The 2025 Virginia General Assembly

The 2025 General Assembly has finally begun. This year’s session got off to a rocky start. The Richmond water crisis caused a delayed start from the original date of January 8, with no action on bills able to be taken until the de facto start date of January 13. Now that the session is in full swing, please see the list of bills to watch for wildlife in Loudoun. This list includes all bills that fall under the mission and vision of Loudoun Wildlife Conservancy which will impact our wildlife in Loudoun County. You can also learn about general themes this session by looking at our key policy opportunities, based on Virginia Conservation Network’s (VCN) Our Common Agenda.

With this year’s short session, the conservation and environmental advocacy community has kicked into high gear. Lobby week is the fourth week in January, and Loudoun Wildlife representatives will be taking part in two lobby days this year. Data Center Lobby Day is January 20, and Conservation Advocacy Specialist Trinity Mills will be meeting with legislators on one of this session’s biggest topics: data center reform. On January 22, Trinity will be joined in Richmond by Executive Director Tom Kercheval for VCN’s Conservation Lobby Day, when environmental organizations from across the state will advocate for conservation-friendly policies.

This Session’s Hot-button Issue: Data Centers

If you followed along with our General Assembly advocacy in 2024, you’ll remember that there were several bills on data center reform. However, most of those bills were put on hold until the Joint Legislative and Audit Review Commission completed their review of the impacts of data centers in Virginia. This review was completed in December 2024 and findings were largely consistent with the concerns that prompted last year’s bills.

The review confirmed that data centers pose potentially severe threats to the power grid in Virginia. Specifically, data center power demand as it currently stands will be extremely difficult to meet, and largely impossible to do without fossil fuel generation. Other key findings included a confirmation that increased costs to ratepayers are likely, and that data centers are increasingly being built in residential areas. View the full presentation and all findings.

We’ll be tracking the bills to watch as they are released for consideration in both the Senate and House of Delegates. Additionally, Governor Youngkin released his proposed budget amendments in December. With very few additions to natural and environmental resources program financing, some programs (which were passed in the 2024 General Assembly session) have not moved forward due to lack of funding. We’ll update the bills to watch with any budget amendments that become relevant. Currently, few of the anticipated budget items are available. All amendments will be available by February 4 as per the General Assembly schedule. Check back for more information after that date.

Be sure to check out VCN’s bill tracker for all the environmental bills to watch. You can also find information in recordings of the 2025 Our Common Agenda webinar series for overviews of the white papers from the briefing book. See also links to white papers on the issues most relevant to Loudoun County’s wildlife.

We will be regularly updating our list of bills to watch in the coming weeks. Don’t forget that it’s not too late to speak with your legislators on the bills you care about! You can find your legislator’s information on the Who’s My Legislator page. Remember that they serve you as a constituent. If any of our priority bills stand out to you, let them know that you think they should support/oppose it. You can do so via email, phone or by setting up an in-person meeting in Richmond.

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