RICHMOND — After months of heated budget negotiations, the legislature’s Democratic majority and Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin have agreed it’s best to scrap the current proposals and start from scratch.
“We’ve got work to do,” said Youngkin, speaking to reporters Wednesday at the Capitol. “We will be calling a special session — we believe this is a good path forward for the commonwealth.”
The governor said legislators will return May 13 to review the newly crafted two-year budget plan and vote May 15. The state’s fiscal year starts July 1.
The General Assembly reconvened Wednesday to take up the governor’s unprecedented number of vetoes and amendments. Lawmakers banded together to reject controversial amendments made to the skill games legislation. But there was not enough bipartisan support to override the governor’s veto of legislation that would have allowed localities to enact a sales tax to fund school construction.
Standing next to the governor, Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee Chair Louise Lucas said the lines of communication between both sides were improving.
“Nothing helps this process more than everybody getting together and sitting around the table and talking about what we can all do to help Virginia,” said Lucas, D-Portsmouth. “I think we all may have different ways we thought we were going to get there, but I think now we are going to work towards something that will keep the temperature down a little bit.”
House Appropriations Committee Chair Luke Torian said everything is still up for debate.
“Everything that we had in our budget that we sent to the governor, all of it’s still on the table for discussion and deliberation,” said Torian, D-Dumfries.
He said budget conferees will start meeting today to begin the new negotiations.
The governor took action on an unprecedented number of bills this year, vetoing 153 and amending 117 in addition to changes made to the budget, according to the Virginia Public Access Project.
The legislature moved along at a brisk pace Wednesday to make it through the full docket.
The House of Delegates started the day by unanimously approving a motion declaring the 233 budget amendments “not specific and severable,” then voted to pass the budget by for the day. This allows lawmakers to start over on a new budget plan.
The governor’s original budget proposal unveiled in December cut income taxes while raising the state sales tax. Legislators nixed the income tax cuts and the increase in sales tax but they kept and expanded the new tax on digital goods in the budget proposal sent to the governor last month. Youngkin agreed to stop pushing for the tax cuts but balked at the expanded digital tax and other provisions, and eventually sent back a heavily amended spending plan.
In the Senate, legislators got to work taking up amendments the governor made to specific legislation.
The Senate rejected the governor’s lengthy amendments to a controversial bill that would legalize skill games in a 34-6 vote. The measure now heads to the governor, who can veto or sign it.
Sen. Aaron Rouse, D-Virginia Beach, said the amendments limited the operation of skill games near schools, daycare centers and casinos — largely banning the devices across most of the state.
“The 35-mile radius around casinos wipes out the whole Hampton Roads region,” said Rouse, who carried the bill.
Another bill that would have allowed localities to enact a 1% sales tax increase to help fund school construction or renovations failed to garner enough support to override the governor’s veto.
Youngkin had vetoed the bill, arguing that while schools are a “worthy cause” he could not support a bill that would result in increased taxes with no offset.
The bill, which would have required a local referendum, had some support from both sides of the aisle.
“This is a tax where the people decide whether they want to have the tax,” said Sen. Bill Stanley, R-Franklin. “Let the people decide, that’s why this bill works.”
But the 25-15 vote fell short of the two-thirds majority needed to overturn the governor’s veto.
Katie King, katie.king@virginiamedia.com
