For now, read on to get into the nitty gritty on how our legislative agenda fared in 2026!

PASSED!

The major takeaway from this legislative session is that the members pushed forward an agenda to make it easier to site clean energy projects and put clean energy in the hands of more Virginians. This is critical at a time when energy costs are sky-high and climbing, and clean, local energy like solar, wind, and storage are our most stable and affordable options.

HUGE WIN: Rejoining the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (budget language)

Language in the state “caboose” budget (short budget that edits the existing 2024-2026 budget) directs Virginia to rejoin the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) immediately. RGGI caps pollution from power plants and funds flood resilience and low-income energy efficiency programs. Former Governor Youngkin illegally removed Virginia from the program.

Patrons: Senator Locke (D-Hampton), Leader Herring (D-Alexandria)

HUGE WIN: Banning Solar Bans (SB 347, HB 711)

Right now, over half of Virginia localities ban or severely restrict the development of utility-scale solar projects. To combat the climate crisis, we need to build a lot of clean energy at every scale, everywhere, fast.

This legislation eliminates local bans on ground-mounted solar farms, ensuring projects can get a vote before the local Board, and establishes siting standards for responsible projects (i.e. setbacks from wetlands, etc).

Patrons: Senator VanValkenburg (D-Henrico), Leader Herring (D-Alexandria)

HUGE WIN: Increasing Battery Storage Goals (SB 448, HB 895)

With an eye towards electrifying everything to get this state off gas, we need immense amounts of flexible, clean power. This legislation dramatically increases battery storage goals in the Virginia Clean Economy Act and establishes new long-duration storage goals, helping obviate the need for new gas peaker plants. Ultimately, increased local battery storage will lower costs as we reduce reliance on the volatile global fossil fuel market.

Patrons: Senator Bagby (D-Richmond), Delegate Sullivan (D-Fairfax)

Enabling Balcony Solar (SB 250, HB 395)

Virginia became the second state in the country to pass legislation enabling the use of plug-in or “balcony” solar kits. That puts clean energy within the reach of millions of more Virginians in apartments, condos, or any home where rooftop is not feasible. This bill was on Governor Spanberger’s shortlist of energy affordability priorities.

Patrons: Senator Surovell (D-Fairfax), Delegate Krizek (D-Fairfax)

Expanding Residential Solar and Storage (SB 175, HB 628)

The Commonwealth has a lot of room to grow in terms of adoption of residential solar and battery storage. These bills expand our small-scale clean energy goals and make financing options easier for more classes of customers.

Patrons: Senator VanValkenburg (D-Henrico), Delegate Callsen (D-Charlottesville)

Pursuing Low-Income Energy Efficiency Programs (SB 5, HB 3)

There are myriad utility or state-run energy efficiency programs (and, historically but to a lesser extent these days, federal programs). But these programs do not “talk to each other” very well – that is, outreach, implementation, and data regarding who is receiving services are not well coordinated. These bills, also a Governor’s priority, create a taskforce to facilitate coordination and suggest new policies to provide energy efficiency to all of the Commonwealth’s low-income residents.

Patrons: Senator Locke (D-Hampton), Delegate Levere-Bolling (D-Henrico)

Reducing Barriers to Storage on Solar Farms (SB 443, HB 891)

In order to get clean energy online quickly, we need to cut unnecessary red tape. This legislation will speed approval for battery storage projects on existing solar farms, supplementing those projects with clean, flexible power without expanding the overall project footprint.

Patrons: Senator McPike (D-Prince William), Delegate Shin (D-Herndon)

Giving Localities Tools for EV-Ready Homes (HB 833)

More and more drivers are realizing the benefits of driving electric, but barriers remain to charging at home – particularly in dense, urban localities. This bill will allow local governments to require certain types of new constructions to be “EV ready” – meaning, the wiring and panel are ready for the installation of an EV charger. Such a policy helps drivers avoid costly retrofits to accommodate chargers in buildings not designed to support them.

