RICHMOND, Va. — State Senator Louise Lucas and Delegate Luke Torian announced on Thursday that they have finalized the biennial Virginia budget.
In a press release, they outline that they "preserved our shared priorities in education, health and human resources, public safety and in protecting Virginia's environment."
They say the budget provides raises of three percent each year for teachers and maintains a commitment to backfill revenue loss from the elimination of the sales tax on groceries. The budget also allocates funding for three percent raises for state and state-supported local employees in each year of the biennium.
The release states the budget also has investments in health and human resources to address behavioral health and public safety.
Lucas said in an interview on Wednesday though, that the budget would not allocate funding for the sports arena in Northern Virginia that Youngkin has been pushing for.
The release says amendments will be posted to the state budget webpage on the legislative information system by the end of the day.
The budget had been the last remaining vehicle for the legislation underpinning the deal after other standalone versions failed earlier this session. The governor could pursue an amendment to the budget once lawmakers send it to him, restoring the project language, or he could call a special session on the issue.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.