Proudly Serving the People of Virginia's 25th District
The last time I wrote, I told you about the legislature passing a budget. With all its warts, the General Assembly finally agreed to a budget on June 1. The Governor had seven days after it reached him to offer amendments or veto the budget. The Governor of Virginia has an extraordinary power in that he can line-item veto articles of the budget. [Read more…]
The 2022 Special Session that convened on Monday is not so special.
At the end of the 2022 Regular Session of the General Assembly, we had not reached an agreement on a budget. For that reason, we knew a special session was coming. There is nothing magic about the start date.
The budget is currently in the hands of the conference committee, which is made up of senior legislators from the Senate and House, Democrats and Republicans. The main sticking point on the budget is on the revenue side. There is about a $2.8 billion difference between the money that the House and Senate spend on core services. The Senate budget uses the surplus in revenue to provide tax relief and give raises to teachers, state troopers and sheriff deputies, and invest in services like mental health and education. The House uses one-time money to make baseline investments and provides more tax relief. [Read more…]
The 2022 Session of the Virginia General Assembly adjourned on Saturday, March 12. This has been an exhausting eight and a half weeks. The days have been long, and the news has not always been pleasant. We saw several recurrent themes this year. [Read more…]
The session is rapidly winding down as we move towards our final week. The budget is the primary issue still in dispute, with a $2.8 billion difference between the House and the Senate versions. Closing this gap seems insurmountable, but a couple of scenarios seem possible. [Read more…]
On Tuesday, we reached crossover. With the exception of the budget, the House of Delegates can only consider bills originating in the Senate and the Senate can only consider House bills. There were some momentous votes this past week. [Read more…]
