🚨Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger announced to lawmakers today that the commonwealth is rejoining the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. She said it will lower costs. Glenn Youngkin told us it would increase electric bills. https://t.co/vcXfUzUy3o
— Nick Minock (@NickMinock) January 19, 2026
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“Affordability” Update: Rejoining RGGI
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Keeping up with Mamdani
Like New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, some Virginia Democrats want to achieve “affordability” through rent control.
Coming to a community near you? Image credit: Grok by Hans Bader
In Virginia, some legislators want to give local governments the ability to impose cumbersome rent controls on housing. That’s a mistake.
Rent control killed multifamily housing construction in Maryland’s most populous county. Getting rid of rent control greatly expanded the amount of rental housing in Argentina, without raising rents (one of the many reasons that occurred is that people were more willing to rent out rooms if they didn’t have to worry about being prevented by rent control from raising rents in the future to cover rising costs, such as the need to renovate or pay rising utility or mortgage bills). Indeed, average rents actually fell in inflation-adjusted terms in Argentina after the end of rent control. Around 93% of economists say rent control is bad, because it reduces the quantity and quality of housing.
Legislators have introduced two bills targeting so-called “rent gouging,” defining rent increases of over 3% as rent gouging. That’s a weird, unreasonable definition of rent gouging, because even pro-tenant rent-control boards sometimes allow rent increases bigger than 3%, and expenses often rise faster than 3%. Inflation was about 7% in 2021 and 2022, far above 3%. But HB278 and SB355 would authorize local “rent-gouging” ordinances, under which a landlord “cannot increase the rent by more than the locality’s calculated allowance, not to exceed three percent.”
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Big Brother Update
Image credit: Grok Surveillance of some… Senate Bill 84: “Authorizes state and local law-enforcement agencies to place and operate pedestrian crossing violation and stop sign violation monitoring systems in school crossing zones, highway work zones, and high-risk speed corridors for purposes of recording pedestrian cross and stop sign violations.”
But not of others… Senate Bill 83: “Requires the chief judge of each general district court, juvenile and domestic relations court, and circuit court to set a policy regarding the use and possession of portable electronic devices, defined in the bill as a personal laptop, a tablet, a mobile telephone, an electronic calendar, and electronic book reader, a smart watch or any other electronic personal communication device.”
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Heads Rolled, But No Written Report
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School Districts Skirt State Requirements in Mental Health Outsourcing
by Victoria Manning
Restoration News has uncovered school districts across Virginia offering telehealth mental health therapy for children without parental permission. State law permits telehealth in schools, but requires parental consent and the adoption of school board policies on the topic. Federal law also prohibits the disclosure of private student information, but these laws are ignored in multiple districts.
Hazel Health is a third-party provider for mental health services for at least 13 school districts in Virginia. Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests to these districts reveal most are ignoring state telehealth laws. School boards are required to develop policies that include specific provisions of the law. They must also enter into a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the provider in accordance with a model memo adopted by the state Education Department.
While school boards are not required to offer telehealth counseling, those that do must meet legal obligations. State law requires school board policies to include a provision for parental consent and to designate a private location in the school for students to receive counseling services.
The Family Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) prohibits schools from disclosing personally identifiable information in student records. Yet multiple Virginia school districts are defying this law.
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Will Spanberger Be a Redistricting Heroine?
by Chap Petersen
Saturday was a historic day as Abigail Spanberger was sworn in as the 75th Governor of the Commonwealth, our first female Chief Executive.
Within minutes of taking office, the Governor issued a number of Executive Orders which rolled back Republican initiatives and implemented an aggressively Democratic agenda. To the victor go the spoils.
True leadership, of course, is rising about partisanship to do what’s right for the people. Very few leaders in America have that type of moxie.
Abigail Spanberger can be one of them.
The 2026 General Assembly has already passed a proposed constitutional amendment, HJR 4, which would replace the 2020 constitutional amendment on “Bi-partisan Redistricting,” which Virginia votes passed by a 2-1 margin, with a “flex version” designed to maximize Democratic gains in the 2026 mid-terms.
The “flex version” comes into play if “any state,” regardless of size, context or partisan leanings, decides to draw a new Congressional map. (Presumably, California qualifies as “any state” — so the threshold is already met). The bottom line is that HJR 4 is intended to render Virginia’s “non-partisan redistricting” law a dead letter, before it reaches its fifth birthday.
