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2024 Conservation Scorecard


The Virginia League of Conservation Voters has released their 2024 Conservation Scorecard for this year's General Assembly.  It reviews various environment related bills that were considered in Richmond this year and how legislators voted on them - and whether they were signed into law by the Governor.  You can see the full scorecard at 2024-Conservation-Scorecard_Revised.pdf (valcv.org)

Bill that passed that would affect us locally - and were signed by the Governor include:

  • HB1458 Establishing an Office of Resiliency
  • HB746/SB565 Savings Achieved via Efficiency (SAVE) Act - ensuring electric utilities continue to provide energy efficiency programs to customers
  • HB106/SB253 Expanding Shared Solar Programs - expanding Dominion's shared solar program from 200 MW to 350 MW
  • SB25/HB199 - State Funding for Brownfield Renewable Energy Grant Fund - however no state funds were appropriated in the budget to help get this program going
  • SB508 - Accelerating Geothermal Energy Development
  • HB862 - Building a Modern, Efficient Electric Grid
  • HB285 Building Better Bus Stop
  • HB985 Prohibiting Toxic Pavement Sealant Use
  • HB673 Prioritizing At-Risk Communities in Resiliency Funding Decisions - although an amendment from the Governor removed the preference for nature-based solutions in the bill
And bills that were ultimately vetoed by the Governor - and thus do not become the law of the Commonwealth
  • HB1100 Preserving Tree Canopy Statewide
  • HB47/SB306 Raising Awareness About Invasive Plants
  • SB720 Establishing a Clean Energy Innovation Bank - to access federal clean energy investment funds
  • HB333 Empowering the Virginia Council on Environmental Justice
  • SB595/HB208 Adopting Local Healthy Community Strategies
  • HB1088 Improving Environmental Literacy
  • HB 405 Identifying EV Charging Infrastructure Needs Study
  • HB949 Regulating Aboveground Chemical Storage Tanks
In the "Compromise Budget" provided some important environmental funding including $3.75 million in state matching funds to go toward the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ clean-up of Money Point on the Elizabeth River in Chesapeake, language moving up the effective date of the polystyrene “styrofoam” ban to 2025 for chains and 2026 for smaller restaurants, $100 million for the Community Flood Preparedness Fund (CFPF) to fund projects across the state that protect homes and businesses from flooding, in lieu of revenue Virginia’s forgoing by not being in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, and $150 million towards three different programs, including the Enterprise Zone Grant Program, which can go towards parking lot and rooftop solar deployment.   See the Scorecard for all the budget details.

Virginia LCV also scores how each legislator voted on environmental issues.  For representatives covering the City of Chesapeake the scores they gave were:

Delegate Bonita Anthony - 100%
Delegate Cliff Hayes - 100%
Delegate Jay Leftwich - 33%
Delegate Baxter Ennis - 48%
Delegate Nadarius Clark - 100%

Senator Christie Craig - 24%
Senator Louise Lucas - 95%
Senator Emily Jordan - 29%

See the document for details on which bills they voted for and against.

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