Behind closed doors
Lawmakers return to Richmond, however, don’t expect a budget vote
The General Assembly will convene in Richmond on Wednesday for its “veto session,” in which it will consider those bills amended or rejected by Gov. Glenn Youngkin. What lawmakers won’t do — for the second consecutive year — is approve a state budget, having once again let negotiations over adjustment to the two-year spending plan continue well beyond the end of the legislative session.
If that work is anything like in 2022, Virginians can expect critical decisions about the revised budget to be made well away from public view, leaving little time for the sort of scrutiny that serves lawmakers and citizens alike. It’s an increasingly common problem and revives questions about whether a part-time legislature is sufficient for the full-time needs of the commonwealth.
When lawmakers gathered in Richmond last year, Virginia was right to expect the legislative process to unfold in fits and starts. Voters had handed the GOP a majority in the House in 2021 and elevated Youngkin to the Governor’s Mansion. It would take time for officials in new positions to warm to their new surroundings and seek to implement their agenda.
Sure enough, the 60-day session proved insufficient for GOP leaders in the House and the Democratic majority in the Senate to find common ground. Work stretched on for months, entirely out of public view, before negotiators — a handful of lawmakers — unveiled a $165 billion spending play shortly before Memorial Day weekend.
Credit to those who pieced together the budget proposal since it was the product of compromise. Both sides were able to tout wins in the final product, while blaming their political opponents for not conceding enough.
But the fact that this was all largely done in secret, without public input, before the 370-page bill was approved should gall Virginians. Here was the most important task facing the commonwealth’s legislature but our elected officials were content to do their work behind closed doors.
Fast forward to January, when the legislature gathered again for its 45-day session (aka the “short session). Rather than build an entire two-year budget from scratch, lawmakers only needed to make adjustments based on economic conditions and the introduction of a few priorities. The hope was that the General Assembly, with another year of seasoning, could wrap up its work in a timely manner.
But when officials gather in Richmond this week, reports suggest that budget negotiators will complete a spending plan before the end of the fiscal year on June 30, but not too long before that. It’s déjà vu all over again, as the eminently quotable Yogi Berra famously said.
In their defense, it makes sense that work on a budget proposal shouldn’t be rushed, especially given the uncertainty facing the national and state economy. But given the array of priorities competing for attention and funding, debate about Virginia’s future — what it aspires to be and how it intends to get there — would be better done in a public setting.
What’s more, this keeps happening — as Gov. Terry McAuliffe and the Republican-led legislature showed in 2014, when budget approval also slipped to late June. It’s as though the Virginia Constitution’s strict limits on session lengths are no longer adequate for the needs of a modern, dynamic commonwealth.
This year, lawmakers are considering a host of tax proposals from the governor, including a cut to the corporate tax rate that most lawmakers agree is a non-starter. Youngkin and legislators agree on the need to increase mental health funding, and Richmond must address a $201 million shortfall in state education funding caused by the Department of Education.
But Virginians aren’t likely to have much time to review the details if a proposal is made public only days before a vote, as happened last year.
A budget is the legislature’s most important work, affecting Virginians from the coast to the mountains. By allowing negotiations to slip later in the year, and working behind closed doors, lawmakers do a disservice to the commonwealth.