Water Commission staff summarize 2025 bills, two budget items enacted, two vetoed

The Virginia Water Commission heard a summary of the panel’s 2025 legislative and budget activity, including two budget amendments and two legislative proposals the commission had recommended to the General Assembly.

Nissa Cottrell, staff to the commission, told members the commission produced “about 4 items consisting of 2 budget amendments and 2 pieces of legislation” after three public meetings and testimony. She said the commission had unanimously recommended that the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) participate in a stakeholder group to study state stormwater and wastewater grant programs and consider life-cycle capital and operating costs per pound of pollutant removed.

That recommended study led to a budget amendment that Cottrell said the General Assembly and governor approved. Cottrell said another amendment — requesting $2.3 million in combined funding for groundwater research in the Eastern Virginia Groundwater Management Area, including $2 million for additional multi-well research stations and $300,000 for a study in coordination with Virginia Tech — was vetoed by the governor. “Although he had no objection to DEQ’s data gathering, he explained the expansion of existing programmatic activities is more appropriate for consideration during biannual budget development,” Cottrell said.

Cottrell also described two bills the commission endorsed. She said HB 2711 and SB 850 would let a water or wastewater utility petition the State Corporation Commission to approve an eligible infrastructure replacement and enhancement plan and to allocate wastewater revenue requirements in certain rate proceedings; she reported both passed and will be effective July 1, with a sunset date of July 1, 2035. Another bill the commission supported — a measure to direct the State Board of Health to adopt regulations allowing point-of-use or point-of-entry drinking water treatment for private wells and small rural systems and to establish a testing-and-treatment fund — did not clear money committees and therefore did not become law.

Cottrell closed by reminding the commission the work group created under the Water Quality Improvement Fund provisions will include state agencies and legislative staff and must report findings by Nov. 1 of next year.

Members asked clarifying questions about other proposals that had been filed this session and whether fee or fiscal notes existed for particular bills; staff said they would follow up by email with additional fiscal detail when available.

The commission’s discussion of these items was informational; no formal commission vote on the individual legislative recommendations was recorded during the meeting.