Inferring Patterns of Influence on Climate and Energy Policy in the US State of Virginia (2015-2023)

As in comparable jurisdictions, alongside lobbying and charitable giving, interest group donations play big a part in the climate and energy policy process in the US state of Virginia. We trace the trajectory of 815 nominally progressive and regressive climate and energy bills through the VA legislature over the 2015-2023 period, identifying four committees as veto-points. Legislators associated with the veto-points (bill sponsors, committee chairs, committee members) are then identified, and linked to donations from utility and philanthropic (oligarchic) actors to generate donor - legislator (elite) communities. The most prolific donor community centers on the state’s quasi-monopoly utility, Dominion Energy, which appears to use a reward and retain strategy for legislators, especially committee chairs, while also opportunistically fine-tuning donations according to partisan control of legislative chambers and the governorship. Meanwhile, environmental NGOs and philanthropic advocacy groups form donor-communities that fine-tune donations to progressive bill sponsors, an apparently less effective approach. While the sheer volume of donations from Dominion suggests a high-volume and intensity donation strategy, notably in the lead-up to the Virginia Clean Economy Act of 2020, we also note that philanthropic donations oriented to ending Dominion’s quasi-monopoly exert a growing influence on the climate and energy policy process in the state.