The budget creates a permanent state climate bureaucracy.
— Tim Anderson (@AssocAnderson) June 21, 2026
No law passed. But an entire new agency. The State Climate Office. Created it in the budget. No legislative debate. Just tucked away on page 100. pic.twitter.com/X7IbjbJJPy
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Building a New State Climate Bureaucracy
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Virginia’s Return to RGGI: Another Ratepayer Rip-Off in the Making
Governor Spanberger just made every Virginian’s household more expensive.
by Jeff Reynolds
Virginia has jumped back into the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), and residential ratepayers will feel the pain—again.
The last time the state was in the program, under the last Democratic governor, it cost Virginians more than $600 million over three years. Every penny landed on electric bills. Now, Democratic leadership in the Assembly, Senate, and governor’s mansion has reenrolled the state in the “cap-and-invest” scheme, and the latest estimates put the annual hit at more than $500 million going forward. That figure doesn’t even account for rising credit prices now that Virginia’s demand has re-entered the market and driven up costs.
Analyses have pegged the household impact north of $1,500 a year.
Glenn Davis, who helped shape Virginia’s energy policy as director of the state Department of Energy, doesn’t mince words about what this means for families.
“We know everyone’s bill is going to go up,” he told Restoration News.
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Virginia Democrats Inject Race into Tourism
by Virginia Grace McKinnon
Image credit: Grok The Virginia House of Delegates just released its final draft of the 2026 budget. Buried in a civil war on data centers, lifting marijuana restrictions, and giving themselves a 150% pay raise, Democrats are also seeking to spend millions on DEI tourism.
Virginia legislators are busy working out the 2026 budget. After months of back and forth with the state Senate and the governor, the Democrat-controlled Legislature released its budget proposal Friday evening, 100 days late.
Buried in the 600-page proposal, which cost taxpayers $50,000 to craft, is a marketing provision that seeks to promote non-white travel to Virginia.
The item, titled “Establish a Black, Indigenous, and Hispanic Communities Marketing Campaign,” aims to spend $4 million to develop a marketing campaign to attract out-of-state visitors from those minority communities.
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Assembly To Data Centers: “Here’s Your Hat, There’s the Door”
by Steve Haner
The energy regulatory provisions buried in the final conference report on Virginia’s 2026-2028 budget, approved by the General Assembly Monday, are as complex and detailed as any of the energy bills reviewed earlier during the regular session. They are also just as damaging.
The data center industry was a particular target. The political fights over its partial sales and use tax exemption and its sources of energy were not resolved at all, but another new tax and a host of new regulations are now imposed on just these companies. A harsh but clear message was sent.
Why even have a 60-day General Assembly session if all the big decisions are made in a closed room in a delayed budget negotiation? This conference report could not be amended, could not be divided into separate votes on separate provisions, and was “must pass” because the June 30 deadline is next week. The public disenfranchisement was total.
All the headlines are focused on the new consumption tax imposed on the data centers effective July 1, which is similar and in addition to an existing state and local energy consumption tax. The additional tax of 1.1 cent per kilowatt hour will raise $600 million in each of the next two years and then sunset, but this tax likely will only go away if something even more detrimental to the industry is adopted.
Three things are important to note about that new consumption tax. (more…)
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Spanberger Admin Proposes Extending Virginia’s Lowest-in-Nation English and Math State Standards for 2 More Years
After years of delays, the proposed additional delay sets up a likely strong push for another delay in 2 years by powerful lobbying groups for those who work in the K-12 system… at the expense of Virginia students and parents
by Todd Truitt
As a supporter of Governor Abigail Spanberger, I’ve been impressed by much of the new administration’s promises on the campaign trail and in their first day executive order on higher expectations for Virginia’s public schools.
The administration’s upcoming presentation to the Virginia Board of Education on the Assessment and Accountability Roadmap attempts to confirm this commitment. The presentation lays out the administration’s policy plans in detail, with multiple strong accountability elements and repeatedly affirms a commitment to higher expectations.
