Senator Lynwood Lewis updates on the 2023 Virginia General Assembly Session

By Senator Lynwood Lewis

With the State legislature “crossing over” this week – the time when Bills “cross over” from the Senate to the House and from the House to the Senate – things are as busy as ever in Richmond. The House and Senate amended versions of the Governor’s proposed amended Budget were released on Sunday, February 5th. As was anticipated, these two versions of the Budget diverged by nearly a billion dollars, indicating that there will be significant work to do over the coming weeks to come to a compromise Budget. 

The Senate Budget places a high prioritization on funding our public schools, including raising teacher pay, funding standards of quality, increasing funds for support specialists and making School Districts whole after the Department of Education’s recent “math error” resulted in districts being short nearly $200 million. Rural districts like those here on the Shore would be especially harmed by this error. The Senate Budget also includes historic investments in our mental and behavioral health systems and prioritizes funding to ensure the health of our Chesapeake Bay through improved wastewater infrastructure, agricultural best management practices and resiliency loans and grants. 

The House Budget includes one billion dollars in tax cuts proposed by Governor Youngkin, with a large chunk going to reduce the corporate tax rate from 6% to 5%. There is bipartisan agreement within the Senate that, after securing $4 billion in tax cuts for individuals, families and businesses last year, it is not fiscally prudent at this time to reduce the top tax liability for corporations below that of 84% of tax-paying Virginians. It’s important to note that Virginia is already one of the more tax-friendly states for businesses and corporations, and that major investments in public education, transportation, our workforce and infrastructure are more fiscally responsible for long-term corporate success within the Commonwealth. 

While the Budgets are far, far apart, there are still several highlights for the Shore in one or both Budgets that I will work to ensure remain in the final Budget Bill. This includes my top priority each year: the continued supplemental funding for cost of compete allowances to ensure our public schools can recruit and retain talented teachers while competing with the salaries in Maryland. While I pushed to include Accomack and Northampton Counties as fully-funded COCA localities alongside Northern Virginia districts that also border Maryland, ultimately the money Committees chose to maintain the current level of funding, $1.75 million, for another year. While not the outcome I’ve fought for, the funding will ensure the changes to the salary scale made by our school systems thanks to prior years’ funding are able to be maintained. 

The Senate Budget also includes $1 million for the completion of the Melfa Hangar Project in conjunction with the Virginia Commercial Space Flight Authority and $68,000 to the Eastern Shore Area Agency on Aging for roof repairs.

The Senate appropriated $280,000 for the first year of the Menhaden Fishery localized depletion study authorized by my Bill, SB1388. After multiple spills in Northampton County this past summer resulting in tens of thousands of dead fish on Eastern Shore beaches, I called for additional measures to be enacted by VMRC and also introduced a study to get real data on the effects of the commercial Menhaden Fishery for the health of our Chesapeake Bay. While I shared the disappointment of many of you when VMRC failed to enact real accountability measures in the form of regulations this past December, I believe carrying out this study will be a major step towards addressing a critical issue for the Shore, its residents and our other fisheries. 

I hope to see an appropriation for the completion of the Wachapreague Sewage System – which is included in the House Budget – in the final Budget. 

With such vast differences in the amended House and Senate Budgets, we have a lot of work to do to get to a compromise Budget by February 25, the date the Legislature is set to adjourn for 2023. In the meantime, we are continuing to carry out the legislative process for the Bills that passed out of their original body. 

While we are past the halfway point in Richmond, I still look forward to visits, emails and calls from folks back home – whether it’s just to stop in to chat or if you are advocating for a specific issue or piece of legislation. Please continue to reach out to my office through e-mail at [email protected] or by phone at 804-698-7506. While we may not always be in agreement, I always try to do my best to legislate with each of you in mind.