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General Assembly passes budget with funds for priorities, no tax hike
The General Assembly found a way to compromise with Gov. Glenn Youngkin on tax policy while paying for such priorities as raises for teachers and state employees in a $188 billion two-year budget that the legislature adopted on Monday. The House of Delegates voted 94-6 to pass the spending plan for July 1, 2024, through June 30, 2026. In the Senate, the vote was 39-1. The budget compromise avoids a showdown with Youngkin over modernizing Virginia’s tax code and returning the state to a multistate compact for reducing the greenhouse gases that scientists link to global warming and climate change. It also sidesteps — for now — an unresolved debate over whether to allow electronic “skill” games in convenience stores ...
Maxson: Access to contraceptives is about more than birth control
In March, the Virginia General Assembly passed legislation to protect contraception access in the state. House Bill 609 requires insurers to cover contraceptive medications and devices with no out-of-pocket costs and guarantees the right to use them. Despite a petition signed by 37,000 Virginians in favor of the bill, Gov. Glenn Youngkin sent it back to the legislature requesting it be amended to allow insurance plan sponsors with religious objections to contraception to opt out of the requirement. In their reconvening, the legislature did not accept the amendment and returned the original bill to the governor for his signature or veto.
Republican group takes rare step of targeting GOP incumbent who voted to oust McCarthy
A political action committee that helps Republicans get elected to Congress is doing the unusual — spending more than $450,000 to defeat a GOP incumbent. That incumbent, conservative two-term Rep. Bob Good, R-Va., voted to remove former Rep. Kevin McCarthy as House speaker last fall. It’s just the latest example of how money is flowing into races involving some of the eight Republican lawmakers who voted along with Democrats to oust McCarthy. About $3.3 million has been spent on ads in the Virginia race going into Friday, according to the media tracking firm AdImpact.
Yancey: You can’t say this word in some movies. But you can put it in a sign for all to see.
A year ago, my home county of Botetourt — like many others — was roiled by a controversy over library books. The specific concern was that children could walk into any county library and, with no supervision, find books that some considered obscene — and which certainly had some sexual content. The group BRACE — Botetourt Residents Against Child Exploitation — said it was not advocating book banning. “What we ARE proposing,” the group says on its website, “is the establishment of sensible and reasonable community standards. … And this is not about free speech. The Supreme Court has ruled that the First Amendment does not protect obscenity.” People can differ about whether the books in question — the group listed 26 on its website, many with LGBTQ+ themes — are, indeed, obscene. However, we as a society have generally agreed that not everything is appropriate for all age groups.
State budget includes $50M for broadband deployment
Virginia’s recently passed law to speed broadband deployment to rural areas now has a financial component. Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s signature on the General Assembly’s budget bill will move $50 million over two years from the general fund to the Virginia Telecommunication Initiative, or VATI. The money, earmarked to help cover construction costs for private sector broadband service providers, follows the so-called make-ready bill passed in April to solve disputes and speed work toward getting internet to the commonwealth’s rural residents.
Gov. Glenn Youngkin signs $188B, 2-year budget in quick special session
Virginia lawmakers passed a $188 billion budget Monday, using unexpected tax money to fund spending increases General Assembly Democrats proposed in April, instead of a new digital sales tax that they had been at loggerheads over with Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin. When compared to the last two-year budget, the budget increases education funding by $2.5 billion; has a 3% raise for state employees, teachers, and support staff; and increases funding for child care by $500 million, according to a Senate summary.
New N. Va. data center firm sees big opportunities — outside N. Va.
Two regional real estate pros have launched a new company specializing in tapping data center demand outside Northern Virginia, citing local officials' cooling interest in the area's continuing to be home to the data center industry’s explosive growth. “Data center development is being choked off in Northern Virginia,” Ross Litkenhous, who recently co-founded Oasis Digital Properties LLC with Nick Over ... The new firm currently has eight deals in the works in King George and Wise counties, as well as other undisclosed places in southwestern Virginia.
600-acre data center project in Henrico up for deciding vote
Two years after a previous rezoning attempt by another group fizzled out, local development firm Hourigan is one vote away from securing approval for a massive industrial development in Varina that’s planned to include multiple data centers. Henrico supervisors are slated to vote tonight on Hourigan’s request to rezone 622 acres southeast of the Interstate 64-295 interchange from agricultural use to the county’s Light Industrial district. The change would allow more than half of the largely wooded site to be developed for manufacturing, office and production uses, including advanced manufacturing and data centers.
Youngkin signs 2-year state budget, which includes toll relief for Hampton Roads
Gov. Glenn Youngkin signed an $188 billion state budget proposal Monday, moments after it was passed by the General Assembly. The two-year spending plan nixes a potential new tax on digital goods — a priority for Youngkin, who initially suggested the idea before reversing course — but still manages to fund most of the projects prioritized by Democrats, including massive investments in education. Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee Chair Louise Lucas, who sat beside the governor as he signed the proposal into law, called the plan a “big win” for Virginia.
Sea-level rise among port’s concerns
Over the years, scientists have warned about sea-level rise, especially in Norfolk, which has the highest rate on the East Coast. “Norfolk is very flat. When you see a small increase in water levels, a wide part of land floods in response,” says Molly Mitchell, a researcher at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, which issues annual sea-level report cards for 32 coastal communities in the United States. Hampton Roads as a whole will probably see between 1 and 3 feet in sea-level rise by 2050, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and Mitchell says that’s just the beginning.