Unfortunately, the same presentation’s proposal to delay any increase in the minimum thresholds for “passing” state English and Math standardized tests (“cut scores”) by two more years does the exact opposite. Instead, the administration proposes changing the 4-year gradual cut score hikes scheduled to begin this fall into a single large increase in Fall 2028-2029 to coincide with implementation of accountability changes and new assessments. One can see the “stakeholder” voices—school administrators and teachers associations—almost certainly arguing in a couple years that it’s “too much at once” and lobbying for yet another delay or another long phase-in.
Spanberger administration proposal
Source: Virginia Department of Education, June 2026Virginia’s cut scores have embarrassingly remained the lowest in the nation for years, and this proposed move extends that embarrassing distinction even further. In the best-case scenario, the proposal is a politically naïve concession to the powerful K-12 lobby. In the worst-case scenario, it is a policy giveaway to those who are employed by and administer the public school system and their powerful lobbyists. In either case, Virginia students and families will pay the price if such proposal is enacted by the Board in August.
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Amazon Data Centers Now Use Less Water
Plus, in Virginia they spawn tax cuts for homeowners.
Data center sipping water. Image credit: Grok by Hans Bader
Amazon’s data centers are using water more efficiently than in the past. A company report shows that “Amazon’s data centers used just 0.12 liters of water per kilowatt-hour of compute in 2025, about one-seventh of the industry average and less than half of Amazon’s rate of 0.25 liters in 2021,” notes The Doomslayer.
Amazon News says that
When data centers use water for cooling, one of the most important metrics is how efficiently they use that water—meaning how little water they use for each unit of compute. Amazon announced that its global data center operations used just 0.12 liters of water per kilowatt-hour (L/kWh) in 2025, a rate that’s over 7x more efficient than the industry average of 0.84 L/kWh.
In other words, we use far less water per unit of compute than others in the global data center industry, which as a whole accounts for less than 0.5% of all industrial water use globally.
And we’re continuing to get even more efficient year over year. These efficiency gains are the result of years of investment in custom cooling technology, smarter systems, and a commitment to minimize water use wherever possible.
A think-tank says that “the total water use of all U.S. data centers constitutes less than 0.5% of American freshwater use and there is not a single instance of AI infrastructure raising water prices anywhere in America. AI data centers are a boon for the country, driving economic growth.” The largest U.S. data center consumed less water than three square miles of farmland did.
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Spanberger’s Slow Start
by Rich Tucker
Imagine for a moment that you’re at a Donald Trump rally. As you approach the event, you come across a Republican protester wearing an anti-Trump mask and carrying a “No more wars” sign. Perhaps the person is also accusing the president of being too cozy with corporations.
Does that sound unlikely?
Well, outside a Democratic meeting this week—an event sponsored by a Democrat state senator and featuring an appearance by L. Louise Lucas, the president pro tempore of the Senate and the state’s most influential lawmaker—stood the Virginia Democratic Party’s version of just such a protester.
This Democrat sported a cardboard image of the Democrat governor wearing a mock tiara that said: “Diva Data Center.” The protester was holding a “No more data centers” sign and hinted the governor is too close to Dominion Energy. The protester wasn’t shunned for shaming a governor from her own party; other rally-goers seemed to welcome her presence.
The governor’s rift with Democrats goes deeper.
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If We Ban the AR-15, Perhaps We Should Restrict Hands and Feet As Well
by Ken Stiles
Which kills more Virginians each year? AR-15s or hands and feet? Image credit: Grok “We have finally reached a place where we have a critical mass of legislators who are willing to vote for bills that save lives – not that you hope will save lives, but bills that are written based on data and evidence, and empirically we know they save lives,”
So said Governor Abigail Spanberger about legislation, which she signed, that restricts the sale and purchase of the AR-15 style rifle/carbine in Virginia.
Delegate Dan Helmer, D-Fairfax Station had this to say:
“Weapons similar to those I carried in Iraq and Afghanistan should not be trafficked in our commonwealth. … I think the high-capacity magazines that so oftentimes have been involved in instances of mass shootings that lead to mass death should be removed from Virginia.”
