Virginia lawmakers, Gov. Youngkin agree to scrap budget proposals, plan to start fresh

RICHMOND — 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 at the capitol Wednesday. “We will be calling a special session — we believe this is a good path forward for the commonwealth.”

General Assembly reconvenes Wednesday to take up Youngkin’s vetoes and budget amendments

The governor said there will be a vote on a new budget proposal on May 15.

Standing next to the governor, Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee Chair Louise Lucas said the lines of communication between both sides were improving.

“Nothing helps this process more than everybody getting together and sitting around the table and talking about what can we all do to help Virginia,” said Lucas, D-Portsmouth. “I think we all may have different ways we thought we were going to get there, but I think now we are going to work towards something that will keep the temperature down a little bit.”

The legislature reconvened Wednesday to take up Youngkin’s unprecedented number of vetoes and budget amendments. The House of Delegates unanimously approved a motion declaring the 233 budget amendments “not specific and severable” and then voted to pass the budget by for the day. This allows lawmakers to start over on a new budget plan.

Del. Luke Torian, D-Dumfries, said the group of budget conferees will start meeting today.

Youngkin had characterized his amended spending plan as a “common ground budget” that stripped out any tax increases or decreases. But Democrats argued the governor’s unprecedented number of amendments made it difficult to compromise.

“The governor has made it very difficult to consider his amendments when he’s attempting to adjust our revenues by a billion dollars in a series of 233 amendments; that’s just not something the legislature has ever seen before,” Senate Majority Leader Scott Surovell, D-Mount Vernon, previously told The Virginian-Pilot.

Meanwhile, in the Senate, legislators got to work taking up amendments the governor made to specific legislation.

The Senate rejected the governor’s lengthy amendments to a controversial bill that would legalize skill games in a 34-6 vote.

Sen. Aaron Rouse, D-Virginia Beach, was critical of the amendments, and pointed out the parameters limiting operation of skill games near schools, daycare centers and casinos largely banned the devices in the state.

“The 35-mile radius around casinos wipes out the whole Hampton Roads region,” Rouse said.

Rouse also sought to vote on adoption of the original form of the bill, but a vote was temporarily held off.

Katie King, katie.king@virginiamedia.com