Bacon's Rebellion

  • Why NextEra Wants to Buy Dominion, What it Gets

    Posted on

    by

    Steve Haner

    by Steve Haner

    Scott Hempling

    Dominion Energy Virginia and NextEra Energy are expected to file the necessary Virginia application for the sale of Dominion to the Florida company soon, probably in early July. Under present Virginia law, the State Corporation Commission will have six months to say yea or nay.

    Readers should first understand this is an acquisition more than a merger. Dominion is being sold to the larger entity. It is a voluntary sale, assuming Dominion’s stockholders approve it.  

    Last week the legislative Energy Commission of Virginia got a briefing on the proposal from Dominion President Ed Bain, who basically stuck to data slides and talking points already on the record. Then it heard from a veteran lawyer and economist with deep experience in this kind of proposal. If you have any real interest in what his coming, read these notes he shared. They are less than a dozen pages in bullet format, easy to follow. (Links to the company sales pitch were included in this earlier post.)

    Scott Hempling is an attorney and economist now teaching at Georgetown University after a long career in the power generation industry. He served for a while as an administrative law judge for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and has been an expert witness or consultant on a host of previous merger or acquisition debates.

    The six-month statutory deadline for a decision by the SCC is also causing quite a bit of angst in many circles. That would have the case be decided before the General Assembly is back for the 2027 session, assuming Dominion files in early July. To its credit, the SCC is not waiting for the application and is already hitting the companies with questions. 

    (more…)

  • Widespread Inaccuracies of Records on Autism Treatment Providers Ensure Failure of Government Oversight

    Posted on

    by

    sherlockj

    Widespread Inaccuracies of Records on Autism Treatment Providers Ensure Failure of Government Oversight

    By James C. Sherlock

    The author has completed a detailed survey of individual Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) providers in New Jersey licensed by Virginia Medicaid to provide services to children with autism.  He picked New Jersey for reasons familiar to readers of his work on nursing home chains. The survey revealed that most of those providers live in Lakewood and surrounding Ocean County.

    In this case, record-keeping, the fundamental building block of government business, and oversight have failed to meet even this skeptic’s low expectations.  

    The overall implication of the survey is that licensing out-of-state providers located far from Virginia’s borders to deliver ABA services in Virginia may not be worth the risk.  The other major failing shown by the full survey is that, while neither government tracks nor oversees ABA companies, they must do so.  While individual providers make errors in submissions, companies that employ them have been proven to be the primary source of fraud.

    The implications of the full survey will be discussed in two parts: records and out-of-state providers.  This is about the effects of record inaccuracy.

    (more…)

  • Memphis Pork with Attitude

    Posted on

    by

    James A. Bacon

    A vibrant neon sign featuring a cartoon pig wearing sunglasses, with the text 'PIG' on top and 'PORK WITH AN ATTITUDE!' below, set against a brick building background.
    As seen on Beale Street
    A plate of crispy cooked bacon strips placed on a black countertop.
    Bacon served in giant stacks at a wedding party. But that’s nothing. You should see the breakfast buffets!

    I spent the last weekend attending wedding celebrations in Memphis, Tenn. The city sells itself as the birthplace of the blues, an honorific to which it has a justifiable claim. The biggest tourist attractions are Graceland (Elvis’ abode), Beale Street (where BB King and other blues musicians played in nightclubs), the Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Hotel (where Martin Luther King was assassinated), and the duck march at the Peabody Hotel.

    Memphis has another attribute for which it could be famous if it played its cards right: bacon.

    Memphians are proud of their pork barbecue, which is excellent but not unparalleled. By contrast, the bacon is the crispiest and most delicious I’ve tasted anywhere. Trust me, I play close attention. Moreover, the rashers are served in bountiful quantities unseen anywhere else on the planet.