Spanberger said she was signing HB 217 into law “because firearms designed to inflict maximum casualties do not belong on our streets.”
But she admitted that the AR-15 holds a special place in America when she added, “While the General Assembly chose not to adopt my amendment that specifically carves out certain firearms frequently used for hunting, I will work with the patrons to clarify this language.”
The rhetoric echoed that of Vice President Harris, speaking in May 2022: “You know what an assault weapon is? You know how an assault weapon was designed? It was designed for a specific purpose – to kill a lot of human beings quickly. An assault weapon is a weapon of war with no place, no place in a civil society.”
All of the above, except the governor’s caveat about the special carve out are based on emotional dribble grounded on lies and ignorance.
Let’s examine a few facts:
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RGGI Rebates for Some Ordered in New Budget Language
The pending conference report on adopting a new Virginia state budget includes a process to rebate the cost of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative’s carbon tax, but only to smaller customers and only if their utility is charging them for it directly.
The states currently in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative tax compact. Larger energy users, especially the largest industrial, commercial and data customers, will still pay in full. The full economic impact of the tax on electricity prices in general will be unchanged, and RGGI raises energy costs across the board in Virginia.
The complicated rebate process outlined in one paragraph in the budget section on the Department of Environmental Quality would apply only if the utility paying the RGGI carbon tax to run its hydrocarbon power plants then collects the tax from its customers through a special charge on monthly bills.
This might apply only to customers of Dominion Energy Virginia, which has applied to the State Corporation Commission for a 1.3 cent per kilowatt hour “rate adjustment clause” on all its customers. Appalachian Power Company, serving parts of Western Virginia, pays very little RGGI tax on just one in-state plant and has not used a RGGI rider to collect the funds from customers. Maybe now it will do so. There is no provision for rebates to rural cooperative customers, and again, the RGGI cost has not been segregated on their bills as it is buried in their purchased power costs.
This is another admission by the Democrats so fond of this carbon tax that it ultimately is paid by customers, not the power companies. When the tax was $5- to $6 per ton of carbon emissions, it was harder to see, but now at $35 per ton it is impossible to miss.
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Jeanine’s Memes
View more memes at The Bull Elephant.
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Data Centers Will Pay Same Tax on Solar Power as on Coal
by Steve Haner
The new energy tax being imposed on Virginia’s data center industry effective July 1, assuming the new state budget conference report passes next week, is totally ecumenical. The same tax is imposed on electrons from a solar panel or wind turbine as is imposed on electrons from coal.
A data center that has largely or fully supplied its needs with generation behind the meter on site or with a contract with a competitive service provider will pay the same tax per kilowatt hour as a data center straining the general utility grid. This is what the new provision states:
…regardless of whether the electricity is provided through an incumbent electric utility, an incumbent electric cooperative, a competitive service provider, or is self-supplied. For electricity that is self-supplied, the data center operator shall report its usage quarterly to the Department of Environmental Quality, who shall verify such usage with the State Corporation Commission.
The $11,000 per 1 million kilowatt hours (and data centers use hundreds of millions in some cases) will be in addition to the existing $875 per 1 million kilowatt hour tax on large electricity users in an existing law. But that tax is only on utility-delivered power. Taxing the self-supplied power is new.
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DEI by Any Other Name Is Just as Noxious
Did UVA eliminate DEI or merely rebrand it?
Image credit: Grok by the Jefferson Council
For over a decade, successive UVA administrations spent millions of dollars building one of the most extensive Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) bureaucracies in American higher education. A 2021 survey ranked UVA second among major universities in the number of DEI employees, and by 2024 the university was spending $20M on 235 positions. When these practices were found to violate the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and a landmark Supreme Court decision, the Board of Visitors unanimously voted to dismantle them. UVA later entered into a formal agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice to do exactly that.
