The 2025 Regular Session of the General Assembly is winding down. For the fifth time in the last six years, I have been appointed to the conference committee to develop a final budget. Our goal is to get a budget as early this week as possible and certainly in time to adjourn sine die as scheduled on Saturday, February 22.
As discussed before, the differences between the House and Senate budgets are not as significant as they have been in past years. We have differences about the use of debt for capital projects, compensation plans, data centers, and other issues. But I am hopeful we can reach agreement in the next few days.
I want to focus this newsletter on a couple of disappointments from this session.
Solar Siting
For the past several years, we have been focused on transitioning our economy from fossil fuels and carbon-based energy to renewable energy. We passed the Virginia Clean Economy Act in 2020, which sets goals, modest in the eyes of some but ambitious in the eyes of many, to eliminate carbon from the production of energy by 2050. There are guideposts along the way for us to create energy using renewable means. Candidly, we cannot achieve our goals without a significant increase in nuclear power. Nuclear is not renewable, no matter what people want to believe, but it is carbon-free. Nuclear is expensive to develop and slow to deploy, and we have to figure out those issues over the next several years.
One of the things I have tried to do is focus on solar development. While communities have welcomed data centers that produce significant tax revenue and huge increases in the demand for electric power, they have been slower to adopt solar ordinances and solar power. I had legislation the last couple of years to streamline the process statewide. The bill I had last year would have set up a process that allowed appeals to the State Corporation Commission when projects were rejected at the local level. That approach drew a lot of opposition, particularly from advocates for local control.
The bill I introduced this year was developed after dozens of hours of meetings and stakeholder engagement during the interim last year. The bill was significantly different in that it kept the decisions local but required the development of energy plans. It also added some technical expertise to the mix so localities would have help in making decisions. Despite all of the work done leading up to session, many concerns remained about the bill. I brought together a significant number of stakeholders, including solar developers, advocates for the agricultural and forest industries, and environmental groups and developed a compromise. The bill, which made some solar developers mad, reported out of committee but ultimately died on the floor of the Senate.
Bills come and go, and I am not disappointed in the loss of a piece of legislation with my name on it. I am, however, discouraged that we have not taken a step forward toward achieving our goal of developing more renewable energy. I am not deterred.
Campaign Finance Reform
Over the years, on more occasions that I can remember, people have expressed their concerns to me about our campaign finance laws. In Virginia, we almost have an “anything goes” system. Contributions of any kind and any amount from any person or entity, as long as they are not foreign, are legal. The catch is that all donations must be disclosed. For individual contributions over $100, you must include the name, address and employer. For contributions over $100 from businesses or organizations, you have to include the name, address, and type of business. The information is filed in a report to the Department of Elections. In off years, you file twice. During election years, the reporting is more frequent.
In 1997, former Delegate Ken Melvin introduced legislation to prohibit legislators from raising money during the legislative session. That legislation made it to the floor and passed. Eleven years ago, in response to a perceived scandal from the Governor’s office, some ethics and gift reforms were adopted. But that did not involve campaign finance or the flow of money to legislators.
I have introduced reforms a number of times because I believe our current system of financing elections engenders a feeling of cynicism. Those types of bills have languished in committee. This year, I introduced Senate Bill 1469 to set contributions limits at $5,000 for statewide and Senate candidates and $3,000 for House of Delegates seats for an election cycle. The limits were developed after a review of the laws in other states, but I was open to higher caps. In my view, any limits are better than no limits. The bill also had a delayed effective date, so it would not have impacted elections this year.
For the first time in my recollection, a bill of this type passed out of committee, albeit by a close vote. The bill was reported to the floor by an 8-7 party-line vote with an understanding that the limits would be increased. My disappointment occurred when members of my own caucus advised me that they were not going to support the bill, even if we raised the caps by about tenfold. I was only going to get about ten votes. Rather than force a vote knowing it would die, the bill went by for the day. While that marked defeat, we still achieved something that hasn’t occurred in some time. For the first time since 1997, a real reform bill was on the floor of the Senate. We just did not get over the finish line.
Every year, somebody in a town hall meeting or on the street asks me about campaign finance reform. Every year, somebody expresses surprise at the fact we have no limits in Virginia. Yet, this type of legislation never rises to the top of people’s concerns. It doesn’t seem to be the sort of issue on which a lot of voters focus. Until it is, I suspect we will not see progress in Richmond.
Gubernatorial Appointments
The Governor makes probably a thousand appointments a year. All of those appointments must be confirmed by the General Assembly. My default position is to support the Governor’s nominees. It is his prerogative, and any appointment that is not approved is still going to be filled by the Governor. Sometimes appointees who generate particular pushback remove themselves from consideration. With each Governor, there are a handful of people that are rejected for one reason or another. It is certainly not the tradition of the Senate or of the House, for that matter, to publicly discuss the reasons for removal or to besmirch the person’s reputation. That tradition was respected this year. Five of the Governor’s nominees out of about a thousand were rejected in the Senate. An additional four were removed by the House of Delegates. The rest of the nominees were confirmed.
Final Week
We have a week left in the legislative session. On Monday, the last committee meetings will be held. A lot of bills remain under consideration in both bodies, and our floor sessions will become lengthy. My primary work over the next few days, however, will be working on the budget. Serving as one of the ten budget conferees is time-intensive work, but ultimately it is gratifying.
It continues to be my high honor to serve you in the Senate of Virginia. If I may be of service, please do not hesitate to contact me at senatordeeds@senate.virginia.gov or 804-698-7511.
Best,
