Virginia session updates: conservation, data center reform, energy, housing
The Piedmont Environmental Council reports tentative outcomes of the Virginia General Assembly’s 60-day session and the bills now sent to the governor, with a budget impasse centered on a massive data center tax break prompting legislators to reconvene April 22 and begin a special session April 23.
Main outcomes: The General Assembly sent bills to the governor’s desk on conservation, data center reform, energy & climate, and housing; a proposed $3-per-square-foot data center tax (“Virginia’s Great Outdoors Act”) that would have generated up to $250 million per year for land conservation did not pass the House. The Senate proposed completely eliminating the data center sales tax exemption, which has grown from an initial $1.6 million estimate to a projected $1.9 billion in 2025, and the House instead proposed tying exemptions to renewable energy and efficiency commitments; budget disagreement delayed final action until the April reconvening.
Other key details and passed measures: PEC-backed conservation reforms (limits on condemning conserved lands, limits on planting invasive species, PFAS monitoring/reporting) moved forward while some measures (dark-sky education, Chesapeake Bay Pay for Outcomes Fund) failed. Energy & climate wins include an agrivoltaics definition and the Distributed Generation Expansion act requiring 1 gigawatt of solar on previously disturbed sites plus bills to speed rooftop solar permitting, enable balcony and parking lot solar, expand shared solar, create a Distributed Energy Taskforce, and expand energy storage and surplus interconnection. On data centers, noise assessments and a voluntary demand response program passed; stronger air quality provisions and broader water-disclosure requirements were largely watered down to stronger emission standards and monthly water use reporting.