Gov. Spanberger Sends Budget Back to General Assembly with 14 Amendments

With budget amendments, Spanberger and General Assembly Democrats appear to have achieved peace

Legislators in Richmond have a phrase they often use when they have reached agreement on a contentious issue: “Peace in the valley.” After a contentious delay of three and a half months on the state budget, we now seem to have peace in the valley. Last week, the governor and legislators reached at least a tenuous agreement on the main sticking point of how to tax data centers — the controversial tax incentive will stay in place, but a new tax on…

Spanberger sends budget back to Virginia lawmakers with amendments

Virginia’s budget battle continues, as Gov. Abigail Spanberger (D) has proposed amendments with the state's July 1 deadline approaching.

Gov. Spanberger makes amendments to state budget

Governor Abigail Spanberger is sharing the 14 amendments she’s made to the state budget.

Gov. Spanberger sends budget back to General Assembly with 14 amendments

After a highly contested process that included whispers of government shutdowns, Gov. Abigail Spanberger has sent the budget back to the General Assembly with 14 amendments.Virginia legislators passed their proposed budget for the next two years on Monday after a long standoff over data center policy. The plan includes a 4% raise for teachers, 3.5% raises for state employees, higher standard deductions for taxpayers, and a new energy consumption…

Virginia budget heads to Spanberger with $1.2 billion tax on power-hungry data centers

Virginia's next budget is approaching the finish line, and one of the most closely watched pieces involves the state's power-hungry data center industry. Gov. Abigail Spanberger now has the spending plan in front of her, with a temporary tax on electricity used by data centers standing out as one of the agreement's headline items. What happened? Included in the budget lawmakers approved after weeks of wrangling is a temporary tax on data center …

Virginia Legislature Approves Tax on Data Center Electricity Consumption

On June 22, the Virginia legislature approved its 2026 biennial budget, which includes a first-of-its-kind tax on electricity certain data centers consume (HB 30, Item 3-5.24#1c). The tax rate is $0.011 per KWh consumed each month, beginning on July 1, 2026. The tax will last only for a two-year period, and will sunset on July 1, 2028.The definition of the term “data center” for purposes of this consumption tax carves out facilities “whose prima…