By Victoria Higgins

It’s halftime at the General Assembly! With persistent chaos and backsliding at the federal level, much is at stake in Virginia – and thankfully, many good climate bills are moving forward.

Today is “Crossover Day” in Virginia, when bills that originate and pass in one chamber – the State House or Senate – are considered by the other chamber. To become law, each piece of legislation needs to clear both chambers. 

This year, we are advocating for bills that will eliminate solar bans, usher in long-duration battery storage, and reign in the out-of-control data center industry – just to name a few from the dozens of great bills we are supporting this legislative session. These priorities are mission critical to making good on Virginia’s promise as a climate leader, and while things are looking encouraging at halftime, there’s a whole second half of gameplay left.

If you’re Team Climate Action, read on to get the latest on which climate priorities still need your support. And sign up to join our team of climate champions today! This is a group of advocates who take thirty minutes on Mondays and Wednesdays to take action on the most important climate bills of the week.

Now on for your update: 

PASSED BOTH CHAMBERS

Rejoining the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI)

RGGI caps pollution from power plants and funds flood resilience and low-income energy efficiency programs. Former Governor Youngkin illegally removed Virginia from the program.

RGGI Clarification (SB 802, HB 397): Senator Locke, Leader Herring

• Clarifies existing law to ensure that Virginia continues to participate in RGGI, uninterrupted, for many years to come. 
• STATUS REPORT: Passed respective chambers.

Rejoin RGGI (Budget Amendment 369 #1h, HB30): Leader Herring

• Directs Virginia’s state agencies to take all actions to immediately rejoin RGGI. 
• STATUS REPORT: This is proposed language in the state budget, which functionally acts as law but does not become part of the state code; the chamber budgets will be released next week, and a “conference” (compromise between the House and Senate) budget is announced near the end of session. Stay tuned!

Utility-Scale Solar and Storage

Solar (SB 347, HB 711): Senator VanValkenburg, Leader Herring

• Eliminates local bans on ground-mounted solar farms, ensuring projects can get a vote before the local Board, and establishes siting criteria for responsible projects (e.g. setbacks from wetlands, etc).
• STATUS REPORT: Passed their respective chambers. 

Storage (SB448, HB 895): Senator Bagby, Delegate Sullivan

• Dramatically increases battery storage goals in the Virginia Clean Economy Act and establishes new long-duration storage goals, helping obviate the need for gas peaker plants like Chesterfield.
• STATUS REPORT: Passed their respective chambers. 

Rooftop, Balcony Solar and Energy Efficiency

Rooftop (SB175, HB 628): Senator VanValkenburg, Delegate Callsen

• Increases state goals for “distributed generation” – small-scale clean energy resources like rooftop solar and residential storage. 
• STATUS REPORT: Passed their respective chambers.

Balcony (SB 250, HB 395): Delegate Krizek, Senator Surovell

• Eliminates interconnection requirements for plug-in (or “balcony”) solar, allowing potential users to simply plug in a solar panel and hang it outside their residence to lower energy costs.
• STATUS REPORT: Passed their respective chambers.

Energy Efficiency (SB5, HB3): Senator Locke, Delegate Levere-Bolling

• Sets up a task-force to evaluate myriad existing energy efficiency programs, ensure they are in coordination with one another, and propose new policies and programs with the ultimate goal of providing weatherization services to all of Virginia’s low-income households. 
• STATUS REPORT: Passed their respective chambers.

MIXED RESULTS

Data Center Accountability

Clean energy (SB 465, HB 897): Senator Deeds, Delegate Sullivan

• Creates strong incentives for data centers to be powered by clean energy at an accelerated rate compared to state decarbonization goals. 
• STATUS REPORT: HB897 passed House, SB 465 failed in Senate.

Oversight (SB619, HB155): Senator Srinivasan, Delegate Thomas

• Gives regulators holistic oversight over the process of interconnecting massive new electricity users to ensure a coordinated, sustainable approach.
• STATUS REPORT: SB 619 passed Senate, HB 155 failed in House subcommittee.

Electric Vehicle Charging

Rural: Delegate Sullivan (HB324)

• Sets up a grant program to establish electric vehicle (EV) charging in rural and low-income localities.
• STATUS REPORT: Failed in House due to lack of available funding; language may be included in the House budget to direct Virginia’s agencies to begin the process of finding funding for such purpose.

At-home (HB 833): Delegate McClure

• Allows localities to require EV readiness (wiring, panel room, etc) in new residential, commercial, and industrial buildings.
• STATUS REPORT: Passed House. 

DONE FOR THIS YEAR

Extreme Weather Taxpayer Relief Act

Senator Boysko, Delegate Cousins (SB 420, HB 847)

• Make Polluters Pay: allows the state to recoup financial damages caused by climate change from the world’s biggest polluters, using funds for disaster relief and resilient clean energy infrastructure.
• STATUS REPORT: failed 6-8 in Senate committee; failed in House. 

SUMMARY

Whew! As you can tell, there’s a lot going on in the General Assembly building – and so many more good bills that we don’t have the word count to fill you in on! So, where does all this leave us?

Team Climate is up at halftime. We’re leading the game with big wins in both chambers on solar siting reform, battery storage, and RGGI. But Team Polluter has hit back – killing some bills to reign in data center impacts (while others have passed either the House or Senate and are still alive) and make polluters pay for climate damages. But we need to be on our A game after crossover to ensure good bills find the endzone. 

That’s where you come in. Sign up for our Climate Champs team, which meets for 30 minutes twice weekly to take action on time sensitive bills moving through the process.