Author Archives: Steve Haner

The Bill of the Year: Menstrual Search Warrants

Posted on February 18, 2023 | 2 comments

Monty Python’s Church Police, a famous sketch we can now watch being played out in Virginia politics.

By Steve Haner

Now here’s a phrase I never expected to type, even in a blog post: menstrual data. Looks like the 2023 Virginia General Assembly will be best remembered down the road for a silly bill that sparked a very avoidable stumble and then turned into a National Thing.

Governor Glenn Youngkin (R) was even the target of well-publicized staged outrage from the Biden Administration, suddenly diverted from balloon- watching by a nationwide flood of search warrants seeking data on women’s periods. Except there don’t actually seem to be any such search warrants and there may not actually be any interest in such information. Continue reading →

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Posted in Courts and law, Culture wars, General Assembly

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Strange Bedfellows Unite Against Dominion Bill

Posted on February 12, 2023 | 5 comments

Ad placed by opponents of Dominion’s bill on profit margins in Sunday’s Richmond Times-Dispatch. Click for larger view.

by Steve Haner

Battles over utility ratemaking can produce some “strange bedfellow” coalitions. Check out the list of advocacy organizations which have banded together to oppose Dominion Energy Virginia’s pending bill to mandate a higher profit margin.

The list appeared in a full page advertisement in the Sunday Richmond Times-Dispatch and can also be found on a website. It is a longer and more interesting list than a coalition previously mentioned, calling itself the Energy Burden Coalition. The broader group also just focused on this one bill.

The list in the paper includes the Virginia Manufacturers Association and the union-affiliated Virginia Organizing, certainly on opposite sides of many issues. Americans for Prosperity, usually attacked from the left as being founded by major fossil fuel magnates, finds itself listed along with Clean Virginia and plenty of other organizations affiliated with and/or funded by the wind and solar industries. Continue reading →

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Posted in Business and Economy, Energy, General Assembly, Regulations and Government Oversight, Utilities

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Dominion’s Ads Deceive About Ratepayer Impact

Posted on February 11, 2023 | 37 comments

Dominion’s ad copy in this morning’s Richmond Times-Dispatch. Click for larger view.

by Steve Haner

Dominion Energy Virginia has launched a major advertising campaign advocating  legislation to increase its allowed profit margin, with ads focused on a deceptive message that the bill will actually lower costs for consumers.  It will not.

The print version of the campaign, which can be seen in a full page ad in the Richmond Times-Dispatch in print and online, refers to and reproduces part of a February 1 letter from the State Corporation Commission that answered one question about the bill, looking at one item in isolation from the whole. It ignores an earlier, longer, January 27 letter from the SCC that outlines the cumulative rate impacts from the bill.

With all its many deceptions, nothing tops the headline which implies the SCC has claimed this bill will save customers money. There is no other word for that than “lie.” Continue reading →

37 Comments

Posted in Business and Economy, Energy, General Assembly, Regulations and Government Oversight, Utilities

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Focus on the Standard Deduction, QBI Deduction

Posted on February 8, 2023 | 12 comments

We tried to tell everyone. Indexing the tax code for inflation is wildly popular, but it’s not in the pending package.

We have seen this before in Virginia and here we go again: the classic conflict between tax cuts for the many versus more government spending for a few.

The Republican-dominated House of Delegates has passed a series of broad tax reductions, while the Democratic-dominated Virginia Senate has killed its versions of the same bills.  Last Sunday the Senate then produced a budget proposal about $1 billion richer in funds for education, mental health services and other poll-tested priorities.

Killing the tax bills creates even more revenue to spend in future years, billions more. Continue reading →

12 Comments

Posted in Business and Economy, General Assembly, Government Finance, Taxes

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Youngkin Thwarts Dominion Push for Higher Profit

Posted on February 4, 2023 | 14 comments

Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R)

by Steve Haner

A Virginia House of Delegates committee has rebuffed Dominion Energy Virginia’s bid to change the rules on how much profit it can earn, setting up a confrontation with the utility and its allies in the Virginia Senate.  Governor Glenn Youngkin (R) reportedly encouraged the delegates to take the step and sent a member of his cabinet to speak in favor of watering down Dominion’s bill.

