The Virginia League of Conservation Voters (Virginia LCV) released its 2024 Conservation Scorecard on Thursday, June 27. The Scorecard ranks the 40 senators in the Virginia General Assembly's upper house and the 100 delegates in its lower house based on their voting records on critical environmental legislation. Virginia LCV’s 2024 Scorecard indicates every Fairfax County state legislator demonstrates a strong dedication and prioritization of conservation values to protect the environment by advancing policies that are beneficial to the environment and opposing policies that set the state back.
Of the 22 elected officials in the Virginia General Assembly who represent all, or a portion of, the citizens of Fairfax County, 19 achieved a perfect score of 100 percent, earning the honorary title of "Legislative Hero” from the Virginia LCV. The remaining three achieved a near-perfect score of 95 percent, earning them the title of "2024 Legislative Leader."
“Our Scorecard is integral to our organization’s mission, and this year’s edition shows just how much can change when the legislature is in the hands of lawmakers who put the environment first. We are incredibly grateful to the Senators and Delegates who worked to protect our clean air, clean water, and protected lands in 2024,” said Michael Town, executive director of the Virginia League of Conservation Voters.
The lawmakers representing Fairfax County who voted with Virginia LCV 100 percent of the time are Virginia Senators Jennifer Carroll Foy (D-33), Stella G. Pekarsky (D-36), Saddam Azlan Salim (D-37), and Adam P. Ebbin (D-39) and Virginia House Delegates are Charniele L. Herring (D-4), Richard C. "Rip" Sullivan, Jr. (D-6), Karen Keys-Gamarra (D-7), Irene Shin (D-8), Karrie K. Delaney (D-9), Dan I. Helmer (D-10), David L. Bulova (D-11), Holly M. Seibold (D-12), Marcus B. Simon (D-13), Vivian Watts (D-14), Laura Jane H. Cohen (D-15), Paul E. Krizek (D-16), Mark D. Sickles (D-17), Kathy KL Tran (D-18), and Rozia A. "J.R." Henson, Jr. (D-19).
“As a legislator, I'm responsible for safeguarding our environment for present and future generations—a task I take very seriously,” said Siebold, @HollySeiboldVA, who received a perfect score of 100 on the 2024 Conservation Scorecard.
Scott Surovell (D-34), Dave Marsden (D-35), and Jennifer Boysko (D-38) are the three Virginia Senators to whom Virginia LCV awarded their second-highest honorary title, "2024 Legislative Leader."
“Thank you, @VirginiaLCV, for recognizing my work fighting for a more sustainable future. I will always fight for renewable energy and for a clean, healthy environment for our kids — one creek cleanup at a time,” said Surovell @ssurovell.
In a special recognition, Virginia LCV honored Del. Kathy Tran (D-Fairfax) and four other lawmakers who demonstrated exceptional leadership at the General Assembly this session by going above and beyond when it comes to getting the job done for the environment with the 2024 Legislative Exceptional Leadership Award. Tran carried a bill protecting Virginians from toxic coal tar-based pavement sealants, a major source of PAHs, forever chemicals linked to several cancers, including malignancies of the digestive tract, reproductive systems, respiratory tract, urinary system, and more.
Town says in the forward of the 2024 Conservation Scorecard that they “generated thousands of messages to lawmakers and hundreds of phone calls, met face-to-face with legislators hundreds of times, and reached more than 400,000 Virginians through paid advertising and digital mobilization.”
“The end goal was progress — hard-won, sometimes minimal, sometimes frustrating progress … Virginia LCV took positions on more than 100 bills this year. Of these, Virginia LCV Scored 23 votes in the Senate and 21 votes in the House. Overall, 14 scored bills were signed into law by Governor Youngkin that we supported along with one bill that we opposed; two scored bills died at the legislature that we opposed along with one that was carried over; and 12 scored bills were vetoed outright,” according to VA LCV. The state enacted its new laws on July 1.
The Virginia LCV Scorecard looked at how the Virginia General Assembly voted on 21 important state bills, divided into five categories: (1) Energy and Climate (HBs 106, 746, 862 + SBs 25, 508, and 729); (2) Good Government (HBs 333, 1088, 1458, and SB 606); (3) Land Conservation (HBs 47 and 1100); (4) Land Use and Transportation (HBs 285, 338, 405 and SB 595); and (5) Water Quality (HBs 885, 673, 949, 985, and SJ 25).