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Virginia Tech student helps lead push for women’s health legislation
At 20 years old, Aarushi Khanna played a central role in getting new legislation passed in Virginia. The Virginia Tech student is an ambassador for the Pad Project, a nonprofit dedicated to expanding access to menstrual products in places where supplies are limited, and to increasing education on women’s menstrual health. Khanna was one of several activists who pushed for the passage of House Bill 1221, which would allow for all schools in Virginia to provide menstrual education as part as overall health instruction for students middle school-age and up.
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.
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.
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.
Federal official celebrates rural broadband effort in Stafford
Richland Baptist Church in Stafford County was crawling with federal officials and black SUVs on Monday, but the contingent was there to celebrate, not investigate. U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and her troops, along with Comcast and Stafford officials, descended on the property to tout a public–private partnership that brought high-speed broadband to the western part of the county. “While over 650 homes may seem like a small number to some, I assure you it is huge for us and means the world to our residents,” said Meg Bohmke, chair of the Stafford Board of Supervisors.
Virginia lawmakers approve bipartisan spending plan
Weeks of Virginia state budget drama ended Monday with pledges of bipartisan goodwill as the General Assembly passed a compromise two-year spending plan that boosts funding for education and other priorities without increasing taxes. Votes in both the Senate and the House of Delegates were nearly unanimous. Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R), who had raised the specter of an unprecedented state government shutdown by vowing not to sign the budget the legislature passed in March, rushed Monday to sign the new document after a special one-day legislative budget session.
Virginia lawmakers to study campus safety policies after series of protests
The Virginia House of Delegates has formed a select committee on maintaining campus safety and allowing students to exercise their First Amendment rights, after more than 125 arrests at four of Virginia’s college campuses. According to Sen. Ghazala Hashmi, D-Richmond, the Senate will announce its plans to form a similar committee on Tuesday. “I’ve heard very different scenarios from those who were on the ground and in encampments either as students or as community members that were part of those protests,” Hashmi said. “I think it’s important to get a very clear picture of what’s happened.”
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.
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 ...