When they were introduced a few weeks back, House Bill 1770 and Senate Bill 1265 were identical.  It was probably Dominion’s game plan to have them remain identical as they passed in their houses of introduction by the February 7 deadline.  Now the bills likely to pass have morphed into very different substitutes, with all observers expecting a high stakes joint conference committee to follow. Continue reading →

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Posted in Business and Economy, Energy, General Assembly, Regulations and Government Oversight, Utilities

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Now We Will Enrich Dominion’s Creditors, Too

Posted on February 2, 2023 | 43 comments

Who gets rich when debtors make smaller payments over longer periods of time? The lenders, that’s who.

by Steve Haner

Facing the prospect of a jaw-dropping jump in electricity prices because of fuel price hikes last year, the State Corporation Commission approved Dominion Energy Virginia’s request to defer most of those costs for future collection. The unpaid bill for fuel already burned is now about $1.5 billion, apparently, and Dominion has a new plan on how to collect it from you.

Have you ever made the mistake of running up a big credit card bill, and then trying to pay it off by making just the minimum payment? The banks behind the credit cards love it when you do that, because of all the interest they collect over the years it takes you to pay down to zero. Dominion is proposing to do exactly that with that unpaid $1.5 billion in fuel costs. Continue reading →

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Posted in Business and Economy, General Assembly, Regulations and Government Oversight, Utilities

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Dominion Seeks Return of RGGI Tax to Its Bills

Posted on February 1, 2023 | 43 comments

The states currently in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative CO2 emissions compact.

by Steve Haner

The on again, off again, direct tax on Dominion Energy Virginia bills to pay for the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) may be on again. If you feel like you are watching a shell game and just cannot find the pea, that is intentional.

In its sales pitch for its latest effort to create a more favorable regulatory environment, Dominion Energy Virginia is touting its proposal to take several of its existing stand-alone rate adjustment charges (RACs) and roll them into its base rates. The claim is that will save ratepayers $350 million. Continue reading →

43 Comments

Posted in Energy, Environment, General Assembly, Regulations and Government Oversight, Taxes, Utilities

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Five Reasons the Assembly Should Cut Taxes

Posted on January 30, 2023 | 2 comments

By Barbara Hollingsworth

Last week, the Republican majority in the Virginia House of Delegates passed a $1 billion package of tax cuts for individuals and businesses, the centerpiece of Governor Glenn Youngkin’s economic agenda. But Democrats, who have a 22-18 majority in the state Senate, have a laundry list of policies and programs they would prefer to spend the surplus money on rather than return it to taxpayers.

Tax policy is a non-partisan issue that has real-world economic consequences, especially when it comes to taxes on business income. Here are five reasons why the state Senate should follow the House’s lead and pass the governor’s entire tax relief package, including reduction of the commonwealth’s corporate income tax rate.

There’s a very large budget surplus.

In fact, Virginia is sitting on a record budget surplus of $3.6 billion, which is revenue collected from businesses and individual taxpayers in excess of the needs and priorities state legislators have already identified and fully funded during the 2022-2024 biennial budget process. It’s disingenuous to suggest that Virginia “can’t afford” to return at least part of that surplus to taxpayers. Continue reading →

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Posted in Business and Economy, General Assembly, Government Finance, Taxes

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No, Senator, Cold Kills More People Than Heat

Posted on January 27, 2023 | 107 comments

Sen. Ghazala Hashmi (D-Chesterfield)

by Steve Haner

No more will Virginians have to suffer through hot summer days without the active intervention of Big Government.  Virginia’s Senate Democrats are proudly advancing legislation to demand state government develop a comprehensive statewide heat emergency response plan, and then seek to impose its leadership by “coordinating” with other state agencies and local governments.

“Extreme heat kills more Americans on average than any other weather-related hazard,” claimed Senator Ghazala Hashmi, D-Richmond, in a Tweet announcing the passage of her Senate Bill 936 on Thursday. The idea now goes to the House of Delegates. Continue reading →

107 Comments

Posted in Energy, Environment, General Assembly

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“Strong Words” In Bills Give SCC Power On Rates

Posted on January 24, 2023 | 15 comments

From Energy Burden Coalition flyer mailed to legislators.

By Steve Haner

One sentence, if it is the right sentence, can upset the machinations of the powerful. Two bills pending in the 2023 Virginia General Assembly contain such a sentence, and it could upset the plans of Dominion Energy Virginia.

