Tag: Delegate Buddy Fowler

Republicans Want to Untie Virginia’s Vehicle Emissions Laws From California

Eric Burk

Virginia Republicans have introduced several bills to repeal legislation that ties Virginia’s vehicle emissions rules to California’s standards. Republican efforts to repeal Democrat-passed pro-environment legislation failed in the Senate in 2022 and are likely to face the same fate this year, but Republicans are drawing new urgency from a summer 2022 move by California regulators to ban the sale of new gasoline-powered cars by 2035.

“This law, adopted during the two years when Democrats had total control of Virginia’s government, puts unelected bureaucrats from California in charge of our emission standards,” Delegate Kathy Byron (R-Bedford) wrote in a Sunday op-ed in The Richmond Times-Dispatch. “That’s not the worst thing about the new rules. The worst thing is that they just won’t work.”

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Lutron to Expand Presence in Virginia

Eric Burk

Industrial and residential lighting controls manufacturer Lutron Electronics will invest $28.3 million to expand its presence in Hanover County, according to a Thursday announcement of a plan to build a 145,000 square foot manufacturing facility.

“Lutron has been a fixture here in Hanover County, Virginia for many years. It is exciting to see them invest in a manufacturing facility in our industrial park along Lakeridge Parkway and to have quality jobs created for the citizens of Hanover County and the Greater Richmond Region,” Hanover County Supervisor Faye Prichard said in a press release from the governor’s office.

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Youngkin Signs 100 Bills, Including Bill Requiring Notification to Parents of Sexually Explicit Instructional Material In Schools

Eric Burk

Facing an April 11 deadline, Governor Glenn Youngkin signed over 100 bills last week, including Senator Siobhan Dunnavant’s (R-Henrico) SB 656, a bill requiring Virginia public schools to notify parents about sexually explicit instructional material, allow parental review, and provide non-explicit alternatives. The bill instructs the Department of Education to create model policies and requires school boards to pass similar policies.

“These kinds of materials that are being presented in school as an opportunity to develop that relationship between the parent and the child, talk about uncomfortable and challenging things,” Dunnavant said in the Senate Committee on Education and Health in February. “We heard in testimony from the subject matter experts that there was not a consistent policy across the school boards in Virginia, and that it was extremely variable. And as a result, having clear guidelines from the Department of Education would accomplish exactly what everybody thinks already exists, but it doesn’t.”

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