Patron: Delegate McClure (D-Arlington)

Fast-tracking Renewables at Existing Grid Interconnection Sites (SB 508, HB 1065)

In the spirit of getting more clean power online more quickly, these bills will fast-track new renewable projects near existing, underutilized grid interconnection points. Virginia is at the front of the pack of a suite of states pursuing this novel approach to increase our electric supply.

Patrons: Senator VanValkenburg (D-Henrico), Delegate Hernandez (D-Norfolk)

FAILED

The major takeaway from bills that did not move forward is that the General Assembly continues to struggle to hold big corporations accountable – whether that’s Big Tech giants and data center proliferation or Big Oil polluters and the damage they have done to Virginia’s people and infrastructure.

Incentivizing Data Centers to Use Clean Energy (SB 465, HB 897)

Without a doubt, the biggest decarbonization challenge the state faces is how to ensure a forecasted tripling of the state’s energy needs is supplied by clean electricity. But there is a fairly straightforward answer – the state can push the data center industry to acquire their own clean electricity, including moving away from toxic diesel back-up generators. This legislation, which passed in the House and failed in the Senate, would have provided a strong incentive for the industry to go above and beyond our utility clean energy targets.

And while the legislation failed, the environmental standards contained in the bill continue to be part of the ongoing budget negotiation. We must insist that any reformation of how data centers are taxed or regulated includes these strong standards.

Patrons: Senator Deeds (D-Albemarle), Delegate Sullivan (D-Fairfax)

Imposing State Oversight over Data Center Interconnection (SB 619, HB 155)

To date, a small handful of localities have radically changed Virginia’s energy landscape by approving dozens of gigawatts of new load in the form of data centers. That has come with statewide environmental and energy bill impacts, and yet the state has no role in managing the approval process. This legislation would have empowered state regulators to review applications for large data centers to ensure there are not negative impacts on the state’s grid reliability, energy costs, or environment. It passed in the Senate and failed in a House subcommittee.

Patrons: Senator Srinivasan (D-Loudoun), Delegate Thomas (D-Prince William)

Correcting Data Center Infrastructure Cost Allocation (SB 339, HB 658)

Data centers require massive amounts of power, which necessitates an immense buildout of transmission infrastructure. While we do need new transmission lines to ultimately electrify everything, ratepayers shouldn’t get caught with the check for infrastructure that is really just to the benefit of Big Tech. These bills would have ensured that transmission projects solely needed for data centers are paid for by those users, not Virginia families. This measure also passed in the Senate and failed in a House subcommittee.

Patrons: Senator Perry (D-Loudoun), Delegate Maldonado (D-Manassas)

Making Polluters Pay (SB 420, HB 847)

Just in the last month or so, Virginia was blanketed in ice, sweltered in 80-degree March weather, and now is facing tornado warnings and a spring freeze. Conditions are not normal, and the consequences are expensive – just look at your electricity bill. This legislation would have allowed the state to shift the cost of disaster relief from Virginia tax and ratepayers to the Big Oil companies most responsible for extreme weather while providing funding to future-proof the grid with resilient clean energy infrastructure. It failed in the Senate Agriculture and Natural Resources committee 6–8 and was not heard in the House.

Patrons: Senator Boysko (D-Fairfax), Delegate Cousins (D-Richmond)

Funding Rural EV Charging Infrastructure (HB 324)

Virginia’s statewide charging infrastructure network is not ready to handle the ongoing influx of new EV drivers. Nowhere is this more true than in the state’s rural and low-income localities, many of which depend on tourism for local tax revenue creation and basic public services like school and road repair. Due to budget uncertainty caused by the Trump administration, the legislature declined to fund this initiative.

Patron: Delegate Sullivan (D-Fairfax)

STILL TO COME

As we’ve discussed, Virginia’s legislature will meet again on April 23rd to pass a state budget. That budget will address how data centers are taxed – or not. We have a critical window to advocate for strong, environmental standards as part of that budget negotiation. These standards will move Big Tech away from “behind the meter” gas power plants and diesel backup generators and towards renewables and battery storage.

If the legislature does not move these standards forward, they will have once again punted on the most important environmental issue of our time. We need your voice to hold them accountable! Send your quick message today!