By MICHAEL MARTZ AND DAVE RESS,
Richmond Times-Dispatch
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Gov. Glenn Youngkin and General Assembly leaders are starting with a clean slate in an effort to reach a new state budget, avoid a potential government shutdown and buy time to determine how much new revenue they will have to spend over the next two years.
Youngkin and assembly leaders of both parties gathered in the state Capitol around Houdon’s statue of George Washington on Wednesday afternoon to declare a working truce in their ongoing battle over taxes and spending. They have been at odds over the $188 billion two-year budget that the Democratic-controlled legislature adopted last month and the Republican governor tried unsuccessfully to amend this week.
By NATHANIEL CLINE AND CHARLIE PAULLIN,
Virginia Mercury
Gov. Glenn Youngkin and lawmakers have agreed to work together on the biennium budget, after clashing for weeks over two distinctly different spending plans.
A special session will be held on May 13, Youngkin and lawmakers in both chambers announced Wednesday, to consider the revamped budget and prevent a shutdown ahead of July 1, when the current budget expires.
On Wednesday, the House of Delegates voted to reject all 233 of the governor’s amendments to the budget, and agreed to seek a new budget to present to the legislature May 13, with voting on it expected May 15. They also took up the governor’s other bill amendments and 153 vetoes.
By MARKUS SCHMIDT,
Cardinal News
Just hours before lawmakers returned to Richmond for the General Assembly’s reconvened session Wednesday, Gov. Glenn Youngkin and key Democrats put their irreconcilable differences over the state’s biennial budget aside and agreed to start over with a clean slate.
Using a procedural maneuver, the House of Delegates by a unanimous vote essentially killed the $64 billion spending plan for fiscal years 2024-26, which the Democratic-controlled legislature sent to the governor’s desk last month.
By SARAH RANKIN AND DENISE LAVOIE,
Associated Press
Democrats who control the Virginia General Assembly reached an 11th-hour compromise with Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin to extend the timeline for negotiations over the state budget, a move that lawmakers said Wednesday would offer a reset for what has so far been a bitter and unproductive process.
Lawmakers were meeting in Richmond for a one-day session to consider Youngkin’s vetoes and proposed amendments to legislation, including the budget. As recently as Tuesday afternoon, legislative leaders had indicated they were prepared to reject the substance of Youngkin’s proposed changes to the new two-year spending plan, a move that would have set up a likely budget veto, leaving lawmakers facing the looming prospect of a government shutdown if they failed to strike a deal by the start of the new fiscal year on July 1.
By KATIE KING,
Virginian-Pilot
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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.
By JAHD KHALIL,
VPM
The Virginia General Assembly aims to finish and pass a budget by mid-May, after Democratic leadership agreed with Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin to extend and restart the negotiating process.
The extension of budget negotiations avoids the prospect of a gubernatorial veto — at least for the moment, amid an increasingly tense political atmosphere — that could put a dent in Virginia’s financial reputation. It also provides time for policymakers to gain a clearer picture of a predicted revenue surplus.
The Virginia House of Delegates took a pair of votes Wednesday that put the Legislature on a path to restart the budget process.
House Speaker Don Scott told VPM News the motion looks “drastic,” but reflected an agreement on how to move forward.
By DAVE RESS,
Richmond Times-Dispatch
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The state Senate on Wednesday rejected Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s amendments that would toughen state oversight when Virginia legalizes skill games.
The 34 votes against Youngkin’s proposals versus six supporting them move the measure back to the governor, who has the power to veto the measure. If he does, there is no opportunity to override it.
With the bill now headed back to Youngkin’s desk, “we hope that he reconsiders the future of the tens of thousands of small businesses struggling to make ends meet here in his own commonwealth,” said Rich Kelly, president of the Virginia Merchants and Amusement Coalition, a group of stores that lobbied for legalization.
By MARKUS SCHMIDT,
Cardinal News
The state Senate on Wednesday soundly rejected Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s far-reaching slate of amendments to legislation that would legalize so-called skill games in Virginia and create a regulatory framework and tax structure for the electronic devices.
By a 34-6 bipartisan vote, the body sent SB 212, sponsored by Sen. Aaron Rouse, D-Virginia Beach, and Sen. Timmy French, R-Frederick County, among others, back to Youngkin’s desk for a signature or a veto. The bill had passed in the Senate by 32-8 in February and in the House by 51-45.
By BILL ATKINSON,
Progress Index
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It will now be up to Petersburg’s voters to decide if their city will become Virginia’s fifth casino home.
On votes of 32-8 in the state Senate and 80-19 in the House of Delegates Wednesday, the General Assembly has agreed to move the question of a Petersburg casino to a November referendum. Senate Bill 628 cleared the legislature earlier this year with a House-generated amendment calling for a second legislative vote, but Gov. Glenn Youngkin sent the bill back to lawmakers with a suggestion to strike the re-enactment.
By DEAN MIRSHAHI,
WRIC-TV
The city of Petersburg can hold a casino vote this November after Virginia lawmakers approved a change to a bill from Gov. Glenn Youngkin.
The Virginia General Assembly approved a bill to make Petersburg eligible for a casino vote, but there was a re-enactment clause added to the legislation to require a second vote to put it into effect.
Gov. Youngkin (R) proposed an amendment to remove that clause that was approved by the House of Delegates and Virginia Senate during the General Assembly’s reconvened session on April 17.
By KATE ANDREWS,
Virginia Business
Petersburg voters will likely get the opportunity to vote on a casino referendum this fall, as a Virginia General Assembly obstacle has been removed from its path.
SB 628, sponsored by Sen. Lashrecse Aird, D-Petersburg, replaces Richmond with Petersburg among Virginia cities eligible to host a casino following approval by voters on a ballot. An earlier version of the bill had required a second General Assembly vote in 2025 before the law could take effect, but Gov. Glenn Youngkin removed that section of the measure this spring.
On Wednesday, both legislative bodies passed Youngkin’s version — meaning a vote could take place this fall in Petersburg, expediting the possible development of a casino resort in the city.
By TAD DICKENS,
Cardinal News
The Virginia General Assembly on Wednesday took its final steps on a bill intended to solve disputes and speed work in the state’s quest for full broadband deployment.
Both the Senate and the House of Delegates voted unanimously to concur with Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s only recommendation to the so-called “make-ready” bill that centers on utility pole access for broadband cable. Youngkin recommended that the State Corporation Commission, which will arbitrate any disputes, get an extra 60 days to make such decisions, on top of the 180 days the General Assembly granted.
By DEAN MIRSHAHI,
WRIC-TV
A bill that would have allowed hundreds of people incarcerated in Virginia on cannabis-related felonies to reduce their sentences or be released was vetoed by Gov. Glenn Youngkin.
The bill from state Sen. Angelia Williams Graves (D-Norfolk) was among the seven pieces of legislation from Democrats that the Republican governor axed the day after his hopes of luring two professional sports teams to Alexandria collapsed. It would have given incarcerated people convicted of certain felonies tied to the possession, selling, manufacture, giving, transportation, distribution or delivery of cannabis before July 2021 – when recreational possession was legalized – an automatic hearing to modify their sentence.
