Today, in advance of the 2025 General Assembly session, Governor Youngkin introduces amendments to the state budget. These wide ranging amendments would amend the existing budget that the legislature adopted earlier this year. Today’s presentation is part of our regular budgetary process, with the next step being considered by the House and Senate budget committees.
In this special email update, I’d like to share with you a few details from the Governor’s announcement this morning. I will do my best to keep you updated with the budget process over the next several months.
Taxes
Since Glenn Youngkin became Governor in 2022, the General Assembly has approved $5 billion in tax relief for Virginia families. This comes by way of direct tax rebates, eliminating the state portion of the grocery tax, increasing the standard deduction, and other measures.
In this set of proposed amendments, the Governor is proposing the following tax relief measures for Virginians:
- Establishing the Working Class Car Tax credit, a permanent and refundable tax credit for families equaling $150 for single filers making less than $50k and $300 for joint filers making less than $100k to offset cost of car taxes on Virginians at a cost of $1.1 billion
- “No Taxes On Tips” would impact approximately 250,000 service workers and cost around $70 million
- Make existing standard deductions permanent ($8,000 for individual filers, $16,000 for joint filers) that are set to expire on January 1, 2026; failure to adopt would result in a $527 million tax increase in FY26 and $1.2 billion increase in FY27
Education
The General Assembly, with the support of Governor Youngkin, has made significant investments in both K-12 and higher education. The budget amendments introduced by the Governor this morning continue those efforts.
The Governor is proposing an additional $1 billion in K-12 funding, bringing the overall funding level for the biennium to $22 billion. This represents the largest K-12 budget in state history, thus refuting regular claims that Republicans are cutting funds for public education. Of particular interest to many would be an increase of $6.8 million for school resource officers (SROs).
As part of the K-12 budget, the Governor is proposing a $50 million Virginia Opportunity Scholarship Program to support low income families with educational costs (tuition, books, uniforms, etc.). This funding comes from a growth in state revenues, not existing K-12 funding.
The Governor also reported that six lab schools are currently operational, with an additional nine slated to open their doors in fall 2025. This is good news for educational choice, helping to guarantee all students have access to a quality education.
In the higher education sphere, the Governor is proposing to cap tuition raises by requiring universities to make cuts to bloated administrative costs. Additional funds for operating costs are not provided in these amendments.
Particularly as Virginia State University is located in the heart of the 74th district, I was pleased that Governor Youngkin is continuing to prioritize our public HBCUs. In fact, the per-student funding level for HBCUs under this administration is at the highest level in the past 30 years.
One notable item pertaining to higher education is the Virginia Military Survivors & Dependents Education Program (VMSDEP). This program pays tuition at a Virginia public college or university for the survivors and dependents of service members who are either killed in action or at least 90 percent permanently disabled as a direct result of involvement in covered military combat. The Governor’s budget amendments include an increase in funding for this program and a sustainable funding mechanism to ensure the program’s longevity with increased participation.
Public Safety
I continue to hear from people across Colonial Heights and Chesterfield about the need to focus on public safety. I am glad to see the Governor make key recommendations in this area.
First, the Governor is proposing to withhold 599 funding (direct aid to police departments) to localities who adopt “sanctuary city” policies. Neither Colonial Heights or Chesterfield have adopted these policies, so there would be no fiscal impact to our district. This is a prudent proposal aimed at keeping our streets safe from those who are wanted for violent crimes.
I am also incredibly glad to see the Governor include funding to expand the current SCOP pilot program. This expansion worth $35 million will help expand the use of special conservators of the peace (SCOPs) in the ECO/TDO process. Currently when a patient experiencing a mental health emergency is waiting on a bed, a police officer or sheriff deputy is sitting with them. This both gives the appearance of criminalizing mental health crises and takes law enforcement off the streets. This latter concern is particularly an issue in smaller localities who may already be experiencing a shortage of uniformed officers. By allowing law enforcement to transfer custody from law enforcement to SCOPs, we can solve both concerns.
Helene Recovery
Our fellow Virginians living in the southwest portion of the state were particularly hard hit by Hurricane Helene. While private insurance and federal disaster funds are helping, there’s still a significant need for help in order to make sure the region gets back on its feet. To that end, the Governor is proposing the creation of a permanent disaster recovery fund to help augment existing federal dollars so that the people of SWVA are fully supported. This fund will remain in place for years to come so that the General Assembly can be prepared to help Virginians who are victims of future natural disasters recover appropriately.
This update covers just a small portion of the entire budget. You can view the full proposal from the Governor by clicking here. You can also view his press release here. Finally, a presentation from the Secretary of Finance can be viewed here.
Particularly as Congress is debating another continuing resolution, I think it’s worth noting that while Virginia’s budget process sometimes takes longer than we hope and doesn’t include everything we wish for, the job always gets done.
I hope you found this update helpful and informative. As always, please feel free to reach out to me if there is ever a state-related issue I can assist you or your family with.
Sincerely,
Mike Cherry