RICHMOND, Va. — Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin signed a two-year state budget Monday that includes millions for flood preparedness, toll relief, and raises for teachers and state employees.
The Republican governor's signature comes after the legislation passed the Democratic-controlled legislature earlier Monday during a special session. The $188 billion, two-year budget resulted from negotiations between Youngkin and leaders in the legislature, with a deal reached late last week.
Speaker of the House Don Scott, Youngkin, and other state leaders had several meetings, creating a budget that "meets the needs of Virginians on time".
"We had some great discussion meetings, we had productive phone calls," Youngkin said over the weekend. "I want to tell all of my colleagues here: thank you for engaging with us. I just appreciate the good exchange of how we can get from here to there."
The budget includes millions for Hampton Roads:
- $25 million going to support the Resilient Norfolk Coastal Risk Storm Management Project.
- $100 million going to the Virginia Community Flood Preparedness Fund.
- Toll relief: the budget is allotting $77 million for the first year of the budget and $24 million for the second. To qualify for toll relief, drivers have to earn less than $50,000 annually.
- $18 million will be aiding in gun violence prevention going into the firearm violence intervention and prevention fund.
- At least $1.5 million will be provided to cities with what leaders call "disproportionate firearm-related homicides". This includes Norfolk and Portsmouth in the first year of the budget.
- $38,500 for the Virginia Beach Mass Shooting Commission
Additionally, the budget agreement includes a 3% raise for state employees and teachers while not raising taxes and risking a potential veto by Youngkin.
"Budgets are hard and we in fact listened to one another," said Youngkin as he signed the bill into law. "We understood each other's priorities and that came together in the budget."
However, not everyone is happy about the budget.
Delegate Michael Cherry spoke against the budget after spending cuts were made to the Virginia Military Survivors Independence Education Program.
"We created the program, but we are allowing a few people to change and really gut a program that benefits those who have given the most," said Cherry.
One noticeable absence in the proposed budget deal is the fate of electronic skill games. Earlier this year, the Democratic-controlled General Assembly pushed a bipartisan bill to the governor's desk to regulate skill games in a return to the state.
But Youngkin returned the bill to the legislature with several amendments, including limits on the number of machines a business can have, having the Virginia Lottery oversee all the games, and restricting businesses from operating the games if they are within a certain distance from schools and casinos.
The Virginia Merchants and Amusement Coalition (VA MAC) has come out against Youngkin's amendments, and said hundreds of participating convenience stores will stop selling Virginia Lottery tickets until Youngkin and lawmakers "come to an agreement on a path forward for skill games.”
Youngkin signed the budget bill within minutes after the Senate adjourned.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.