Bacon's Rebellion

  • 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. 

    (more…)

  • 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.

     

  • RGGI Will Cost Typical Dominion Customer $13 More Per Month

    Posted on

    by

    Steve Haner

    By Steve Haner,

    Dominion Energy Virginia is proposing to delay until March 2027 to bill its customers for the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) carbon allowances it must buy starting July 1.  When the cost hits, however, it could be $13 a month or $156 per year for a typical residential customer.

    The final decision rests with the State Corporation Commission, which will now open a case on the request (the full set of application documents is here.)  When the Energy Commission of Virginia meets tomorrow with a RGGI rebate idea on its agenda, now the legislators have a real (and painful) customer cost prediction to chew over. 

    Dominion filed its application to reinstate what it calls Rider RGGI, which was on customer bills during the three previous years Virginia was part of the 11-state carbon tax, cap and trade compact.  When last Dominion customers paid Rider RGGI, it was about $4.40 per month for 1,000 kilowatt-hours.  That may now be almost triple. 

    But the carbon prices set a record in the June 4 auction of $35 per ton, and in its application Dominion assumed prices through 2028 of up to $38 per ton of emitted carbon dioxide.  Dominion expects to buy and retire 51 million such carbon credits by the end of 2028.  The $7-8 per month in RGGI customer cost that was predicted in that article proved to be wishful thinking.

    (more…)

  • Autism in Virginia

    Posted on

    by

    sherlockj

    Autism in Virginia

    by James C. Sherlock

    Autism therapy is the wild west of medical qualifications and spending.

    Autism is real, but industry professionals and the non-profits who lobby for limitless autism spending have richly earned widespread skepticism of the industry by not policing their own. They have created a closed loop for eternally increased spending:

    1. The profession describes limitless demand.  
    2. Therapy is thus supply-driven, raising practitioners’ reimbursements. (That increases the demand for online college courses that too often result in debt and a failed professional exam.)
    3. The Virginia government buys that story unquestioningly, at least in part because the regulatory system here is utterly broken.  
    4. The budget committees of the Virginia General Assembly, whose Health committees designed that regulatory system, allocate new “slots” for kids each year in the Medicaid budget and raise the payment rates in the same session.  
    5. There are long waiting lists – see above for limitless demand.  
    6. Slot access depends on the severity of the diagnosed need.  
    7. As diagnosed by the profession.  
    8. That describes the demand as limitless.

    Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) was not defined until 2013. ASDs are a group of developmental disabilities characterized by impairments in social interaction and communication as well as by restricted, repetitive, and stereotyped patterns of behavior.

    This article will discuss autism in Virginia, specifically:

    • The widely diverging genders of patients and therapists,
    • The education of Board Certified Behavior Analysts (BCBAs), the top tier of treatment specialists, and
    • The exploding spending on treatment.  

    An autism diagnosis for a child is typically made by a pediatrician, a child psychologist, a child neurologist, or a child and adolescent psychiatrist. The populations of both autism patients and therapy providers have exploded, making Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA) the fastest-growing and most troubled program in both Medicaid and private health insurance.

    According to Behavioral Health Business

    Medicaid spending on core Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA) autism services increased by 403% from 2019 to 2024. The number of provider entities delivering these services to Medicaid recipients increased 346%. This suggests that much of the increase in spending is driven by new providers opening their doors.

    So autism treatment growth actually is supply-driven, not demand-driven. The Wall Street Journal has been on top of the ugly side of that story. Virginia’s troubles have been discussed in this space and will be again.

    (more…)

  • Busted: Loudoun Teacher Uses School Email to Shield Superintendent from Congress

    Posted on

    by

    James A. Bacon

    Radical activist teacher comes to the rescue of Superintendent Aaron Spence.

    by Victoria Manning

    A Loudoun County Public Schools (LCPS) teacher who admits to political activism in her classroom and defying school board policies is now using school resources to lobby Congress.

    Jessica Berg is soliciting signatures from her colleagues and others in defense of controversial Superintendent Aaron Spence who has been summoned to testify before Congress about “Attacks on Parental Rights, Inappropriate Content, and Legal Abuses in America’s Schools.”

    Berg used her LCPS email account to lobby Congress in support of Spence. She created a letter and is soliciting signatures from LCPS employees and community members in support of so-called “inclusive policies” created under Aaron Spence. A Google Form created by Berg shows that it was “created inside of Loudoun County Public Schools” and the letter itself was created by Berg’s work account.

    (more…)

  • With Tax Now $35 Per Ton, Are RGGI Rebates on the Way?

    Posted on

    by

    Steve Haner

    Gov. Spanberger loves RGGI. Electricity will cost more.

    by Steve Haner

    The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) held its second 2026 carbon allowance auction last week and the bidding cleared at $35 per ton, the group announced Friday. That price was a 40 percent increase over the $25 per ton set for the carbon tax just three months earlier and was 78 percent higher than an allowance had cost a year earlier. 

    Should that price hold for the September and December 2026 auctions, Virginia will collect more than $400 million in tax revenue before the end of this year. Over the course of a full year, the state is likely to collect $800 million or more from electricity producers using natural gas, coal or oil for fuel. Of course, future auctions could (and likely will) set even higher prices, as the record shows.  

    A legislative panel, finally getting touchy about RGGI’s impact on customer bills, on Tuesday will discuss whether to give some of that money directly to customers. Dominion Energy Virginia is the largest user of the allowances and is expected to announce soon how much it will ask the State Corporation Commission to increase our bills to cover it (the betting is $7-8 per 1,000 kilowatt hours.)

    The $35 per ton was lower than the allowance prices seen in recent weeks on the secondary market, where futures prices for an allowance to emit one ton of carbon dioxide passed $40 and had reached over $50 per ton for a 2026 “vintage” allowance. The futures market has dropped back to levels closer to that June auction result but bears watching.  The speculators haven’t lost their money yet.

    (more…)

  • D-Day, June 6, 1944.

    Posted on

    by

    Dick Hall-Sizemore

    When America fought for freedom in Europe.

  • Lucas Stymies Budget Talks, Trashes Other Democrats

    Posted on

    by

    Dick Hall-Sizemore

    From Louise Lucas’s Twitter Feed, courtesy of Virginia Political Newsletter

    by Dick Hall-Sizemore

    Sen. Louise Lucas (D-Portsmouth) has taken a page out of Donald Trump’s playbook. She is resorting to assigning insulting nicknames to those who will not go along with her and trying to negotiate by social media using all capitals in her complaints.

    As recently reported by the Virginia Political Newsletter, the budget negotiations seemed to be going well until this morning when Lucas, Gov. Abigail Spanberger, and Del. Luke Torian (D-Prince William), the chair of the House Appropriations Committee, met. When Spanberger and Torian pressed Lucas on what she wanted to do with the additional revenue that would be generated by repealing the sales tax exemption on data centers, Lucas got frustrated and left the meeting.

    Lucas later released this statement, “Just when I thought Chairman Torian and I were getting close to agreeing on a budget, we had a meeting with Data Center Diva [Spanberger] this morning and she agrees with Amazon Don [Don Scott (D-Portsmouth), Speaker of the House] who doesn’t want to impact the richest corporations in the country.”  Later, on social media, she declared, “Amazon Don and Data Center Diva, you are making a MONUMENTAL MISTAKE! Maybe you should ask Glenn Youngkin how that worked out for him!”

    At this point, the plan seems to be to report a “skinny budget”, one that will fund just core services, which could prevent a government shutdown on July 1.

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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