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The GOP “Affordability” Agenda
The agenda at a glance:
- Lower Power Bills: Suspend costly energy mandates when prices spike or grid reliability is threatened, protecting families from being forced to choose between food and heat.
- Car Tax Relief: Make good on the long-promised repeal of the car tax up to $20,000, putting real money back into household budgets.
- Tax Protection: Permanently extend the enhanced standard deduction, preventing an automatic tax hike and saving a married couple an average of $661 per year.
- Grocery Tax Repeal: End Virginia’s tax on groceries — one of only ten states that still imposes it — saving a family of four about $150 annually while holding local governments harmless.
- Lower Car Insurance Costs: Allow, but do not require, insurers to offer preferred repair networks, creating a path to more affordable premiums for drivers.
— the Virginia House GOP Caucus
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Data Centers Provide Property Tax Relief for Homeowners
Image credit: Grok by Hans Bader
Data centers cut property taxes on homeowners, by providing lots of additional property to tax. The more property there is to tax, the less tax needs to be imposed on each property. Data centers use very few government services (unlike homeowners, who use things like schools and parks), so data centers don’t add much to a county’s costs.
Democratic-run Loudoun County has lots of data centers and lower property taxes than other Democratic counties in northern Virginia, such as neighboring Fairfax County and Arlington County. Data centers generate almost half its property tax revenue, enabling it to tax homeowners at lower rates despite Loudoun County’s rapidly rising government spending under Democratic control.
Loudoun County explains:
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Senate Bill Grabs Political Third Rail of Diploma Exit Exams
Photo created by Grok by Todd Truitt
Senator Stella Pekarsky, D-Fairfax County, is sponsoring a bill this legislative session that would require the Virginia Board of Education to develop and “implement alternative graduation pathways” that allow students to earn a Standard Diploma without passing the statewide Standards of Learning (SOL) assessments.
Currently to graduate from high school in Virginia, students must pass end of course (EOC) SOL exams in specific courses in English, Math, Science and Social Studies. Under Sen. Pekarsky’s bill, the Board would have to consult a range of stakeholders — from educators and administrators to parents and students — to design options that could include “non-assessment demonstrations of competencies” like locally developed performance assessments, portfolios, capstone projects, work-based learning, dual-enrollment courses, or industry credentials.
Senator Stella Pekarsky As directed by Governor Abigail Spanberger’s inauguration day education executive order, Secretary of Education Jeffrey O. Smith and State Superintendent Jenna Conway will conduct listening sessions throughout Virginia during the first 100 days of her administration with “students, parents, educators, school leaders, superintendents, school board members, and community members about the challenges and successes facing their schools.”
Will changing this EOC graduation requirement even be a major concern to this broad section of stakeholders?
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Alternate Estimates of Battery Bill Cost Still Tens of Billions of Dollars
by Steve Haner
A federal renewable energy laboratory’s public website on the cost of building utility battery storage indicates the cost now being paid by Virginia’s two major utilities is well above the average. Predicting future costs is always iffy, but the National Laboratory of the Rockies website does that, too.
National Laboratory of the Rockies data found here. In earlier posts, Bacon’s Rebellion reported (accurately) that Dominion Energy Virginia has applications pending at the State Corporation Commission to build battery storage at average costs of about $675,000 per megawatt-hour.
The federal data puts the 2026 cost of a four-hour battery system at $520,000 per megawatt hour, or $520 million* per gigawatt hour, with a slightly lower cost for 10-hour units. Reworking the numbers from the earlier post, the utilities would still need more than $50 billion to build all storage called for in House Bill 895 at today’s prices. Some numbers are detailed at the end.
The earlier post did spark a response from one of the advocates for the bill, which is a massive expansion on the utility battery mandate now included in the Virginia Clean Economy Act. He made the point that there are examples of battery projects costing far less than Dominion’s, and that the utility does not have a stellar record of keeping its costs in line with or below outside competition. Their bill also promotes competition, which is good.
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Yippee! We Live In Virginiasota Now!
by Kerry Dougherty
Last time Democrats controlled Virginia, they tried to turn the commonwealth into California.
High taxes, high gas prices, EV mandates, oppressive covid restrictions.
This time, it’s worse. They aim to turn Virginia into Minnesota.
Gov. Abigail Spanberger apparently looked West, saw an unaffordable state full of environmental laws that make things like rebuilding a home after a wildfire impossible and decided that wasn’t enough of a dramatic change for the commonwealth.
