Weekly Column: Named Chairman of Two Subcommittees & Bills Are Moving

The following is my column that will appear in the Mt. Vernon Gazette, Springfield Connection, The Prince William Times, The Fort Hunt Herald, and Potomac Local in the week of February 1, 2022.

Named Chairman of Two Subcommittees & Bills Are Moving

    In the state legislature’s third week in session, the Senate passed and sent to the House of Delegates five of my bill and many of my other bills advanced.

    First, I was named the Chairman of two different subcommittees.  The Senate Commerce & Labor Committee Chairman created a Labor & Employment Subcommittee which I will chair and consider 11 bills focused on workforce issues.  I was also named the Chairman of the Criminal Law Subcommittee of the Judiciary Committee which will consider 19 bills addressing criminal justice issues. 

     We have spent much of the last two weeks rejecting legislation that attempts to undo much of the progress we made over the last two years, policies like making it easier to vote, modernizing workers’ rights, requiring a transition to cleaner energy, making Virginia a more welcoming state and reforming our criminal justice system.  We have disturbing bills coming up this week to reinstate capital punishment and to require the kinds of election audits conducted in states like Arizona and Michigan.  These measures will not pass.

    We passed my legislation requiring law enforcement to advise drivers why the officer has stopped a driver before asking for the driver's license and registration.  Unfortunately, the debate became politicized and it passed on a party line, but I am hopeful that we can have further discussion about the anxiety many drivers feel during traffic stops and how that can be alleviated by explaining the basis for the stop.

    I am working on two bills to curb Virginia’s methane emissions.  Two months ago, President Biden attended the United Nations Climate Change Summit called “COP26” in Glasgow, Scotland, and emerged with a pledge to reduce American methane emissions by 30 percent.  Methane is 85 times more potent than carbon dioxide at capturing the greenhouse gas that is warming the planet at unsustainable rates.  I am carrying two bills to address this.

    First, I introduced a bill to clarify the legal treatment of the byproduct of organic waste digestion.  One way to create methane without hydraulic fracturing or “fracking” natural gas, a greenhouse gas, is to put organic materials in a digester so it can decompose in an enclosed environment.  The end products are methane or “biomethane” which can be used interchangeably with fracked methane.  The residual sludge can be applied to farm fields.  However, the end product does not contain consistent nutrient content so it needs to be sold and labelled as a soil amendment like vermiculite instead of fertilizer.  My bill passed out of committee unanimously.

    Second, I am also working with Virginia’s five natural gas companies on legislation which would allow  the companies to purchase biogas from composing facilities, landfills or other composting facilities and sell it to consumers.  It would also allow companies to obtain credit for methane reduction by capturing “fugitive methane” from leaky pipelines, compressor stations or closed wells.  The legislation basically gets methane out of the atmosphere and into the pipes where it can be used to power your furnace, hot water heater or stove top.  A Senate committee will consider the bill next week.

    The Senate Rules Committee approved my legislation to conduct what I am calling a “COVID-19 Pandemic Autopsy.”  This is the first pandemic our government has responded to since 1918 and our existing rules and systems adjusted, but there are always lessons to be learned.  Our state-of-emergency laws are designed for short-term events like hurricanes and snowstorms.  Many of us feel that the General Assembly should have a role in addressing more extended situations.  We need to examine the responses of our education, health, regulatory and legal systems and look for lessons learned, approaches we need to keep and changes we need to continue to make.

    The next ten legislative days will be some of the busiest we face as we approach “Crossover” – the day that we must complete work on all legislation in our respective chambers and switch to work on bills from the other chamber.  We usually save the most difficult bills for the last few days.

    If you have any feedback, you can reach me at scott@scottsurovell.org. It is an honor to serve in the Virginia Senate.