Environmental Protection

Vote on the Utility Rate Bill

February 27, 2018 by David Toscano

On Monday, February 26, 2018, the House passed SB 966, one of the most significant bills we considered this year, by a 65-30 margin. I voted against the bill. The bill was proposed largely in response to the so-called “Rate Freeze Bill” enacted several years ago.

As I have written previously, utilities had been “overearning” for the last several years and the bill would provide not only for refunds, but a new way by which the utilities could invest in modernizing the grid.

When the bill was first introduced, it had serious flaws, including a provision allowing the utilities to, in some cases, collect twice for the same investment. This was the so-called “double dip,” and I successfully offered an amendment on the House floor that removed it. The same amendment was placed on the Senate bill. [Read more…]

GA Update: Crossover, Utility Rates, and Medicaid

February 14, 2018 by David Toscano

“Crossover” is the term used to describe the date that bills in the House need to be passed and moved to the Senate for consideration, and vice versa. Any bills that were not sent to the other body by yesterday (February 13) are dead for this Session. On Monday and Tuesday, we considered a number of controversial bills, not the least of which were measures involving possible re-regulation of utility rates and new requirements for Medicaid recipients.

UTILITY RATES – Defeating The Double Dip

Citizens have been reading for months about problems with the so-called “rate freeze” bill that was passed in 2015, and the General Assembly is now trying to fix it. A straight repeal of the 2015 measure failed in both houses, leaving only HB 1558 as a possible alternative. But that bill was fundamentally flawed when first introduced; it permitted utilities to keep much of their “overearnings” and left them largely free of State Corporation Commission (SCC) oversight. While the efforts of environmental and consumer groups made the bill that was considered on the House floor on Mondayand Tuesday noticeably better, it remained seriously deficient in several categories, including provisions that would have allowed the utility companies to enhance their profits with the so-called “double count” or “double dip.” [Read more…]

GA Update: Freeze or Thaw?

February 9, 2018 by David Toscano

One of the most significant bills of this session is HB1558, which would repeal the Utility Rate Freeze Bill of 2015. There has been much confusion and controversy about what the bill does, and does not, actually do. Many of you are aware that in 2015, in response to concerns about possible rate increases in the aftermath of passage of the federal Clean Power Plan, a bill was passed to prevent increases by freezing electricity rates for several years. That bill also removed the State Corporation Commission (SCC) from its role in reviewing rates until 2022.

Over the last several years, two big changes have happened. First, the Trump administration has unraveled the Clean Power Plan. Second, our major utilities have accumulated substantial “overearnings.” Most estimates place these overearnings at several hundred million dollars. There is no reason that these overearnings should not be returned to consumers.

In response to this, several bills were proposed that would undo the rate freeze and reinstate SCC oversight for Dominion and the other utilities. Straight repeal has been defeated, and only HB1558 has a chance of passage this Session. The question, then, is whether this bill will return any overearnings to consumers, and the extent to which the bill will lead to new investments in renewable energy availability and use, grid modernization, and weatherization improvements to save energy. [Read more…]

Approaching Crossover

February 6, 2018 by David Toscano

The session is now in its fourth week, and the pace has not let up as the deadline for crossover approaches. If you want to watch our work, you can find links to the live and archived versions of the floor sessions here, and committee sessions here.

GUNS AND WAR MEMORIALS

Last Friday was Groundhog Day and we have again witnessed the defeat of most of the gun safety bills. These are often referred by the Speaker to a small subcommittee of largely rural legislators, where they are dispatched quickly in party-line votes. I had two bills (HB 1009 and HB 1019) that both met this fate. The first was a bill to add the City of Charlottesville to a list of jurisdictions where semi-automatic weapons are not permitted in public spaces. The second was a bill to allow localities throughout the Commonwealth to prohibit the carrying of weapons and firearms into a permitted demonstration area. Both of these bills were filed in response to the events of August 11th and 12th. Each was defeated on 4 – 2 votes in a small subcommittee of the Militia, Police, and Public Safety Committee of the House. Similar bills have also died in the Senate, along with other gun safety measures.

My bill (HB 1225) to clarify the law related to war memorials met a similar fate in a different committee. [Read more…]

The Pace Quickens As Bills Move

January 29, 2018 by David Toscano

We are now more than two weeks into the 2018 General Assembly session, and the pace has increased dramatically. Committees begin meeting at 7 a.m. and continue after session each day, often into the early evening. Most of my bills have not yet been reported to the House floor, although I have had success on several measures at the committee level.

Preservation, Medical Marijuana, And Parental Leave

My bill to assist the Preservers of the Daughters of Zion Cemetery with funding for their ongoing and important restoration efforts here in Charlottesville sailed through a subcommittee hearing, and is likely to be passed by the House next week.

I have supported various efforts to use cannabidiol oil or THC-A oil, derived from marijuana, to treat pain associated with a number of serious illnesses, and to broaden physicians’ ability to prescribe them for this purpose. At present, these oils can only be prescribed for intractable epilepsy. A measure I introduced to expand their availability to other illnesses has been heard in subcommittee and will move to the full Courts of Justice Committee soon. And Democratic bills (including mine) to mandate 12 weeks of parental leave for state employees when they add a child to their family, by birth or adoption, are awaiting action in an Appropriations subcommittee; I hope to be able to report progress on this soon. [Read more…]