    I’ve seen Graceland, the Lorraine Hotel and the duck march. Been there, done that. But I’d go back any time for the bacon. — JAB

  • The Budget “Talks” Are Heating UP

    Posted on

    by

    Dick Hall-Sizemore

    by Dick Hall-Sizemore

    As reported by the Virginia Political Newsletter, Sen. Lucas and Gov. Spanberger have been engaging in public responses to the House budget conference proposal and to each other. Neither is backing down, although Lucas seems to have dropped her demand that the sales tax exemption for data center equipment be repealed.  Instead, she is now calling for “tiered state impact fees on data centers,” that are estimated to generate $1.7 billion in revenue.  In a social media post, she outlines what she would like to do with that money.

    Spanberger responded, saying, in essence, that it was a welcome development to finally get some details from Lucas.  But, she went on to say, “There is no budget language associated with that tweet, and when there is, I’ll certainly do a more thorough review of it, but we cannot govern just by tweets.”

    The full texts of the exchanges can be found here.

  • House Takes Initiative in Budget Battle

    Posted on

    by

    Dick Hall-Sizemore

    by Dick Hall-Sizemore

    Del. Luke Torian (D-Prince William), Chair, House Appropriations Committee

    The House of Delegates Appropriations Committee has taken the offensive in the budget impasse in the General Assembly. 

    The committee has released its version of a budget conference bill.  Based on the new revenue forecasts, the committee has proposed significant appropriation increases for education, social services, and other priorities of the legislature.  The proposal includes funding for numerous Senate initiatives that that body had included in its earlier budget amendments.

    Missing from this proposal is the repeal of the sales tax exemption for data centers that the Senate has been insisting on.  However, there is a provision requiring the establishment of a Virginia Commission on Data Center Accountability, comprised of legislators, members of the Executive Branch, and gubernatorial appointees.  The role of the commission would be to develop  “a comprehensive strategy for the future of data center development in the Commonwealth.”

    Governor Spanberger has endorsed the House version.

    (more…)

  • Virginia Data Centers Pay $1 Billion+ in Taxes…

    Posted on

    by

    James A. Bacon

    even with tax breaks

  • A Q&A on the Federal Scholarship Tax Credit

    Posted on

    by

    Todd Truitt

    by Josh Cowen

    Publisher’s Note by Todd Truitt

    Image Credit: Created by Grok

    As Virginians await Governor Abigail Spanberger’s decision regarding continued participation in the new federal scholarship tax credit program—originally opted into by former Governor Glenn Youngkin in early 2026—Josh Cowen’s Q&A below offers an overview of how the program functions. Cowen, a longtime critic of traditional private school vouchers, notes that this federal initiative does not draw funds from local public education budgets or state resources. Instead, it operates through federal tax credits for donations to scholarship-granting organizations (SGOs), which can direct resources toward tutoring, afterschool programs, enrichment activities, and other supports for public school families and districts.

    This federal program connects to the issues discussed in our earlier reporting on the interplay with it and Virginia’s Education Improvement Scholarships Tax Credits (EISTC) program, which is scheduled to sunset after 2027. The federal approach provides an option for supporting families up to 300% of local median income without using state funds directly.

    Also relevant to Virginia communities is that Cowen emphasizes that local school districts and communities can begin preparing now by exploring partnerships with existing 501(c)(3) organizations—such as district foundations or community foundations—to serve as SGOs. He outlines potential models for offering enhanced services like fee-based afterschool programming, tutoring, or enrichment activities that eligible public school families could access via scholarships. These steps could allow public districts to generate additional revenue streams.

    Josh Cowen: Public school families and public school districts can benefit from a new national program, and it’s important to explain how.

    (more…)

  • Rebating Spanberger’s RGGI Tax Won’t Erase RGGI’s Cost Impact

    Posted on

    by

    Steve Haner

    by Steve Haner

    Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger (D) owns this RGGI mess 100%.

    Virginia’s return to the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) will produce such an explosion of new tax revenue and will cause such major increases in consumer electricity costs, a political feeding frenzy is beginning to erupt over the money. 

    A legislative study panel heavily controlled by Democrats who voted for Virginia’s return to RGGI decided earlier this week to consider finding a way to rebate the money back to energy consumers. This came after Dominion Energy Virginia, the company most vulnerable to RGGI, asked to raise electricity prices by more than 7 percent to recover RGGI expenses.   

