Sen. Danica Roem

Commending Sandra Gioia Treadway.

Commending Peter A. Blake.

Commending Scott McGeary.

Stormwater management regulations; enterprisedata center operations. Directs the State Water Control Boardto adopt regulations that require certain stormwater management techniquesfor land disturbances related to the construction, expansion, oroperation of an enterprise data center operation, as defined in thebill, that is located within one mile of any land owned or operatedas a unit of the National Park Service or designated as a VirginiaState Park or state forest.

Public institutions of higher education; Hunger-Free Campus Grant Program established; report. Establishes the Hunger-Free Campus Grant Program to address student food insecurity at public institutions of higher education. The bill provides that the Program shall be managed by the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia and available for participation by public institutions of higher education; however, participation in the Program shall be optional for such institutions. Under the bill, if a public institution of higher education satisfies certain criteria set out in the bill, including creating initiatives on campus to address student food insecurity, it shall be designated as a "Hunger-Free Campus" and the Council shall award a grant to such institution. A public institution of higher education that receives a grant under the bill shall utilize the funds to support on-campus efforts and initiatives to eliminate student food insecurity at such institution. The bill requires the Council to submit a report to the Chairmen of the Senate Committee on Education and Health and the House Committee on Education no later than two years after the establishment of the Program.

Data centers; noise abatement. Providesthat any local government land use application required for the sitingof a data center shall be approved only in accordance with certainnotice and noise abatement requirements. The bill provides that residentswithin a half-mile radius of the parcel shall receive notice of theproposed data center and that the data center operator shall holdtwo neighborhood meetings. The bill requires a data center operatorto design and build the data center to incorporate sound mitigationmethods sufficient to prevent the sound levels emanating from thedata center from exceeding the ambient noise levels that were observedin a baseline study, as determined by a third-party acoustic engineer.The bill also provides that upon issuance of a certificate of occupancy,and for five years thereafter, the data center operator shall conducta noise study performed by a third-party acoustical engineer to documentnoise levels emanating from the data center measured at the propertyline of the nearest property to the data center property that isplanned or zoned for residential land uses, or other noise sensitiveuse as reasonably determined by the locality, during peak operationof the data center mechanical equipment. The bill also provides that if the data center operator intends to use backup power generatorson the parcel, the operator shall maintain a public website announcingthe times when the generators will be in operation.

Electric utilities; underground transmissionlines. Provides that the construction and reconstruction of any underground, in whole or in part, electrical transmission linesof at least 69 kilovolts and less than 500 kilovolts along a highwayright-of-way under the jurisdiction of the Department of Transportationin Planning District 8 where a data center proposal is under constructionin an area located within a half mile of a National Battlefield Park and within one mile of a state forest is in the public interest.

Commemorating the 40th anniversary of the HonorableYvonne Bond Miller's service in the Virginia General Assembly.

Celebrating the life of Charles Cragg Hines.

Commending Sandra Gioia Treadway.