Category: General Assembly
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The Rest of the Story on the Dominion Fuel Price Hike
by Steve Haner The stories making the round last week about Dominion Energy’s bill increase for fuel were blatantly incomplete, as were Dominion’s communications on the matter. Here is what the utility and the well-tamed Virginia “news” media have not told you. The $8 per month reported as the impact on a typical residential customer…
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Out-of-State Nursing Home Chains Continue to Plague Virginia – A New Solution
by James C. Sherlock Nursing home chains headquartered in New Jersey, New York, and Atlanta have, in the last decade, plagued Virginia with their operations here to a degree that should have proven intolerable to the Governor and the General Assembly. New Jersey-based Medical Facilities of America (MFA) is both the largest and the worst-performing…
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Virginia’s Reckless Budget Bill
by Jason Miyares Statement on Governor Spanberger’s Marijuana Budget Debacle I warned that rushing marijuana commercialization through Virginia would lead to reckless governing. This week, that warning came true in the worst possible way. Governor Abigail Spanberger and the far-left majority in the General Assembly jammed their marijuana retail scheme into the state budget instead…
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Pittsylvania County Breathes Sigh of Relief
by Dick Hall-Sizemore The Colorado-based company, Stack Infrastructure (Stack), has announced that it will move forward with its plans to build a giant data center complex in Pittsylvania County. As was reported earlier in Bacon’s Rebellion, the company had made its decision to locate in Virginia contingent on the state continuing its exemption of computer…
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No Queens: Stop Tyranny in Virginia
From pot to pork, the Democrats’ budget will cost every Virginia adult an extra $3,880. by Victoria Mannning Virginia’s state motto, “Sic Semper Tyrannis,” or “Thus Always to Tyrants,” declares that virtue and just governance always defeat tyranny. Yet Virginia Democrat leaders have become the tyrants. Led by Gov. Abigail Spanberger, they ignore the Constitution…
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Spanberger, Assembly Pass on Meddling With Dominion Sale
by Steve Haner The most important energy outcome of recent legislative wrestling over Virginia’s energy-focused state budget is what it didn’t include. Governor Abigail Spanberger (D) and the legislators did not meddle with the plan for Florida’s NextEra Energy to acquire Dominion Energy. The application for that transaction (it is not a merger, but…
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Thanks to Heat Wave, RGGI Will Bite Fast and Hard
by Steve Haner There is some irony in how Virginia will reenter the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) carbon tax scheme on Wednesday just as a long and deep heatwave begins. It is safe to predict that every RGGI-covered coal and natural gas generation plant in the state will be running full tilt until next…
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Spanberger Playing “Russian Roulette” with Virginia’s Must-Pass Budget
by Derrick Max Virginia is now facing one of the most dangerous habits in modern state government: using a must-pass budget to carry major policy changes that could not, or did not, move through the normal legislative process. Budgets have always contained some policy language. No one who has watched Virginia government closely would pretend otherwise. The…
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Coop Customers (But Not NOVEC) May Now Get RGGI Rebates
by Steve Haner Governor Abigail Spanberger’s proposed amendment to the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative rebate system will give most but not all residential customers of Virginia’s rural electric cooperatives a shot at some cash back. The Northern Virginia Electric Cooperative is still in the RGGI wilderness. The feeding frenzy over the RGGI carbon tax dollars,…
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Virginia Democrats Inject Race into Tourism
by Virginia Grace McKinnon The Virginia House of Delegates just released its final draft of the 2026 budget. Buried in a civil war on data centers, lifting marijuana restrictions, and giving themselves a 150% pay raise, Democrats are also seeking to spend millions on DEI tourism. Virginia legislators are busy working out the 2026 budget. After months of…
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Assembly To Data Centers: “Here’s Your Hat, There’s the Door”
by Steve Haner The energy regulatory provisions buried in the final conference report on Virginia’s 2026-2028 budget, approved by the General Assembly Monday, are as complex and detailed as any of the energy bills reviewed earlier during the regular session. They are also just as damaging. The data center industry was a particular target. The…
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RGGI Rebates for Some Ordered in New Budget Language
The pending conference report on adopting a new Virginia state budget includes a process to rebate the cost of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative’s carbon tax, but only to smaller customers and only if their utility is charging them for it directly. Larger energy users, especially the largest industrial, commercial and data customers, will still…
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Data Centers Will Pay Same Tax on Solar Power as on Coal
by Steve Haner The new energy tax being imposed on Virginia’s data center industry effective July 1, assuming the new state budget conference report passes next week, is totally ecumenical. The same tax is imposed on electrons from a solar panel or wind turbine as is imposed on electrons from coal. A data center that…
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Don’t Let Data Centers Force a Virginia Government Shutdown
by David J. Toscano [FLASH: Rumors are now circulating that House and Senate negotiators may be close to a budget deal. That is good news, but it still must pass both bodies and be signed by the governor by June 30] Want a good example of the “tail wagging the dog?” Look no further that…