    The same Democrats and their leader Governor Abigail Spanberger assured voters that returning to RGGI would not increase electricity costs and would instead lower them. The only way to meet that false promise now is to give all the money back.  

    To really make a dent in the rising electricity costs, the legislature must rebate to homeowners more money than the RGGI taxes will add to residential bills. People will only come out even or ahead if the state also takes the RGGI revenues from commercial and industrial users and transfers those dollars to residential users, too.   

    That is because the money the utilities pay for carbon allowances, the carbon tax, is only one way that being in RGGI raises Virginia electric bills. Being in RGGI also drives down the operating tempo of Virginia generation using coal or natural gas, causing the state to import more power from other states in the PJM Interconnection market which are not in RGGI. Ratepayers are covering the capital costs of plants which are idle more often than without RGGI. 

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  • Rocovich Punches Back

    Posted on

    by

    James A. Bacon

    From Cardinal News:

    An older man in boxing attire, including red gloves and shorts, is playfully boxing in front of a stone building.
    AI-generated image credit: Grok

    Former Virginia Tech rector John Rocovich filed a lawsuit against Gov. Abigail Spanberger in Montgomery County Circuit Court on Tuesday after she removed him from the university’s board of visitors in May for undisclosed reasons pertaining to his conduct. …

    Rocovich’s team of attorneys argued, in the lawsuit, that Spanberger did not have the power to remove him from the board because there was no “‘malfeasance, misfeasance, incompetence, or gross neglect of duty’ as detailed ‘in a public statement’ of ‘reasons’” by the governor pertaining to his removal. …

    “Governor Spanberger provided no such reasons. That is because none exist. She identified no instance of Rocovich’s alleged misconduct–because there is none. Governor Spanberger lacked cause to remove Rocovich, so her purported removal violated the Commonwealth’s code and constitution. This court should right her wrong and order Rocovich’s reinstatement,” the lawsuit read.

  • And in Other Gun-Related News…

    Posted on

    by

    James A. Bacon

    The Daily Signal reports:

    A modern gray handgun displayed against a dark background with the word 'DRAGON' above it.

    On Wednesday, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp announced a firearms manufacturer will leave the state of Virginia over new “anti-gun legislation” and relocate to Georgia, bringing a $22 million investment and employing hundreds of residents. …

    “This relocation was not something we originally planned to pursue. The reality is that recent anti-gun legislation in Virginia created a significant uncertainty for our company and ultimately forced us to look for a state where we could continue operating, investing, and growing with confidence,” Travis Rideout, co-founder of Rideout Arsenal, said. “We are excited to bring new jobs and manufacturing investment to Thomas County and are grateful for the warm welcome we have already received.”

    The Rideout Arsenal, producer of the Dragon pistol, listed its business address as Spotsylvania County, according to FFLs.com, although the FFLs website notes the Federal Firearms License is out of date. Recent posts on the its Instagram page note that the company’s moving day is in about three weeks. — JAB

  • Now the Lawyers Enter the Assault Weapons Battle

    Posted on

    by

    Dick Hall-Sizemore

    by Dick Hall-Sizemore

    The legal maneuvering over legislation recently passed by the General Assembly prohibiting the sale of assault weapons has begun in earnest. Shortly after Gov. Spanberger signed the legislation, which will become effective July 1, opponents filed suits in four Virginia circuit courts, Washington, Lancaster, Spotsylvania, and Fauquier counties, challenging the law under various provisions of the Virginia Constitution. In at least one jurisdiction, Lancaster, the plaintiffs requested a temporary restraining order.

    When there are actions pending in different circuit courts involving six or more plaintiffs that “involve common issues of law or fact and arise out of the same transaction, occurrence or the same series of transactions or occurrences,” Virginia law allows any party to the actions to request that the cases be consolidated and heard by one court. The decision as to whether the cases are to be consolidated is to be made by a panel of three circuit court judges appointed by the Virginia Supreme Court. If the panel decides to consolidate the cases, it would designate one of the courts involved to hear the cases.

    (more…)

  • Ain’t It Grand When Virginia Garners National Attention?

