Environment

Cloud Computing Cluster Infrastructure Grant Fund; reclaimed water usage. Requires data center operators applying for grant payments from the Cloud Computing Cluster Infrastructure Grant Fund to utilize reclaimed water, defined in the bill, for water-dependent cooling processes at data center and cloud computing cluster operations facilities. The bill gradually increases the reclaimed water utilization requirement at such facilities from 60 percent of all water-dependent cooling processes beginning on July 1, 2027, to 100 percent on and after July 1, 2031.

Virginia's Great Outdoors Act established; land preservation distributions and appropriations. Creates a data center land preservation tax on and after January 1, 2027, in an amount equal to $3 per square foot of each data center facility footprint, as defined in the bill, and directs no less than $250 million of revenues from the tax to be distributed for various land protection and preservation purposes, including into the Virginia Tribal Commitment Fund, as created in the bill. The bill also repeals provisions requiring the Governor to include in the budget bill or in his amendments to the general appropriation act a recommended appropriation from the general fund, up to $20 million, for land preservation as follows: (i) 80 percent of the unissued credits to the Virginia Land Conservation Fund, of which at least 50 percent must be used for acquisitions with public access; (ii) 10 percent to the Virginia Battlefield Preservation Fund; and (iii) 10 percent to the Virginia Farmland and Forestland Preservation Fund.

Electric utilities; RPS requirements; Air Pollution Control Board; regulations. Delays for 20 years the timeline by which Appalachian Power and Dominion Energy Virginia are required to produce 100 percent of their electric energy from 100 percent renewable resources. Under the bill, the annual percentage requirements are paused after the 2023 compliance year and do not resume until 2044. The bill provides that Appalachian Power and Dominion Energy Virginia are required to meet the 100 percent requirement by 2070 and 2065, respectively. Additionally, the bill provides that the Air Pollution Control Board is required to adopt regulations for the period of 2051 to 2070 to reduce carbon emissions from electric power generating facilities. Under current law, the Board is required to adopt regulations to reduce emissions for the period of 2031 through 2050.

Virginia Institute of Marine Science; Atlantic Menhaden Research Fund established; report. Establishes the Atlantic Menhaden Research Fund to be used by the Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS), in collaboration with Virginia Marine Resources Commission (VMRC) and relevant stakeholders, to produce research relating to Atlantic menhaden necessary to inform a scientifically defensible and ecologically meaningful harvest limit for Atlantic menhaden in the Chesapeake Bay and an annual report summarizing such research. VIMS is directed to annually report its progress, findings, recommendations, and a proposal for expenditures and disbursements from the Fund for the following year to the Chairs of the House Committee on Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources and the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources, the Secretary of Natural and Historic Resources, the Ecological Reference Point Work Group of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, and the Menhaden Management Advisory Committee of VMRC no later than October 1 of each year.

SB 829 is a legislative bill that addresses real property tax bill disclosure requirements and resource protection areas. The bill directly affects property owners and local governments by mandating specific information be included in property tax statements. Key provisions require clearer disclosure of tax assessments and establish guidelines for protecting designated resource areas. The legislation aims to improve transparency in property tax billing while maintaining protections for environmentally significant lands. This bill is currently under review by the Finance and Appropriations Committee.

Expanded polystyrene food service containers; repeal of prohibition. Repeals the statute prohibiting food vendors and certain restaurants from dispensing prepared food to a customer in a single-use expanded polystyrene food service container.