GA 2010: Crossover Day

by: Eileen

Wed Feb 17, 2010 at 17:23:46 PM EST

The past two weeks have been a whirlwind of legislative activity for the environmental experts on VCN's Legislative Committee. After analyzing more than 300 relevant bills, this committed team took up the challenging task of educating lawmakers with mixed results. Today marks "Crossover"-the date after which each body of the Virginia General Assembly may only consider bills passed by the other house.  Too few pro-environment bills remain viable. However, many ill-conceived proposals have also fallen by the wayside, and it is not too late for concerned citizens to speak up for conservation.

Energy
Commerce and Labor Committees in both the House and Senate took up a slew of energy legislation early this month, opting more often than not for the status quo. For supporters of clean energy reforms, this is disappointing.  Among the VCN-supported bills that did not pass committee:
• SB71 (McEachin) & HB 327 (Plum) would have set hard targets for energy efficiency
• SB450 (Whipple) would have made the state's voluntary renewable energy targets mandatory in order to attract more
• HB441 (Toscano) - would have allowed farm cooperatives and homeowner groups to sell clean energy to their neighbors (this bill was carried over for reconsideration in 2011)
• HB1358 (Keam) - would have created inclining and dynamic electricity rates to encourage conservation and off-peak use
• SB729 (McEachin) - would have funded private-sector clean energy R&D

Among the now-defeated energy bills VCN opposed were HB1274 (Hugo), which would have subjected any future reforms to unnecessary delay, and SB 442 (Wagner), which would have empowered a small group of legislators to block or even suspend environmental and public health regulations.

In a rare victory, the Senate passed SB109 (Petersen) and the House passed HB1264 (Hope).  These identical bills, dubbed as the Green Public Buildings Act, make green building the law of the land.  The state has successfully pursued green building through an executive order, and the passage of these bills provides greater assurance to citizens that their tax dollars will be well-spent.

Among the troubling VCN-opposed bills that are still viable:
• HB1300 (Kilgore) and SB128 (McDougle), which restrict the State Air Pollution Control Board's ability to regulate major emitters of NOx and Sox-the pollutants responsible for acid rain.  Though similar, these bills are not identical (the senate version excludes Northern Virignia), so it is not too late to reconsider this approach. Lawmakers should reject the bills because they would place disproportionate burden for Clean Air Act compliance on small businesses and homeowners.
• HB92 (Kilgore), would allow electric coops to exclude clean energy entrepreneurs from doing business in their service territory, thus stifling green entrepreneurship. The senate must still consider this bill, so calls to your senator to voice concern could make a difference.
• SB659 (Wagner) is one of several pro-offshore-drilling bills that VCN opposes. Most are little more than posturing, but this bill is particularly premature.  By instructing DEQ to develop theoretical regulations for offshore drilling, it would siphon scare state resources away from actively protecting public health from existing air pollution. The House can still reject this fiscally imprudent measure.

A more modest water-quality initiative is moving through the General Assembly. HB1135 (Morgan) would end an exemption that allows "small" wastewater treatment plants to ignore caps on nutrient pollution.  Senators should pass this measure as a logical, positive step to protect the rivers of the Chesapeake Bay.

Also of interest-though not endorsed by VCN-is HB 1220 (Hugo) compromise bill that delays implementation of state stormwater regulations until the EPA completes its "pollution diet" for the Chesapeake watershed.

Transportation
Conservation advocates and our allies in education and community organizing scored a significant victory with the defeat of SB181 (Stosch), which would have allowed construction firms to raid public coffers in order to fund public-private infrastructure projects. The many questions surrounding this bill-most notably its cost to taxpayers-led to its defeat in the Senate Finance Committee.

Also defeated were HB277 (Albo) and HB779 (LeMunyon), both of which sought to revive the discredited Washington Bypass-a costly, pro-sprawl road proposal that would do little to address Northern Virginia's pressing transportation needs.

Land Conservation
Bipartisan support for land conservation remains a bright spot at the General Assembly passage of HB 447 (Ware) by the House and the companion SB 264 (Whipple) by the Senate means that Virginia Outdoors Foundation and the many private land trusts that hold easements in the commonwealth will have much-needed new resources to steward conservation lands.  A modest fee on the transfer of tax credits will supply these funds.

Questions about a specific bill?  Don't hesitate to phone VCN at 804-644-0283. Click here to view the complete list of VCN bill positions.