The 2025 General Assembly session has come to an end, and the Governor has completed his review of the bills that passed through the Senate and House of Delegates. Loudoun Wildlife’s list of bills for wildlife now shows which bills received Governor Youngkin’s signature and which were vetoed. It is important to note that some bills were amended, with the Governor approving them on contingency, meaning they will only pass if the General Assembly approves Youngkin’s substitutions. The two amended bills were changed to make stipulations for data center applicants to conduct impact studies optional instead of required (HB1601), and to remove all mentions of climate change and related legislation in establishing a wetland task force (HB2034).
Unfortunately, several bills we supported were vetoed, and the two remaining bills we opposed were signed into law. However, some of the bills we supported were signed into law, including a major win for native habitats: HB1941/SB1166 requires retailers to post signage to prevent customers from unwittingly buying invasive plants. Big shout out to our partners at the Loudoun Invasive Removal Alliance for their efforts in getting this bill over the finish line. Additionally, a joint resolution from Loudoun Delegate Marty Martinez was passed to examine reforming the litter tax to protect our waterways.
Loudoun Wildlife has been involved throughout the legislative process. Lobby week was the fourth week in January, and we took part in two lobby days this year. Lobby Day with the Data Center Reform Coalition was January 20. Loudoun Wildlife’s Conservation Advocacy Specialist Trinity Mills met with legislators on one of this session’s biggest topics: data center reform. On January 22, Trinity was joined in Richmond by Executive Director Tom Kercheval for VCN’s Conservation Lobby Day, where environmental organizations from across the state advocated for conservation-friendly policies. In our meetings with Senators Perry, Srinivasan and Sturtevant as well as Delegates Reid, Singh and Reasor, we stressed the importance of supporting bills that will bolster wetland protections, implement data center regulations, fund wildlife crossings and more.
You can see the full list of all successful and failed bills we tracked that fell under the mission and vision of Loudoun Wildlife Conservancy. You can learn about general themes this session by looking at Virginia Conservation Network’s (VCN) Our Common Agenda. Be sure to check out VCN’s bill tracker for all the environmental bills from this session. 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.
Don’t forget to thank your legislator for voting in alignment with the environment. You can find your legislator’s information on the Who’s My Legislator page. To see how your representative voted on a particular bill, click on that bill’s LIS (Legislative Information System) link on our bill tracker, scroll down on the page to the appropriate entry, and click the dropdown arrow next to it. Thank you to everyone that contacted their legislator in support of the bills that we’ve been advocating for this session.