Sen. Todd Pillion
This week, Richmond, Virginia seemed a lot like Richmond, California as the Senate Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources Committee served as the arena for a smackdown between the two states. California won on a party-line vote, 8 to 7.
The issue: whether Virginia or California will control our vehicle emission standards. During the two years when Democrats had complete control of Virginia government, they enacted legislation that gave the California Air Resources Board (CARB) control of Virginia’s emission standards.
Last August, California Governor Gavin Newsom declared that California would ban the sale of new gasoline and diesel vehicles by 2035. The scheme requires 35% of 2026 model year vehicles sold in the state be electric or hydrogen-generated electric.
Electric vehicles represent about 0.5% of current registrations in Virginia and around 2% of new vehicles sold in the state. In order to comply with California’s new mandate, Virginians would have to buy 18 times more electric vehicles than they’re currently purchasing in just three years. The average cost of a new electric vehicle? $66,000, according to Kelley Blue Book. The average household income in far Southwest Virginia? $41,530.
This is what happens when state government outsources decisions affecting the lives and livelihoods of its citizens to bureaucrats headquartered 2,600 miles away. But, that is our current law, enacted two years ago by Democrats over the loud objections of Republican senators.
Many Virginians might not realize that decisions on what cars they can and cannot buy are being decided for them in California. That is why I cosponsored legislation this year to “un-California” Virginia by repealing this law. Regardless of your stance on the policy, our General Assembly should never sell out Virginians by tying our laws to California or any other state.
Energy Prices and Utility Regulation
One of our legislative delegation’s top priorities this session is addressing skyrocketing energy prices. Inflation, fuel prices, and the current rate review process has created a perfect storm for recent bill increases. I am cosponsoring a bill with Delegate Israel O’Quinn and Senator Travis Hackworth which would limit the amounts that are recoverable by a utility and change the current rate review by the State Corporation Commission from every three years to every year.
Legislation Reported from Committee
So far, more than 700 bills (and counting) have been filed in the Virginia Senate. This is the time of year when most legislative work is done in committees. This week, three of my bills reported unanimously from the Education & Health Committee:
- SB1414 creates the Commonwealth Opioid Abatement and Remediation Fund. This fund will be the repository of all dollars Virginia receives from national opioid settlements which are not already earmarked for the Opioid Abatement Authority or localities. The bill restricts these funds solely for the purposes of efforts to treat, prevent, or reduce opioid use disorder and to abate or remediate the opioid epidemic.
- SB1415 establishes a statewide fentanyl response plan with the number one goal of saving lives and livelihoods. Fatal fentanyl overdoses surged in Virginia from 48 in 2007 to over 2,000 in 2021. Governor Youngkin has committed an investment of $7 million in his proposed budget to support this important first step.
- SB1418 seeks to improve access to health care, particularly in rural areas, by clarifying that providers licensed by the Commonwealth are not required to maintain a physical presence in Virginia to enroll as a Medicaid provider for telemedicine. This can be especially important for Southwest Virginians who have health care providers based in our border states.