    Posted on

    by

    James A. Bacon

  • Virginia’s Deceptive Gas Tax Continues to Confuse, Rises Again

    Posted on

    by

    Steve Haner

    By Steve Haner,

    Virginia’s gasoline taxes rise again on July 1, a continuing legacy of former Governor Ralph Northam’s most taxing term.  He signed the 2020 bill calling for annual gas tax adjustments for inflation, so the combined taxes will rise from 41.6 cents per gallon to 42.4 cents per gallon.  It was a bipartisan bill, to be fair.

    The brilliant deception tactic instituted with that 2020 legislation also continues to hold.  The tax is broken into pieces, with a retail portion, a wholesale portion, and a small addition to cover an environmental fund for underground storage tanks. 

    The retail tax is currently 31.7 cents per gallon, and that is the number Republican activists used with when they proposed a gas tax holiday earlier this year.  They completely forgot about the wholesale portion, another 9.3 cents per gallon reported by the Division of Motor Vehicles on an entirely different webpage. 

    The incorrect 31.7 cents per gallon amount popped up again in a guest column in the Richmond Times-Dispatch this week, also promoting a short (and basically symbolic) suspension.  And then I saw it again today in a post online listing all the states that are raising that tax on July 1.  The wholesale tax gets ignored almost every time, even though it adds about dime a gallon and moves Virginia much higher in the tax rankings.

    To review, on July 1 the retail tax will become 32.6 cents per gallon, the wholesale tax 9.6 cents per gallon, and the tank fee tax only 2 tenths of a cent (a decrease that softens the blow of those increases.)  The combined total, Virginia, will be 42.4 cents per gallon (43.5 cents for diesel).  The fees collected on electric and hybrid vehicles also tick up due to inflation. 

  • It’s Not The Heat. It’s The Humidity.

    Posted on

    by

    James A. Bacon

    by Kerry Dougherty

    Text discussing the humid summer climate of Virginia Beach, highlighting high temperatures and oppressive conditions from late May to early October.

    It took me five seconds on AI to confirm what I already knew from living in the resort city for the past 42 years.

    Going outside in the summer is like walking into a dog’s mouth.

    So exactly what Mensa member designed the new Dome concert hall, with retractable hangar doors for extra outdoor seating, without realizing that from May until October those open doors would turn the entire venue into a tropical rain forest?

    As usual the buffoons who run the city not only soaked taxpayers for $55 million to build the 3,500-seat Dome, but now they’re shaking their tin cup, begging for another $661,712, to build an “air wall” to keep the humidity out.

    Here’s an idea: Keep the doors shut.

    Problem solved.

    That won’t happen. Later today, self-important city factotums will whip out their abacuses and demonstrate how the new air wall will “pay for itself” in five years. We’ve seen this movie before. Continue reading.

  • Did Anyone Even Notice?

    Posted on

    by

    sherlockj

    Did Anyone Even Notice?

    by James C. Sherlock

    As a good citizen, this author was about to send a courtesy copy of today’s article, “Autism in Virginia,” to the Virginia Behavior Analyst Advisory Board, which helps the Board of Medicine regulate licensed behavior analysts.  

    He found that the Behavior Analyst Advisory Board hadn’t met in a year. It had canceled meetings in October 2025, February 2026, and May 2026. The next one is scheduled for September 28.  

    He is disappointed but somehow unsurprised by this development. He will get over it.

     

Now Available

Book cover of 'Dust Mites: A Second American Revolution' by James A. Bacon, featuring astronauts planting a flag with a blue and white emblem on a lunar landscape, with Earth visible in the background.
For sale on Amazon.com

The year: 2075. The American colonies on the Moon are getting restless under Washington’s tyrannical rule….

This second edition of “Dust Mites” has a snazzy new cover, includes helpful lunar maps, and is 5,000 words tighter than the original. The sequel, “Trogs,” is scheduled for publication this summer.

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Bacon’s Rebellion is Virginia’s leading politically non-aligned portal for news, opinions and analysis about state, regional and local public policy. Read more about us here.

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