Welcome to Notes from the Square, a roundup of state politics and policy news. Each week, we bring you updates on the movers and shakers in Virginia politics as well as the legislation and initiatives they’re supporting or opposing — with a Southwest and Southside Virginia focus.
Got a tip or story idea? Email me at elizabeth@cardinalnews.org.
Spanberger plans to intervene with the SCC over Dominion- NextEra merger
Gov. Abigail Spanberger announced on Thursday that she plans to formally intervene with the State Corporation Commission regarding the proposed Dominion Energy merger with Florida-based NextEra Energy.
The governor’s office said in a statement that this is the first time Virginia’s top executive has taken such an action with the SCC.
“I am deeply skeptical about whether selling our primary, state-regulated utility to an out-of-state company is good for the commonwealth. I have serious questions about what this deal would mean for us. And as governor, I intend to get answers and be a voice for Virginians in the process,” Spanberger wrote in an op-ed published in The Washington Post.
Spanberger’s legal step of “intervening” means that she will formally request to be a party to the case before the SCC in her capacity as governor.
She listed three priorities in the op-ed regarding the merger that her office said are non-negotiable:
- More affordable energy bills for Virginia families and small businesses;
- Protecting Virginia’s utility workforce; and
- Accelerating Virginia’s progress toward producing affordable, reliable, local, and clean power into the future.
Clean Virginia, a nonprofit advocacy group, applauded Spanberger’s plan to intervene with the SCC.
“We are confident that a thorough hearing of NextEra’s deeply troubling track record of failed acquisitions, rate hikes and political corruption in Florida will make one thing clear: Virginia’s soaring bills and substantial energy challenges won’t be solved by creating an even bigger monopoly,“ said Brennan Gilmore, executive director of Clean Virginia said in a statement.
Clean Virginia called the default timeline for the State Corporation Commission to review the merger application insufficient, and said that the “short timeline will limit the impact of all intervenors, including the Governor.”
Clean Virginia, along with lawmakers including Sen. David Suetterlein and Del. Joe McNamara, both R-Roanoke County, and Sen. Russet Perry, D-Loudoun County, have called on the governor to set a special session to allow the General Assembly to take up a bill to extend the timeline for the SCC to review the proposed merger.
Spanberger did not directly answer when asked by reporters Thursday if she planned to call for the special session.
“At this moment in time it appears that there is sufficient time for [the SCC] to be able to review everything,” she said. “Certainly things are subject to change in the future, but at this moment in time — and certainly once I’m a party to the case I’ll have a clearer view of all that is at play and all the information that is fully available for review — but my priority is not extending a discussion. It is having a deep, purposeful, very detailed discussion about the potential outcomes of this merger.”
The commission will take public comments on the proposed $67 billion merger in November. Check out Matt Busse’s column to learn more about how to participate.
If federal and state regulators approve the deal, the combined company would have approximately 10 million customer accounts, own 110 gigawatts of power generation and have more than 130 gigawatts of “large-load opportunities” in its pipeline.
[Disclosure: Dominion is one of our donors, but donors have no say in news decisions; see our policy.]
Virginia goes sales tax-free, for a weekend
Residents of the commonwealth will be able to make their back-to-school and emergency preparedness purchases tax-free this weekend. The annual tax free holiday will kick off on Friday and run through Sunday.
Parents and students will not be charged sales tax on qualifying school supplies, clothing or footwear. The sale of hurricane and emergency preparedness items such as chainsaws, generators and certain Energy Star-rated appliances also will be tax-free. The sales tax holiday applies to qualifying in-store and online purchases, Del. David Reid, D-Loudon County, said in a statement Wednesday. Reid may represent Northern Virginia but he grew up in Rockbridge County, so Cardinal Country can claim him.
Reid also patroned legislation in 2024 to make the tax-free holiday an annual and permanent event to take place on the first full weekend in August. That bill was passed and is now law of the land.
AG Jones joins lawsuit against Trump administration’s tariffs
The attorney general’s office announced Wednesday that Virginia has joined a group of 25 states to file a lawsuit against a recent decision by the Trump administration to increase tariffs on more than 80 countries.
Those countries account for 99.4% of all U.S. imports, the attorney general’s office said.
“Donald Trump’s relentless commitment to breaking the law by imposing illegal tariffs is crushing Virginians,” Attorney General Jay Jones said in a statement. “The cost of scraping by in survival mode is far more than the immediate impact on Virginians’ pocketbooks. The chronic stress and inability to invest in a better future traps families in a debilitating cycle,”
The Trump administration had claimed that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act had allowed the president to place tariffs on any country or product and for any length of time. The U.S. Supreme Court denied that claim and said that the tariffs were unlawful, which prompted the president to invoke Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974 to place 10% tariffs on most imported goods.
In May, the U.S. Court of International Trade ruled that the president had acted unlawfully, Jones’ office said. The Trump administration then invoked another law, Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, and called on the U.S. Trade Representative to investigate the European Union and 59 other countries and their efforts to combat forced labor in global trade. In June, the U.S. Trade Representative imposed tariffs of up to 12.5% on most countries.
The lawsuit joined by Jones’ office challenges the most recent round of tariffs. The complaint was filed in the U.S. Court of International Trade, and it argues that the Trump administration exceeded the president’s legal authority and that the tariffs violate the Administrative Procedure Act.
The other states that joined in the lawsuit are Oregon, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts, Maryland, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin, Kentucky and Pennsylvania.
