Good stuff as always from the incredibly hardworking VAPLAN/Cindy – see below! But first, check out video from today’s Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee meeting, as Sen. Louise Lucas presented details of the budget presented today. According to Sen. Lucas:
“This year, one of the issues that has weighed heavily on my mind is the struggle that working Virginians are feeling from inflation and from the general uncertainty that is currently part of our political environment…I want to help provide Virginians with more certainty and stability…since the governor’s introduced budget came out, I have stated and prioritized that working families and individuals need immediate relief…To that end, I do not agree with the details of the governor’s approach…[it] did not provide relief to everyone…Well, today, I’m excited to tell you that the committee budget provides hard-working Virginians with relief that is a step towards their long-term prosperity.
First, there’s almost $1 billion for a tax rebate that will be sent out around October 15 for hard-working Virginians…individual filers will receive $200 and married filers will receive $400…I have stayed true to my word…In addition to this relief, we have extended the previous increase in the standard deduction for two years to ensure there is no impact on citizens while we wait for Congress to take action on federal tax changes that are set to expire…Again, this is a fiscally responsible way to deal with the many unknowns for our state. But we’re not stopping at maintaining the standard deduction; we are proposing to increase the deduction by another $250 for individual filers and…another $500 for married filers…Increasing and making the state Earned Income Tax Credit fully refundable to 20% of the federal credit…proven progressive tax policy…”
There’s a lot more – check it out, below!
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UPDATE 4:18 pm – See the following press release from the VA Senate Democrats:
Senate Democrats Champion Budget That Delivers Real Relief for All Virginians
RICHMOND, VA – The Virginia Senate Democratic Caucus today applauded the Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee for producing a comprehensive budget that makes historic investments in Virginia’s families and future. The budget delivers immediate financial relief while securing long-term investments in critical priorities across the Commonwealth.
The Senate budget includes transformative investments for Virginians:
IMMEDIATE TAX RELIEF: • $977.8 million in direct tax rebates ($200 single/$400 joint filers) • Increased standard deduction to $8,750 single/$17,500 joint filers • Fully refundable Earned Income Tax Credit at 20% of federal credit
EDUCATION & WORKFORCE: • $1,000 bonus for teachers and support staff, plus 3% salary increase • $15 million for high-demand workforce credential training • $15 million for need-based undergraduate aid • $9 million for tuition assistance grants • $25 million for early childhood education employer cost-sharing pilot
HEALTHCARE & FAMILY SUPPORT: • $6.1 million for comprehensive maternal health initiatives • $15 million for rental assistance pilot program • 1.5% bonus for state employees, plus 3% salary increase
COMMUNITY PROTECTION:• $50 million for community flood protection and resilience • $50 million for disaster mitigation in vulnerable communities
The Senate Democrats issued the following statement:
“The Senate Budget is a testament to Senate Democrats’ steadfast commitment to serving all Virginians—not just a privileged few. While the governor’s proposal created winners and losers, our Senate budget delivers targeted relief and strategic investments that uplift every working family across the Commonwealth. From responsible tax reductions to robust education funding, from expanding healthcare access to strengthening community protections, we are building a more resilient, equitable, and prosperous Virginia for all.”
The Senate Democratic Caucus remains committed to working across the aisle to pass a final budget that serves all Virginians, not special interests.
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The Senate and the House (mostly?) completed committee work on their own chambers’ bills; just floor votes (a LOT) remain before crossover next week. In fact, both sides are doing a little finagling to get all three constitutional readings in on a few bills before the deadline.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK, Senator Carroll Foy, asking Sen Peake about his latest attempt to repeal the bail reforms made in 2020: The Governor and Attorney General Miyares had a press conference surrounded by law enforcement and they said that crime in Virginia was down 11% and we had one of the lowest recidivism rates in the country…In 2020 we had a criminal justice reform omnibus package…and I would attest that us having one of the lowest recidivism rates and the reason for crime being down is because we got rid of some of these unfair presumptions, a lot of the mandatory minimums, and a lot of the things that people tout as tough on crime, which is actually ineffective, because we are actually improving public safety.
How environmental bills fared:
- A handful of bills to increase the amount of solar energy being created have passed out of committees. HB2037 allows localities to require solar parking lot canopies in new development; HB2090 encourages multi-family shared solar; SB1040 and HB1883 encourage the generation of rooftop solar to meet Dominion’s RPS.
- A bill from the Commission on Electric Utility Regulation that would create a Clean Energy Technical Assistance Program (a research consortium of the universities) to guide and assist localities in how to create policies to meet clean energy goals seems to have hit a major bump in the road–the Senate version is waiting for a floor vote, but the House cognate has died in subcommittee.
- A bill to require the utility companies to pilot a virtual power plant (where a network of small-scale distributed energy sources like rooftop solar function together as a remotely-controlled and coordinated power plant) passed the Senate; its House cognate is up for a floor vote.
- Bills to increase the target energy storage capacity of utilities passed the Senate and are due for a House vote.
Those newfangled technologies bills:
- House and Senate easily passed bills to expand defamation and slander “words” to include synthetic digital media, such as AI-generated deep fakes.
- A bill creating a civil cause of action for the unauthorized use of someone’s voice or visual likeness passed the House and goes over to the Senate.
- Neither the House Housing and Consumer Protections subcommittee nor the Senate General Laws committee was ready to ban algorithmic pricing tools in real estate transactions (used to fix collusive rental prices).
- The bill to regulate decentralized autonomous organizations (organizations that function like a bank, but are run by computer, using blockchain technology, i.e. crypto co-operatives) passed the House easily and moves on to the Senate.
Oldies but goodies/baddies:
- The bill to complete the raising of Virginia’s minimum wage up to $15 passed the House again this year, as did the bill to include farm workers in minimum wage coverage. Youngkin is expected to veto both once again.
- The bill to go backwards to a rebuttable presumption against bail (guilty until proven innocent) was killed in Senate Courts for the fourth straight year. The House didn’t even bother to docket their cognate.
- The bill to go backwards and return to racially disparate pretext stops (i.e. for the “smell of marijuana,” or an object dangling from a rear view mirror) was killed in the Senate Courts again this year.
- Bills to ensure safe storage of firearms in houses where minors are present passed the Senate and is due for a floor vote in the House. Similarly, the assault weapon ban passed the Senate, and is due for a House floor vote.
- Bills to go back to requiring a photo ID to vote were killed for the fourth straight year in the House Elections subcommittee and the Senate Privileges and Elections committee.
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