Its future remains uncertain, but legislation in Richmond could bring the towns of Herndon, Vienna and Clifton more money to spend on environmental and social-service initiatives.
A bill patroned by Del. Marty Martinez (D-29) would allow Virginia towns to get a portion of the plastic bag tax revenue collected by their surrounding county. After passing the House of Delegates on a 52-45 vote on Jan. 23, the measure advanced from a Senate Committee on Local Government on a party-line tally of 8-7 on Monday (Feb. 10).
That committee referred the bill to the powerful Senate Committee on Finance and Appropriations for action prior to it potentially moving to the Senate floor.
Since 2020, state law has allowed cities and counties to enact a tax on single-use plastic bags at retail outlets. A number of localities, including Fairfax County, have approved such taxes.
In counties where the tax has been imposed, it is collected within towns, but the revenue flows directly to the county government.
Martinez’s bill would redirect some of those county funds to towns, using the same ratio that determines how sales-tax revenue is split.
Herndon and Vienna could stand to benefit from the legislation. Fairfax County’s third town — Clifton — might benefit slightly, but only has a few retailers within its boundaries.
State law requires that revenues be used for environmental and specified social-safety-net programs.
“Many towns provide services that would qualify,” said Martinez, whose district includes the town of Leesburg.
The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors imposed bag tax of 5 cents — the highest rate allowable — starting in January 2022. One cent is rebated to retailers to cover their administrative costs.
Late last year, county officials reported that the bag tax is both reducing reliance on single-use plastic bags, and providing funds for relevant recycling and environmental programming.
Last year, a similar bill giving towns a slice of the funding, also patroned by Martinez, won passage in both houses of the legislature on largely party-line votes.
Ultimately, however, it was vetoed by Gov. Glenn Youngkin.
“Plastic-bag taxes fail to achieve their intended goals, and burden Virginians amid escalating inflation,” Youngkin said in a succinct message explaining his veto. “Redirecting tax revenues to towns may further encourage governmental reliance on these taxes, exacerbating the issue.”
The veto was sustained in the House of Delegates, where the bill originated.
At the Feb. 10 local government committee meeting, Martinez asked why the bill needed to be referred to the Committee on Finance and Appropriations when there are no state costs involved.
The bill had been “requested” by that committee, responded Sen. Jeremy McPike (D-29), the local government committee chair. In Virginia governance, McPike intimated, a request from that all-powerful committee is one other committees typically don’t refuse.
Photo via Christopher Vega/Unsplash
