Welcome to Virginia Conservation Network’s review of Land Use and Transportation Policies from the 2022 General Assembly session. This session, VCN tracked over 200 pieces of legislation and took a position on 122 bills. This year, changes in state leadership kept the conservation community on the defensive as we fought to protect our clean energy and climate policy progress we have made over the last few years. VCN opposed 32 pieces of legislation, and thanks to the highly-coordinated, strong advocacy from our partners we are proud to see 29 of those opposed bills defeated. Despite the increased opposition compared to previous years, VCN and our partners continued to advocate and support the development of strong conservation policy. Of the 80 bills which VCN supported, 33 bills are headed to the Governor’s desk to be signed into law! To see the status of all of VCN’s tracked legislation and the policy outcomes, see our updated Bill Tracker.

This session’s Land Use & Transportation policy kept VCN and our partners on our toes, with plenty of bills to both oppose and support. Of our 36 Land Use & Transportation policy positions, we are relieved to see 13 of 14 bad land use & transportation bills defeated. VCN and our partners supported 22 bills which would ensure strong land use & transportation policy, 9 of which are headed to the Governor to be signed into law. See our positions and the outcomes of these bills in our Land Use & Transportation Bill Tracker below.

Supporting Land Use & Transportation Policy

Zero-Fare Transit

HB142 (McQuinn), SB342 (Barker)

The past year and a half has shown that high-quality, reliable public transit service is essential for Virginians to access their jobs, schooling, healthcare, education, and shopping needs. Beyond transit’s vital role in economic growth and social mobility, public transportation is critical to mitigating the climate crisis. Getting Virginians out of their cars and onto the bus, light rail, or Metro requires providing top notch service and rethinking transit access and affordability. From benches and shelters to GPS live-tracking and zero-fare policies, public transportation can become Virginians’ top way to get around with increased investments in our transit systems statewide.

This year, VCN and our Partners successfully passed land use and transportation policy to improve the Transit Ridership Incentive Program (TRIP) by making its funding more flexible to better accommodate the needs of Virginians. A greater portion of TRIP funding can now be used to support zero-fare programs and low-income riders, matching the increased demand Virginia has seen over the course of the pandemic. See our Bill of the Day post to learn more about TRIP funding and these bills.

Thank you to our many partners advocating for investments in zero-fare transit, including SELC and Virginia Interfaith Power & Light.

Electrifying Virginia’s Transportation

HB450 (Bennett-Parker), HB443 (Bulova & Plum), SB278 (Ebbin & Hashmi), SB488 (McClellan) SB575 (Mason)

The transportation sector is the leading source of carbon dioxide pollution in the Commonwealth, and it produces a number of other pollutants that harm our health and environment. This year, VCN and our Partners successfully advanced land use and transportation policy that improves the accessibility of electric vehicles and charging infrastructure.

With bipartisan support, we advocated for and passed legislation which implements a parking violation fine for non-electric vehicles that park in electric vehicle charging spots (“aka ICE-ing”). This new law will de-incentive drivers to block charging spaces, freeing up availability for EV charging.

With lead support from Faith Alliance for Climate Solutions, we also successfully passed legislation which lifted restrictions on park systems’ ability to install electric vehicle charging stations.

To lead by example, the General Assembly also passed a fleet optimization bill which requires state agencies to use a “total cost of ownership” calculator when procuring new vehicles. Studies show that electric cars have the lowest costs (and emissions) over a car’s lifetime. By optimizing our vehicle purchases, the state will save money and reduce vehicle emissions over time.

Unfortunately, not all of VCN’s supported electric transportation bills passed. The proposals to establish the Driving Decarbonization Program and Fund, establish the Virginia Zero-Emission Transit Transition Fund and Program, fund the Virginia Electric Vehicle Grant Program, and establish apprenticeship programs to study the installation, maintenance, and repair of electric vehicle charging infrastructure were defeated this General Assembly session. However, we look forward to advancing similar electric vehicle policy with our partners in future General Assembly sessions.

Thank you to many of our Partners advocating for electric vehicle legislation – including, but not limited to, Drive Electric RVA, Faith Alliance for Climate Solution, Chesapeake Climate Action Network,  Southern Environmental Law Center, Virginia League of Conservation Voters, Generation180, Virginia Sierra Club, the Nature Conservancy, Climate Cabinet Action, and Mothers Out Front.

Opposing Bad Land Use & Transportation Policy

Maintaining Revenue for Transit & Rail

HB297 (McNamara), HB978 (Durant), HB1059 (Cordoza), HB1144 (Webert), SB363 (Stuart), SB512 (Suetterlein), SB541 (Peake)

Transportation Funding is critical to improving the speed, frequency, and reliability of public transit; extending service to new areas; modernizing stations; and improving multimodal connections to them. This session, VCN opposed bills which would drastically cut funding already budgeted for our public transit services.

Every penny in the statewide gas tax results in about $50M in public transit and rail funding. VCN and our partners opposed a series of bills that would have repealed or suspended the gas tax. Thanks to strong advocacy by the Virginia Transit Association and Virginians for High Speed Rail, the series of bills proposing cuts to the gas tax were defeated!

Another series of bills proposed cutting the state recordation tax. VCN opposed these bills because they would enforce a drastic 49.4% cut to the Hampton Roads Regional Transit Program. With support from the Virginia Transit Association, these bills were successfully defeated!

Defending Our Progress

HB707 (Keam), HB1113 (LaRock), HB1267 (Wilt), SB695 (Stuart)

Virginia has made progress in the last few years to improve our Land Use & Transportation policy, including the adoption of Clean Car Standards and SMART SCALE. However, several bills this session sought to undo this progress.

VCN and our partners opposed and successfully defeated bills which would eliminate or unreasonably delay the adoption of Clean Car Standards. These standards are one of the best tools available to curb transportation pollution and will continue to provide many other benefits—including improved public health, expanded consumer choice, and economic growth.

VCN opposed another set of bills which would change the SMART SCALE Prioritization Process, also adopted in recent years. SMART SCALE uses quantitative data and methodologies to compare and rank different projects based on the degree to which they meet certain factors, ensuring objectivity and transparency in Virginia’s transportation funding process. The bills would have watered down or modified the objectivity of this process, and were ultimately defeated.

More 2022 General Assembly Policy Reviews

See policy reviews for our other issues areas from the 2022 General Assembly session below: