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State lawmakers adjourned Saturday with the adoption of, in the words of Sen. Creigh Deeds, a “skinny” budget, leaving for another day decisions about what to do with hundreds of millions of dollars in surplus funds. Gov. Glenn Youngkin is expected to call legislators back to Richmond in the coming weeks for a special session dedicated to completing work on the budget.
This is the second year in a row the General Assembly is going into overtime to complete its budget work. Divided government is causing the budgetary stalemates, with the Republican governor and GOP-controlled House of Delegates favoring $1 billion in tax cuts and the Democratic-dominated Senate preferring to increase spending by a like amount on underfunded K-12 education and mental health services.
Deeds points out, in his weekly newsletter to constituents, that the scaled-down budget adopted to this point accomplishes four important objectives. The $201 million shortfall in state aid to local schools created by a Department of Education calculation error has been corrected. Legislators are providing $100 million for existing capital projects that have had cost overruns due to inflation and supply chain issues. A payment is being made to the Virginia Retirement System to offset unfunded liabilities. And, a required payment is being made to the state’s Rainy Day Fund that will safeguard the state’s AAA bond rating.
Deeds highlights a couple of legislative accomplishments he played a role in that should prove beneficial to constituents. He and Sen. Jennifer McClellan, who was elected to Congress last week, sponsored legislation to increase oversight of electric utilities and lower energy costs for consumers. A bill that Deeds introduced to address a shortage of essential school personnel such as bus drivers was merged with other similar legislation that passed both houses. The legislation shortens the time from when these essential school employees retire and when they can return to work, from six to three months.
Saturday’s adjournment brought attention to what is shaping up to be a huge turnover in members of the legislature between now and when the General Assembly convenes for the 2024 session next January. More than a dozen legislators have announced their intention to retire, with many more expected to follow suit. All 140 seats of the General Assembly will be up for grabs in the Nov. 7 elections later this year. Party nominees will be selected for these elections in primaries that are to be held June 20.
Part of the reason for a turnover of this magnitude is redistricting directed by the Virginia Supreme Court that paid no heed to safeguarding the seats of incumbents. Many legislators were thrown into unfriendly districts and others were put into the same districts as fellow lawmakers. Deeds, who has represented the Rockbridge area for decades, will no longer be our state senator next year. He plans to move from Hot Springs to Charlottesville to run for reelection in a reconfigured district that includes much of his present constituency.
Campaigns for this year’s elections are already underway. Two days after adjournment, Del. Ellen Campbell, in office less than two months, announced her plans to seek reelection. Campbell, elected in early January to fill the 24th District seat in the House of Delegates left vacant by the December death of her late husband Ronnie Campbell, is running in reconfigured District 36, which encompasses northeastern Rockbridge County, part of Augusta County and the cities of Staunton and Waynesboro.
There is much uncertainty about who will be representing the Rockbridge area in the General Assembly next year, or, for that matter, which party will control either of the chambers. If one party controls both chambers next year, there probably won’t be any need for an extra legislative session to settle disputes over budgetary priorities. Whether that would be a good thing is open to debate.
