Virginia Democrats are executing a belt-and-suspenders strategy to rejoin the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, with the Legislature passing a bill Monday that would cement the commonwealth’s place in the Northeast’s cap-and-trade system for electricity.
Democratic Gov. Abigail Spanberger intends to sign HB 397, according to a spokesperson. The legislation would mandate Virginia’s participation in RGGI, rather than merely authorizing it — an ambiguity in state law leveraged by former Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin to quit the system in 2023.
HB 397, sponsored by House Majority Leader Charniele Herring, seeks to block any future Republican governor from repeating Youngkin’s gambit. The Senate passed the legislation Monday on a party-line vote of 21-19, following a February House vote of 63-35, also along party lines.
“This is another step to a more affordable and sustainable Virginia,” Herring wrote on social media after her bill’s passage.
