The 2024 General Assembly Session has begun. With unprecedented turnover, nearly a third of 2024 General Assembly members are new in their roles. Loudoun Wildlife Conservancy will be involved in advocating for state policy that affects wildlife in Loudoun County by participating in legislative initiatives in conjunction with our partners at the Virginia Conservation Network (VCN), including tracking bills and speaking with legislators at Conservation Lobby Day.

VCN’s Our Common Agenda provides an overview of the issues. This online publication outlines prominent environmental issue areas of concern for environmental organizations in Virginia. It contains white papers that include policy goals and suggestions that are expected to have corresponding bills in the 2024 General Assembly.  View Loudoun Wildlife’s Policy Suggestion Priorities.

To learn more about specific environmental bills relevant to wildlife protection in Loudoun, see Loudoun Wildlife’s list of bills to watch (updated 2/13/24). Please note that these bills are continuing to constantly change as they move through their second chamber on their way to become law. The list of bills is up to date as of “crossover” on February 13th — the day all bills must pass from their chamber of origin into the next (or else be defeated). Since crossover, these bills may have been passed or defeated. You can use the links included in the document to see all action that has been taken. You can also use VCN’s bill tracker to see information and updates on other environmental bills. Most wildlife-relevant bills can be found under the “Land Conservation” category. Also see “Transportation & Land Use” and “Energy & Climate” for bills relevant to Data Centers.

For bills and policy issue areas you’re passionate about, don’t hesitate to contact your legislator via phone or email to share your views. You can use the Who’s My Legislator? online tool to find out who your state legislator is and access their contact information.

Conservation Lobby Day was on January 31st, 2024. Hosted by VCN, this event allowed us to meet with our Loudoun legislators in person in Richmond to advocate for the bills and issue areas that protect and support wildlife statewide. We are excited to announce that Lobby Day was a success. We were happy to see familiar Loudoun faces there to speak on the many Loudoun-relevant bills. We are confident that our collective efforts of meeting with legislators will push our priority bills in a positive direction.

We are also excited to share that we’ve already had wins this General Assembly Session: all but one Loudoun Wildlife bill of opposition have already been been defeated at this halfway point in session. Thank you to those that attended Conservation Lobby Day along with us, as well as those that took the time to contact their legislators about the bills that impact our wildlife in Loudoun.

Contact Conservation Advocacy Specialist Trinity Mills at tmills@loudounwildlife.org for more information on how to get involved to protect wildlife at the state level during this General Assembly Session.

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