Welcome to FIVE FOR FRIDAY: A weekly roundup of public policy issues and headlines from around the Northern Virginia Region, the Commonwealth, and Capitol Hill.
by Danielle Finley, Associate Director of Political Engagement
Welcome to FIVE FOR FRIDAY: A weekly roundup of Public Policy Issues and Headlines. In this Issue: 1. Virginia’s tax-free holiday is coming this weekend 2. Northern Virginia housing costs are driving exodus to Richmond area, analysts say 3. New report shows most Alexandrians are renters and many have unaffordable housing costs 4. Fairfax County delays vote on data center rules due to staff error 5. Data Centers Demand a Massive Amount of Energy. Here’s How States Like Virginia Are Tackling the Impact. Bonus: Who is ahead in Harris vs. Trump 2024 presidential polls right now?
By NOUR HABIB, Virginian-Pilot
Virginia’s annual three-day sales tax holiday returns this weekend. From Friday until 11:59 p.m. Sunday, shoppers can buy qualifying school supplies, clothes, shoes and emergency preparedness products without paying a sales tax. In the Hampton Roads region, combined state and local sales taxes add up to 6% to 7%. Virginia has offered the sales tax holiday for more than a decade, usually in early August to coincide with the back-to-school season. Last year the holiday was delayed until October because of problems during budget negotiations.
By MICHAEL MARTZ, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 7 articles a month)
The cost of housing is the number one reason that people are leaving Northern Virginia for other parts of the state — including Richmond — and other southeastern states, according to a new analysis by the University of Virginia. The analysis by UVA’s Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service confirmed the decade-long trend that Gov. Glenn Youngkin has decried of more people moving out of Virginia than moving in. Youngkin has cited taxation as a factor in the cost of living. Weldon Cooper says the main reason is the cost of housing, which includes the local real estate taxes that people pay for schools and other public services.
Alexandria is gaining new residents at almost twice the rate it’s gaining new housing units. A new report from housing nonprofit HAND — linked to in the latest Mayor Justin Wilson newsletter — outlined housing trends in the City of Alexandria and offered a breakdown of what kind of housing is being built. “Alexandria was home to 155,525 people and had 80,361 housing units in 2022,” the report said. “Since 2010, Alexandria has added an average of 1,300 people and 700 housing units per year.”
The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors has postponed all public hearings set for today (Tuesday), including a pivotal vote on proposed data center regulations, to Sept. 10 due to a staff error. The delay will also affect public hearings held at the board’s last meeting on July 16. It stems from a “regulatory oversight” related to new rules for advertising public hearings that the Virginia General Assembly passed earlier this year, the county announced.
By LULU RAMADAN AND SYDNEY BROWNSTONE, Pro Publica
When lawmakers in Washington set out to expand a lucrative tax break for the state’s data center industry in 2022, they included what some considered an essential provision: a study of the energy-hungry industry’s impact on the state’s electrical grid. Gov. Jay Inslee vetoed that provision but let the tax break expansion go forward. … Washington’s experience with addressing the power demand of data centers parallels the struggles playing out in other states around the country where the industry has rapidly grown and tax breaks are a factor. Virginia, home to the nation’s largest data center market, once debated running data centers on carbon-emitting diesel generators during power shortages to keep the lights on in the area. (That plan faced significant public pushback from environmental groups, and an area utility is exploring other options.)
By LENNY BRONNER, DIANA NAPOLITANO, KATI PERRY AND LUIS MELGAR, The Washington Post
The Washington Post is gathering the best available national and state-level polling data, and factoring how citizens in each state voted in the last two presidential elections, to calculate whom voters currently favor in the presidential race.
The polls are particularly close in the first three battlegrounds above, meaning our average is within a normal-sized polling error of 3.5 points and either a Trump or a Harris victory is plausible. In the other four battlegrounds, the candidates’ polling leads are larger, but the race is still close.