by
Hannah Jane Costilow
| 01/24/2025
by Danielle Finley, Associate Director of Political Engagement
Welcome to FIVE FOR FRIDAY: A weekly roundup of Public Policy Issues and Headlines. In this Issue: 1. House of Delegates passes data center transparency bill 2. A look at rent-control legislation in the General Assembly 3. State lawmakers want to create a new rent relief program, but it comes with a hefty price tag 4. Controversial Tysons casino bill clears Senate committee 5. Bill aimed at helping Prince William Digital Gateway landowners cut their higher tax bills advances.
By SÉBASTIEN KRAFT, Inside NOVA
The Virginia House of Delegates on Thursday passed a bill aimed at increasing transparency in the data center siting process. House Bill 1601, championed by Del. Josh Thomas, D-Prince William, passed by a vote of 57-40. The new legislation would require sound profiling and information regarding electrical information infrastructure from data center applicants and utilities. The bill would also delegate additional authority to localities, empowering them to seek additional information pertaining to agricultural land, water usage, parks and historical sites and forests.
By DAVE RESS, Richmond Times-Dispatch
Jana Hobbs says it was not too long after her landlord, who’d been promising not to raise her monthly rent by more than $100, boosted it by $150 one year and $150 the next, that she hit a deer on her 20-mile drive to work. Then came news that renewing the lease on her $940 a month Chamberlayne Avenue apartment would mean a boost in rent to $1,299 a month. “I just couldn’t afford it,” she told a House of Delegates Counties Cities and Towns panel on Wednesday. “Please help.”
Members of the General Assembly are about to start trying to balance the books, and they are hearing from interest groups seeking money. One group is asking for help addressing housing insecurity. The housing crisis is red hot, even when the temperatures drop below freezing and many families are out on the streets.
A Virginia Senate committee voted Wednesday in favor of moving the Tysons casino bill forward. The committee voted 9-3 in favor of the casino, with Sen. Adam Ebbin, D-Alexandria, abstaining. The bill would allow a Las Vegas-style casino resort in Tysons near the mall and Metro's Silver Line. So far, the Tysons casino bill has cleared subcommittee and committee votes by a two-thirds margin or better. If that level of support were to hold the rest of the way, it would be veto-proof.
By CHER MUZYK, Prince William Times
Western Prince William County landowners stuck with exponentially higher tax bills as they wait to sell their land to data centers won their first victory in Richmond on Monday. A bill written to address their dilemma advanced on a 13-2 vote. State Sen. Jeremy McPike, a Democrat who represents much of the county but not the Prince William Digital Gateway corridor, drafted SB 1305 with those landowners in mind.