updates on VCN Priorities

Virginia Clean Economy Act (HB1526/SB851). It was a huge week for the VCEA as the House and Senate bills both passed floor votes and crossed over. HB1526 is currently the more robust bill, including doubling the energy efficiency goals and adding a fossil fuel moratorium by 2028. There will be a lot of discussion and work to try and align the two bills as they make their way through committees. Both put Virginia on a path to zero carbon emissions from the utility sector by at least 2050. Sarah Vogelsong with the Virginia Mercury has been covering the bills and providing great updates as they make their way through the legislative process. You can follow her on Twitter and read her articles here.

ACTION: Reach out to your state representatives and ask them to support a strong Clean Economy Act.

Virginia’s very big transportation omnibus bills (HB1414/SB890). The administration has a major omnibus transportation bill that has cleared both chambers. The bills aim to implement the $3.7 billion initiative to expand passenger and commuter rail and unify the Commonwealth Transportation Fund to allow for more evenly distributed transportation funding. Members of the Land Use and Transportation workgroup are continuing discussions with both the bill patrons and administration to ensure that the bill advances without further weakening.

Virginia is for lovers, not plastics and polystyrene (HB534, HB502, HB1154, and HB533). Our friends over at Clean Fairfax provided an excellent summary of what has happened to all the plastic legislation this session. Currently, a five-cent bag tax bill (HB534), an increase of litter tax (HB502 and HB1154), and a polystyrene ban (HB533) all made it through crossover.

One step closer to fairer energy bills (HB1132). Dels. Jones and Ware’s Fair Energy Bills Act (FEBA) passed the House with bipartisan support (77-23) and now moves to the Senate. HB1132 restores the historic regulatory authority of the State Corporation Commission (SCC) for Dominion Energy’s 2021 rate case.

Bill Positions

Virginia Conservation Network publishes bill positions every week. These positions have been voted on by our Legislative Committee, comprised of leading environmental organizations in the state, and our board of directors. They are intended to reflect the positions of the broader conservation community and are updated every Friday.

To view this table online with talking points, visit vcnva.org/bill-tracker.