On Saturday, March 10, the General Assembly adjourned sine die without passing a budget. This concluded the legislature’s regular business but means they will go back to Richmond for a special session. Governor Northam has called the special session for Wednesday, April 11.
Governor Northam has signed and approved 10 of our 11 legislative priorities in to law and must act on the final piece of legislation prior to Monday, April 9. Information on all priority legislation can be found below.
The other key issue we have been tracking outside of our annual legislative priorities is finding a dedicated revenue source for METRO. We were concerned for most of the legislative session that a proposal to increase the grantors tax would ultimately prevail but fortunately that was not the case. In order to identify the $154 million requested by METRO the legislature has decided to redirect several existing revenue sources. While this is positive in the sense that our region will not see any new tax increases, much of the revenue that is being diverted is currently being utilized by localities to fund local road projects through the NVTA. What this means is that Northern Virginia could see a significant slowdown in new road construction and improvements.
The legislature has adjourned but the Governor still has the opportunity to weigh in on the METRO proposal. To address our concerns with regional transportation funding, the Governor stated earlier this week that he would be “tweaking” the legislation so it was not so heavily reliant on diverting funding from other transportation projects. He did not detail what those “tweaks” would be but we will know more in the coming weeks leading up to the legislature’s annual veto session on April 18.
HB 311 – Passed the Senate 40-0. Passed the House 99-1. Approved by the Governor on March 9.
HB 439 – Passed the full House 98-0. Passed the Senate 40-0. Approved by the Governor on Feb. 26.
HB 824 – Passed the House 90-3. Passed the Senate 39Y-0N-1A. The Governor must act on the bill by April 9.
HB 855 – Passed the House 96Y-3N-1A. Passed Senate 40-0. Approved by the Governor on March 9.
HB 862 – Passed the House 100-0. Passed Senate 40-0. Approved by the Governor on March 9.
HB 864 – Passed the House 98-0. Passed the Senate 40-0. Approved by the Governor on Feb. 28.
HB 923 – Passed the House 100-0. Passed Senate 40-0. Approved by the Governor on Mar. 2.
SB 197 – Passed the House 97Y-1N-1A. Passed the Senate 40-0. Approved by the Governor on March 9.
SB 514 – Passed the Senate 39-0. Passed the House 100-0. Approved by the Governor on Mar. 2.
SB 528 – Passed the Senate 39-0. Passed the House 100-0. Approved by the Governor on Mar. 2.
SB 758 – Passed the House 100-0. Passed the Senate 40-0. Approved by the Governor on March 9.