Instead, in her inaugural address she made it clear that Virginia – like Minnesota – is at war with the federal government. Henceforth a sanctuary state where the Virginia State Police are forbidden to work with ICE agents to peacefully deport illegal aliens.
Listen to her:
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Packing the BOVs
Governor Abigail Spanberger has announced 27 appointments to the Boards of Visitors of the University of Virginia, George Mason University, and the Virginia Military Institute. The appointees fill vacancies created by the departure of board members selected by former Governor Glenn Youngkin, either because they were rejected by the state Senate or because Spanberger asked them to resign.
Most prominent among the new appointees is former Governor Ralph Northam to the Virginia Military Institute. As the Washington Post notes, “In 2020, Northam, a VMI graduate, ordered an investigation into the school’s treatment of Black students.”
Democrats, says the Post, have criticized Youngkin for “being overly involved in Virginia’s colleges.”
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Harrisonburg Can Do Better
by Joe Fitzgerald
Someone once described GM’s Vega as a vehicle completely unencumbered by the engineering process. And then there was the country mechanic who once suggested to the driver of a Vega that they fix a particular problem by jacking up the radiator cap and driving a new car in underneath it.
We’ll get back to that.
There are a number of issues with the current Harrisonburg City Council. Many of them nest under the umbrella of Proverbs 29:18. “Where there is no vision, the people perish.”
It is not clear who’s driving and where they’re going. Another way of looking at it, as several dozen people have agreed in the past three years, is that the city is headed in the wrong direction.
(more…)“We expect certain things of government, and somebody has to make those things work.”
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Death and Taxes
by David Saunders
Welcome to 2026!
You’ll be getting a W-2 from your employer soon in the mail. It’s an annual reminder of what you made and what the government took in taxes. You might owe the IRS (like me) or you might get a refund (like many), but either way it’s still sobering to think how much we have to fork over for the privilege of being a citizen.
The biggest line item is federal income tax. You’ll also see deductions for payroll taxes for like Social Security and Medicare, quietly withheld every pay period. It is mysteriously labeled FICA (Federal Insurance Contributions Act) and trust me it’s not a contribution… it’s a tax.
Then there’s state income tax, where the Commonwealth’s top rate of 5.75% isn’t especially low or high, but it’s another layer on the stack. (Expect this to go up in the next 4 years)
Next comes sales tax. Every little thing you buy, every Amazon order, every trip to the store, is subject to sales tax. Virginia’s combined state and local rate averages just under six percent, but some localities add much, much more like Richmond’s hot meals tax – where you pay 13.8% to eat out. In some areas you pay higher rates for transportation, hotel stays, admissions to events, or extra tax if you own a business. BPOL Tax (Business Professional & Licensing Tax) was adopted after 1812 to pay for the war of 1812 – and it never went away.
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One Commission to Rule Energy and In the Darkness Bind Us
by Steve Haner
Del. Terry Kilgore, patron of HB 633 A legislative commission created in 2008 to oversee one narrow function of two electric utilities is about to expand its scope of oversight of all forms of energy in Virginia, including nuclear, coal, and natural gas. It will be the legislative counterpart – and counterweight – to the politically independent State Corporation Commission.
The bill to accomplish that (House Bill 633) qualifies as one of the most sweeping and dangerous pieces of legislation pending at the 2026 General Assembly, and that is saying something when one reads the other bills that have been filed. Adding a touch of irony, the patron of the bill granting such sweeping power to legislative Democrats is the Republican House Minority Leader, and he hails from the heart of coal country.
The bill abolishes the long-standing Virginia Coal and Energy Commission he serves on, which admittedly had been inactive in recent years, and transfers its role to this group. The name changes from the Commission on Electric Utility Regulation (CEUR) to the Energy Commission of Virginia (ECV). The first provision of the ECV’s powers in the new bill directs it to:
Examine the production, transmission, distribution, storage, and use of energy in the Commonwealth, including energy efficiency and conservation, as part of monitoring the development and implementation of the Energy Policy of the Commonwealth (§ 45.2-1705 et seq.) and the Virginia Energy Plan (§ 45.2-1710 et seq.).
The energy policy it references in the Code of Virginia could not be more committed to the mission of abolishing hydrocarbon energy in every sector of the economy, not just the electricity industry. Its overriding policy principles include: “Climate change is an urgent and pressing challenge for the Commonwealth. Swift decarbonization and a transition to clean energy are required to meet the urgency of the challenge…”