Even a cursory review of the current situation on Grounds suggests the reality is otherwise.
One administrator’s official biography still describes her job, in the present tense, as executing diversity, equity, and inclusion strategy — the same language from her previous role as the Senior Assistant Dean and Chief Community and Connection Officer. Her title has been scrubbed from the page. However, her payroll listing now reads Compliance Consultant. Her biography did not change. The page simply moved to a new address.
That detail captures, in microcosm, what a review of key DEI staffers, archived webpages, and salary records reveals about the scope of UVA’s restructuring: titles changed, office names changed, URLs changed. The people did not.
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Bacon Meme of the Week
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Don’t Let Data Centers Force a Virginia Government Shutdown
by David J. Toscano
Image credit: Chat GPT [FLASH: Rumors are now circulating that House and Senate negotiators may be close to a budget deal. That is good news, but it still must pass both bodies and be signed by the governor by June 30]
Want a good example of the “tail wagging the dog?” Look no further that this year’s budget process in Virginia. The “dog” is a $74 billion budget that needs to be passed by June 30 to avoid a government shutdown. The “tail” is the data center industry — and whether the state should end tax exemptions for the industry that otherwise expire in 2035. The proposed House budget did not change the exemption, and legislation to terminate the program failed during the regular session. Rather than wait for a new bill in a new session, Senate Democrats and Sen. Louise Lucas, a leading critic of the subsidies, inserted language into its budget to end the program, and proposed using the savings to increase spending in other areas. The House rejected that approach.
Under our state constitution, Virginia government is not authorized to operate without a budget in place by July 1. While the General Assembly has failed to pass a budget by the end of its regular session in March 11 times since 2000, it has always met the fiscal year deadline. The closest call came in 2006, when Gov. Tim Kaine signed the budget on June 30. The House just canceled its plans to return to Richmond on June 18, and it is not clear when the budget impasse will be resolved.
The data center trade off
The state tax exemptions for the industry means $1.9 billion less in revenue is collected by the state this year. That is a significant sum, but it represents only about 2.6 percent of the $74 billion budget proposed by the House and endorsed by Gov. Abigail Spanberger, and pales by comparison to spending on education, local government and key services. Yet, it has become the driver of the budget impasse.
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Surf’s Up! And So’s Exposure to Virginia Beach Taxpayers
The biggest wave generated by the city’s Atlantic Park project is debt. The promised tax revenues aren’t sufficient yet to support it.
by James C. Sherlock
Virginia Beach wave pool, keystone of the Atlantic Beach project. Image credit: Surfer Magazine From an article by Stacy Parker in The Virginian-Pilot this morning:
To build two parking garages and improve streets in Atlantic Park, a public entity borrowed $53 million and agreed to pay off the loan with tax revenue generated from the project.
The bill has come due, but the taxes aren’t adding up yet.
Who knew?
About that $53 million debt thing. The Official Statement prepared by the City of Virginia Beach, Virginia, on behalf of the City of Virginia Beach Development Authority (the “public entity” referenced by Ms. Parker) listed the debt:
City Of Virginia Beach Development Authority
- $33,435,000 Public Facility Revenue Bonds, Series 2024A
- $27,225,000 Public Facility Refunding Revenue Bonds, Series 2024B
- $128,070,000 Public Facility Revenue Bonds, Series 2024C (Federally Taxable)
In 2024, this author wrote an 11-part series on the multiple scandals surrounding the Virginia Beach City Council’s actions to fund Atlantic Park. Atlantic Park is comprised of:
- the Dome entertainment venue and the parking garages owned by the city, from which it hopes to generate revenue,
- all the steady revenue-generating assets like restaurants, shops, and apartments owned by a private development company,
- a maybe-not-revenue-generating wave pool owned by a North Carolina nonprofit funded with state revenue bonds because neither the city nor the developers wanted any part of it.
In this case, as a Virginia Beach taxpayer, he did not wish to be right in his published prediction that the Development Authority would be unable to service the debt with project revenues.
It turns out he was prescient.
