Modest strides, not bold leaps
Governor, lawmakers finally move to the middle ground on budget
The notion that a budget is a reflection of values is oft repeated around statehouse halls each year as executive and legislative branches spar over what to fund and what to exclude, what to support and what to discard, while crafting their spending plans.
That’s certainly true here as Gov. Glenn Youngkin and the General Assembly have, over five months, offered starkly different visions for the commonwealth’s future. That back and forth, while unnecessarily combative, is likely to land with a consensus budget that makes modest strides, not bold leaps, toward meeting the commonwealth’s priorities.
Each term-limited governor effectively has one opportunity to present a two-year budget, and Youngkin didn’t squander his opportunity to propose sweeping changes to the tax system that would radically shift how the commonwealth collects revenue. Democrats, who hold slim majorities in both legislative chambers, pronounced it dead on arrival.
However, Democrats in the General Assembly passed their own budget blueprint that was a non-starter for the Republican chief executive.
It would levy sales taxes on digital services, such as downloads and streaming services, without offsets to make it revenue neutral, resulting in a substantial increase in the tax burden that Youngkin would never accept.
Between lawmakers’ passage of their budget plan and the governor issuing his amendments, the two sides engaged in politicking to sell their competing proposals
to the commonwealth, though it only served to stir up acrimony and make cooperation more difficult.
Very little of that inside baseball likely matters to Virginians. Their expectations are more straightforward: strong and safe public schools with talented educators, good-paying jobs, a reliable social safety net, a fair tax burden, thoughtful investment in public safety, protection of natural resources and, particularly in Hampton Roads, defense from destructive recurrent flooding.
Elements of each budget — the legislative plan and the governor’s amendments — speak to those tangible needs, which
underscores that each side must give a little to get a little.
Last week, Youngkin pitched his budget amendments as a “common ground” spending plan and, in fairness to him, the governor did make considerable concessions from his December proposal. Gone are the sweeping overhaul of the tax structure and notions of eliminating the car tax.
Eliminating those revenue reductions allowed him to move close to Democrats on other items. His revised plan called for 3% raises for public school teachers rather than the 1% he proposed in December. It would increase investment in higher education to limit the size of tuition increases many schools have mulled, also a Democratic priority.
All told, the governor relented on about $1 billion in spending that he had originally outlined in his December wish list, and has only restored about $230 million of that, with much of that for his lab schools program. That is a substantial retreat and reflects the reality in Richmond, where Republicans and Democrats each have a hand on a lever of power.
It’s important to note that Youngkin vetoed bills that would return Virginia to the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative and create a legal cannabis marketplace — initiatives that would have generated revenue for pressing needs, including flood protection desperately needed in Hampton Roads.
He also vetoed a bill that would allow localities to hold referendums to institute a 1% sales tax increase to fund school construction. With communities across the commonwealth needing an estimated $25 billion to fix crumbling schools, closing that door makes no sense.
That narrows the path forward. Democrats can reject budget amendments on simple majority votes but need Republican help to override vetoes. They may restore some items axed by Youngkin, but big changes are unlikely.
In this environment, this may be the best Virginia can do, even if it falls short of either side’s aspirations. It’s said that perfect shouldn’t be the enemy of the good, and while Virginians might have hoped for something better, a consensus budget that eschews radical change in favor of modest progress is far from the worst outcome.