A BILL to amend and reenact § 10.1-1322.5 of the Code of Virginia, relating to Virginia Electric Vehicle Grant Fund and Program; public, private, or nonprofit entity under contract with public school division.
HB1340 amends Virginia’s Electric Vehicle Grant Fund and Program to expand and clarify how grant money may be used, with a particular focus on school transportation and related clean-vehicle infrastructure. The bill keeps the existing special nonreverting fund in the state treasury and the competitive grant program administered by the Department of Environmental Quality, but it refines the program’s priorities and eligibility rules. Under the bill, grants would continue to support projects that reduce air pollution, increase the use of electric school buses, replace diesel-powered commercial vehicles and heavy equipment with electric alternatives, and create jobs for Virginians.
The bill gives first priority to projects involving public school divisions and, importantly, public, private, or nonprofit entities that are under contract with, or expected to be under contract with, a public school division. Those entities could receive grants to replace diesel school buses with electric school buses, install charging or maintenance infrastructure, and train workers under labor standards developed by the Department. The bill also preserves a second tier of grants for other Virginia public, private, or nonprofit entities seeking to replace diesel commercial vehicles, heavy equipment, or machinery with electric equipment and to build the necessary charging infrastructure. It requires annual reporting to the General Assembly if the program is funded and limits spending from the fund to available federal or nonstate money covering the full cost of any allocation.
HB1340 would amend § 10.1-1322.5 of the Code of Virginia by broadening the Virginia Electric Vehicle Grant Program’s school-transportation provisions to include not only public school divisions but also private and nonprofit contractors serving school divisions. It would continue the special fund structure, maintain DEQ administration, and require the agency to develop eligibility criteria, priorities, and reporting procedures. The bill would not create a new tax or mandate state general-fund spending; instead, it conditions allocations on the availability of federal or other nonstate funds to cover the full cost.
The available context suggests the bill was treated as a clean-transportation and air-quality measure with support for electrifying school buses and related equipment, but it did not advance and was continued to the next session in Appropriations by voice vote. That procedural outcome indicates the bill did not receive final approval in the session, though no recorded roll-call vote or committee transcript is available here to show organized opposition or support. Overall, the measure appears to have been viewed as a policy expansion of an existing grant program rather than a controversial new initiative.
The main points of potential contention are likely to have been the expansion of eligibility to public, private, and nonprofit entities under contract with school divisions, the prioritization of electric school buses over other vehicle replacements, and the requirement that funding come entirely from federal or nonstate sources. Stakeholders concerned about cost, administrative complexity, or the pace of electric-vehicle adoption may have questioned the program’s feasibility, while supporters would likely emphasize air-quality benefits, asthma reduction, and job creation. The bill also gives DEQ authority to develop labor standards and prioritize areas with high asthma rates and poor air quality, which could draw interest from both environmental advocates and school transportation operators.