State legislators have presented nearly 30 bills related to data center regulation. Gov. Abigail Spanberger has already expressed the need to make sure that the facilities’ energy costs aren’t passed on to other customers.
Politics
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Bills would fast-track battery storage at solar farms
A pair of bills progressing through the Virginia General Assembly would allow battery energy storage to be built as an accessory use on land where a solar facility already has been approved.
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Gun policy debate returns in Virginia legislature
HB 217 would prohibit the manufacture, sale, import, purchase and transfer of many semiautomatic rifles, pistols and shotguns that meet its newly expanded definition of “assault firearms.”
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Third Democrat enters 9th District race
Douglas Crockett, a retired attorney and pastor, has joined Adam Murphy and Joy Powers in seeking the Democratic nomination to oppose Rep. Morgan Griffith, R-Salem.
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Bills to stop blanket local bans on solar advance in General Assembly
Bills from Sen. Schuyler VanValkenburg, D-Henrico County, and House Majority Leader Charniele Herring, D-Alexandria, don’t require localities to approve utility-scale solar proposals but do require them to consider such projects one by one rather than banning them outright.
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Award-winning journalist Laura Vozzella forges a new path in Sen. Bill Stanley’s office
Laura Vozzella covered the General Assembly for more than a decade before she left The Washington Post. She’ll spend her first post-retirement legislative session working for Sen. Bill Stanley.
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Spanberger rescinds Youngkin directive to sell Augusta Correctional Center; unclear if move linked to ICE interest
The shuttered prison in Augusta County is one of six facilities identified to expand immigration detention and deportation efforts by the federal government.
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Tazewell County judge sped up redistricting ruling to beat General Assembly vote to move the case
The judge had given both sides until next week to provide written arguments but acted before then to head off a Democratic attempt to relocate the case to Richmond.
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House committees pass VMI task force bill and study to repeal car tax
Advancing: A bill to investigate the Virginia Military Institute’s state-sponsored status and a study on how to repeal the car tax. Dead: Term limits for Rocky Mount Town Council.
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Virginia’s congressional redistricting effort on hold after Tazewell court ruling
A circuit court judge ruled that Democrats’ attempts to change the constitution to allow redistricting failed several legal tests. Democratic lawmakers plan to appeal the ruling.