As always, Alliance staff tracked legislation and made advocacy trips to Richmond during the 2020 session. Your calls and emails to legislators made a difference—thank you!
State Legislature Ends with Budget Uncertain
Like almost everything else, COVID-19 has upended the State’s budget, and the Governor now plans to revisit the budget in August. We will track that process to ensure solid levels of funding for clean water and farmland protection. With public lands, trails, and parks in our communities seeing increased demand, investment in quality of life and community open spaces is as important as ever.
Shout Out to Senator Emmett Hanger!
The Alliance is proud to join the Virginia Farm Bureau and clean water advocates from across Virginia in thanking Senator Hanger for introducing legislation on voluntary programs to fence cattle out of waterways, while committing the Commonwealth to backstop measures if pollution reduction targets are not met. Senator Hanger’s substitute bill garnered near-unanimous support from both legislative chambers.
Moving in the Right Direction with Solar Power
We are relieved that worrisome legislation to diminish local land-use control over large utility-scale solar projects did not pass during the legislative session. At the same time, the legislature made good progress towards breaking down policy barriers to distributed solar and allowing for installation of residential and commercial rooftop, farm-scale, local government and business solar projects.