Budget Carries Major Virginia Policy Changes
Lawmakers accepted all 14 amendments, adding teacher raises, data center taxes and $3 Dominion Energy rebates to the two-year spending plan.
- On Monday, the Virginia General Assembly approved all 14 budget amendments proposed by Gov. Abigail Spanberger, finalizing the state's roughly $207 billion two-year spending plan just before the July 1 fiscal deadline.
- Months of negotiations centered on how aggressively Virginia should tax the booming data center industry, one of the state's fastest-growing sectors, prompting the special session that stretched into June.
- The amendments include $4 million for firefighter cancer screenings, accelerate Medicaid pay raises for home-care workers beginning Jan. 1, 2027, and delay the firearms-in-public-areas law's effective date until July 1, 2027.
- Senate Majority Leader Scott Surovell defended the agreement, arguing the budget secures roughly $1.1 to $1.2 billion from data centers for teacher raises and state reserves amid economic uncertainty.
- Lawmakers anticipate continued debate over data center growth and regulation, as officials monitor economic uncertainty and set aside reserves to prepare for potential future budget shortfalls.
21 Articles
21 Articles
Virginia lawmakers approve 2-year spending plan, avoiding partial government shutdown
Virginia lawmakers have approved a new two-year spending plan, avoiding the commonwealth’s first ever partial government shutdown. The funding package includes a new tax on data centers and a plan to launch retail marijuana stores. On Monday, both chambers put the final touches on it, approving 14 changes Gov. Abigail Spanberger wanted to see made to the version passed last week. “By finalizing our budget, Virginia is charting a path toward a st…
Virginia's next budget is now law, as General Assembly approves final changes
Menhaden, the fish that has been the focus of years of political squabbling, got a starring role as the General Assembly took its last, largely technical steps to give Virginia a new, if much-delayed, state budget.
InsideNoVA.com
Budget carries major Virginia policy changes
(The Center Square) – Virginia lawmakers approved Gov. Abigail Spanberger’s 14 budget amendments Monday, completing work on the state’s two-year spending plan ahead of the Wednesday's start of the new fiscal year.
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