Dear Friend,
The sixth week of Session has come to a close. Below is an update on some of the past week’s work in the legislature.
The Sixth Week of Session
This past week began with the House Appropriations Committee unveiling the House budget. The proposed budget was then reviewed by the members of the House who had opportunities to contest items in the budget, as well as offer further amendments on the House Floor. On Thursday, the budget was taken up for a vote. Uncontested provisions were voted on in a block. Then, members deliberated over contested portions of the budget before voting on each item’s passage. You can watch the full consideration of the House budget at this link.
The House and Senate bills, having both passed their respective chambers, will now be before each other’s chambers. The budgets differ in many ways, and the remaining time at the General Assembly will be dedicated to rectifying these differences to arrive at a budget proposal to be sent to the Governor. Large differences range in the conditions of funding, distribution of funds across secretariat portfolios, and changes to the tax system. The House budget requires Virginia’s participation in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), which is a multi-state carbon marketplace that seeks to reduce emissions by taxing carbon production and then use tax revenues to invest in energy efficiency and climate resiliency. This is not included in the Senate budget. While both chambers rejected Governor Youngkin’s tax proposals, the House and Senate did include a novel sales tax for digital storage and streaming services. The Senate extended this to business transactions as well. Authorization and funding for a Northern Virginia Arena development was not out-right authorized in either chamber’s budget. While the Senate includes no language (and has not passed any legislation) for the arena, the House did include language that had been included in the House bill (HB1514). This language adds extra guardrails to protect Virginia, but most importantly would delay any state expenditures until the General Assembly passes the language again in the 2025 Session. While both budgets prioritize education and healthcare, the mechanisms and avenues of these investments differ. This can also be said of important infrastructure decisions, like increasing funding for the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, which the House includes and the Senate does not.
Further reading on the competing budgets can be found in this article from The Richmond Times-Dispatch and this one from The Virginia Mercury. You may also enjoy this commentary on the negotiation landscape of the budget as well as this article analyzing the denied tax proposals.
You can watch a recording of the House Appropriations Committee’s report here and their briefing to the House members here. You can watch the Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee’s report here. Additionally, each Chamber’s reports can be found online here and a break down of approved amendments can be found at this link.
During each day’s Session, members of the General Assembly can rise on the floor to give recognition to visitors watching from the gallery. This past week I had the privilege of introducing the YWCA Empower RVA Teens to the House. I also had the honor to participate in a surprise award presentation to Speaker Don Scott, who received the United Network for Organ Sharing’s inaugural “Living It Forward Award.” You can watch a recording of the presentation here.
During the past week of Session, my staff and I met various representative individuals and groups including:
Virginia Government Employees Association
Virginia Conservation Network
Virginia Education Association
Medical Society of Virginia
University of Virginia Leadership
Virginia Transportation Construction Alliance
Virginia Heavy Construction Contractors Association
Virginia Community Criminal Justice Association
St. Joseph’s Villa
YWCA Empower RVA Teens
Community Associations Institute
Virginia Military Institute Students
It is my goal to keep my constituents informed of the work happening at the General Assembly. There are several websites which provide troves of helpful information. Livestreams and past recordings of Session, as well as committee meetings can all be found at this link. Legislation, as well as meeting calendars and committee information can be found here. A searchable database of legislation can be found here.
If you have legislative priorities, questions or concerns to share with me, email me at delegate.carr@betsycarr.org or call my office at 804-698-1078.
I-95 Bridge Rehabilitations
Five bridges over I-95 in Richmond are being rehabilitated. There will be occasional, significant impacts to traffic. Beginning 8pm, March 1 through March 4, I-95 traffic will be reduced to one lane at mile marker 74 and the ramps for exit 74C will be closed. More information and other impacts can be found here.
Thank You
It is an honor to serve in the House of Delegates. Please never hesitate to contact me at delegate.carr@betsycarr.org or 804-698-1078 if I can be helpful to you.
Sincerely,
Betsy