Here is the sentence at the heart of both bills:

…if the (State Corporation) Commission determines in its sole discretion that the utility’s existing base rates will, on a going-forward basis, produce unreasonable revenues in excess of the utility’s authorized rate of return, then, notwithstanding any provisions of subsection A 8 of § 56-585.1, the Commission may order any reductions to such base rates that it deems appropriate to ensure the resulting base rates (i) are just and reasonable and (ii) provide the utility an opportunity to recover its costs and earn a fair rate of return.

Continue reading →

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Posted in Energy, General Assembly, Regulations and Government Oversight, Utilities

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Wojick On Whales IV: Deaths Spiked with Surveys

Posted on January 23, 2023 | 42 comments

A Humpback carcass that washed up in New Jersey recently. Photo: Marine Mammal Stranding Center

By David Wojick

The recent deaths of seven whales off New Jersey, mostly humpbacks, drew national media attention. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Fisheries Directorate is responsible for whales. An outrageous statement by their spokesperson got me to do some research on humpback whale deaths.

The results are appalling. The evidence seems clear that offshore wind development is killing whales by the hundreds.

Here is the statement as reported in the press:

“NOAA said it has been studying what it calls ‘unusual mortality events’ involving 174 humpback whales along the East Coast since January 2016. Agency spokesperson Lauren Gaches said that period pre-dates offshore wind preparation activities in the region.” Gaches is NOAA Fisheries press chief.

The “unusual mortality” data are astounding. Basically, the humpback death rate roughly tripled starting in 2016 and continued high thereafter. You can see it here.  That data is just for humpback whales, with a dramatic acceleration in particular between 2016 and 2020. Continue reading →

42 Comments

Posted in Energy, Environment, Regulations and Government Oversight

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Is Unnamed Partner on Wind Project Driving This New Dominion Regulation Rewrite?

Posted on January 22, 2023 | 46 comments

The late Lt. Gov. Henry Howell (D) and Virginia’s most famous campaign slogan.

By Steve Haner

Without fanfare and without awakening the drowsy Capitol press corps, Dominion Energy Virginia dropped in legislation last week to set up a partnership on its most massive capital investment, the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project.

Just who that partner might be, what if any benefits that provides to Dominion’s 2.6 million Virginia customers, or whether it instead adds cost and risk for them, remains unexplained. The bill does describe the equity investor as “non-controlling,” leaving the utility in charge. Continue reading →

46 Comments

Posted in Business and Economy, Energy, Environment, General Assembly, Regulations and Government Oversight, Utilities

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School Choice for Poor Still Hard Sell to Democrats

Posted on January 21, 2023 | 38 comments

By Chris Braunlich

On being told that peasants were starving for lack of bread, Marie Antoinette is reputed to have said “Let them eat cake.”

Marie Antoinette had nothing on Delegate Suhas Subramanyam.

At a House subcommittee meeting on Wednesday, Delegate Subramanyam was confronted with more than a dozen low-income families and Black community leaders demanding educational choices and opportunities for their children. Continue reading →

38 Comments

Posted in Education (K-12), General Assembly, Government Finance

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SCC Term Bill Could Break Deadlock on Vacancies

Posted on January 20, 2023 | 10 comments

SCC Commissioner Jehmal T. Hudson

By Steve Haner

A Northern Virginia state senator has introduced legislation to change the terms of the members of the State Corporation Commission, perhaps creating a path to compromise on picking two or more new judges. Political deadlock between the Republican-controlled House and Democratic-controlled Senate has stalemated that process for more than a year.

Democratic Senator Scott Surovell’s Senate Bill 1482 gives new commission members full six-year terms.  Without that, the two vacancies are for unexpired terms of one and five years, leaving the new members vulnerable to a change in the political wind after less than a full term. The discrepancy gives the two parties something else to argue about, so Surovell levels that field. Continue reading →

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Posted in Courts and law, General Assembly, Regulations and Government Oversight

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After Federal Threat to Gas Stoves, Virginia Republicans Try Again on Right to Gas

Posted on January 18, 2023 | 40 comments

Status by state of legislative efforts to preserve the natural gas option. The bill is again pending here in the 2023 General Assembly.  Click for better view.

by Steve Haner

First published this morning by the Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy.

Legislation to enshrine the right to use natural gas and propane in Virginia law, a repeat of a failed effort from 2022, cleared a House of Delegates committee Tuesday. The ultimate showdown will come not in the Republican-controlled House but in the Democrat-controlled Senate, where the effort hit a wall last year. Continue reading →

40 Comments

Posted in Energy, Environment, General Assembly, Regulations and Government Oversight

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