The Loudoun Chamber, which collectively represents over 1,000 member businesses and tens of thousands of employees across Loudoun County and the region, would like to express our organization’s support of Senator Favola’s SB 1219. This bill will require the Bureau of Insurance (BOI) to convene a stakeholder group and make recommendations on how to incentivize employers to voluntarily offer 12- weeks of family leave to employees per year. The Loudoun Chamber is adamant that any wage and benefits expansion in the Commonwealth must be considered along with the thoughtful collaboration of the business community and employees who will be responsible for the financial commitment of the benefit. Senator Favola’s Bill, not only accomplishes this goal in the formation of a stakeholder group, but does so with the explicit outcome to recommend a voluntary, incentive-focused, solution that will enable the benefit to be administered through the private insurance marketplace. Currently, the BOI does not have the statutory authority to approve the sale of family leave plans in the Commonwealth. Private insurance options are an essential tool for employers looking to provide paid leave coverage and Virginia employers currently do not have access to private leave plans. Filling this gap in our insurance marketplace is the necessary and pragmatic first step in the long-term goal of having more employees covered by family leave plans in the Commonwealth. Thank you for your consideration of support for SB1219. Grafton deButts Vice President of Membership & Government Affairs Loudoun Chamber

Virginia League of Conservation Voters urges you to suppport SB1223 and SB1284. Reasons to SUPPORT SB1223: - Electrifying transportation must be a key part of any comprehensive strategy to reduce the health and environmental impacts of greenhouse gases and other air pollutants, and this bill will ensure that transportation electrification is a core component of Virginia’s Energy Plan. - Without this simple, yet important policy change, Virginia will undercut its ability to maximize the health, environmental, economic, and consumer benefits that electric vehicles (EVs) can bring, hindering the ability to meet its 2045 decarbonization goal. - This bill would ensure the state focuses on access to EV chargers in lower and moderate income communities. A lack of accessible charging infrastructure is an acute problem for Virginians who live in lower-income neighborhoods and multifamily housing. Without charging access, residents in these communities can be locked out of this clean, increasingly affordable transportation option. Reasons to SUPPORT SB1284: - Revises Virginia’s Commonwealth Energy Policy to be a “Clean Energy” policy, updating the energy policy and future energy plans to reflect the state’s commitment to carbon neutrality and environmental justice. - Recognizes the need to promote environmental justice within the state’s clean energy policy. - Recognizes the need to address and prevent energy inequities in historically economically disadvantaged communities. - Reorients and streamlines the state’s energy policy and energy plan to be consistent with the 100% clean energy goals of the Commonwealth.

Dear Members of the Committee & Committee Chair: The need for serious investment in charging infrastructure never has been more obvious. Public health, specifically the quality of the air we breathe and the climate crisis are emerging as global priorities. The livability of our urban environments is being reassessed. We need to realize the need for cleaner, stronger and more resilient economies. It's high time for Virginia to walk up to electrified transportation as a tool in furthering all of those goals - and in doing so, creating a large number of jobs. SB1223 is the first step to move forward with this priority - please support this common-sense bill.

I am asking for your support for SB1223, Sen. Boysko's bill relating to an electric vehicle grant fund and program. SB1223 is a modest bill that would have Virginia's Energy Plan include a component to assess EV adoption and EV charging infrastructure. It also directs the Commonwealth to keep tabs on transportation electrification. The bill will help to identify needs, including infrastructure, and advance the adoption of EV vehicles. Ultimately, it will help VA meet its goal of a 2045 net-zero carbon target. Thanks so much for your support. Annette Lang. Arlington

To survive the climate crisis, we need to clean up electricity generation, and then electrify everything else. The Clean Economy Act is working on the former; SB1223 helps address the latter, in the key transportation sector, which produces almost half of Virginia’s greenhouse gas emissions and dangerous particulate pollution. • Analyzing electric vehicle adoption and charging infrastructure, identifying impediments to deployment, and ensuring that everyone can benefit, will help achieve the Commonwealth Energy Policy’s 2045 net-zero carbon target by accelerating the electrification of all vehicle categories. • We have an historic opportunity to aid the transition to a clean-energy economy that will increase prosperity and human health, promote economic and environmental justice, and help avoid catastrophic global warming. • But to do so, we need information on which to base smart, cost-effective policy. SB1223 will help provide that information, and it deserves your enthusiastic support. I urge you to vote YEA on SB1223. Thank you.

Drive Electric RVA supports SB 1223 as part of a package of bills that will accelerate the electrification of transportation in Virginia. As power generation gets cleaner and distributed solar and wind generation becomes more prevalent, there is a huge opportunity to leverage this clean energy to make transportation cleaner too. Therefore, electrifying transportation must be a key part of any comprehensive strategy to reduce the health and environmental impacts of greenhouse gases and other air pollutants, and this bill will ensure that it is a core component of Virginia’s Energy Plan. SB 1223 adds an assessment of EV adoption and EV charging infrastructure development to Virginia’s Energy Plan process. The bill also directs the Commonwealth to track transportation electrification, which will help identify where infrastructure is needed and highlight opportunities to lower obstacles to, and accelerate, EV adoption, with particular attention to historically economically disadvantaged communities.

Virginia Democracy Forward (VADF) supports this bill and urges passage. Reasons for supporting: Proposed changes strengthen the Commonwealth policy statement, making it more consistent and to the point. Changes further align the policy statement with Northam administration's stated goals on clean energy and carbon emissions reduction targets.

Virginia League of Conservation Voters urges you to suppport SB1223 and SB1284. Reasons to SUPPORT SB1223: - Electrifying transportation must be a key part of any comprehensive strategy to reduce the health and environmental impacts of greenhouse gases and other air pollutants, and this bill will ensure that transportation electrification is a core component of Virginia’s Energy Plan. - Without this simple, yet important policy change, Virginia will undercut its ability to maximize the health, environmental, economic, and consumer benefits that electric vehicles (EVs) can bring, hindering the ability to meet its 2045 decarbonization goal. - This bill would ensure the state focuses on access to EV chargers in lower and moderate income communities. A lack of accessible charging infrastructure is an acute problem for Virginians who live in lower-income neighborhoods and multifamily housing. Without charging access, residents in these communities can be locked out of this clean, increasingly affordable transportation option. Reasons to SUPPORT SB1284: - Revises Virginia’s Commonwealth Energy Policy to be a “Clean Energy” policy, updating the energy policy and future energy plans to reflect the state’s commitment to carbon neutrality and environmental justice. - Recognizes the need to promote environmental justice within the state’s clean energy policy. - Recognizes the need to address and prevent energy inequities in historically economically disadvantaged communities. - Reorients and streamlines the state’s energy policy and energy plan to be consistent with the 100% clean energy goals of the Commonwealth.