Before the Virginia General Assembly’s scheduled adjournment on Saturday, legislators still have heavy lifting to reconcile spending plans on major items like transportation, education and health care. “There’s essentially a week left in the session, [but] we are way far from completing our work,” said Del. Ken Plum, D-Fairfax.
The House and Senate have each passed versions of the governor’s $4 billion transportation plan, though the Senate has eschewed a proposal to use $150 million in general fund money to deposit in a transportation infrastructure bank.
“The final approval of a budget is intertwined with the approval of a transportation plan,” Plum said. “We’ve got a Gordian knot here that’s going to be hard to untie, and the two are intertwined.”
Also at odds in each chamber’s respective budget is funding for K-12 education; under the House’s proposed budget, $93 million would be cut, and Fairfax, Loudoun and Prince William counties would lose $5.9 million, $3 million and $6.4 million, respectively. The Senate has proposed restoring about $100 million for K-12.
Republicans, meanwhile, have cast themselves as shepherds of fiscal discipline.
“Since they raise fees and don’t put money into the rainy day fund, they have all this money to spend,” said Del. Dave Albo, R-Fairfax.
The House has proposed an additional deposit of $64 million to the state’s rainy day fund; the Senate has proposed $20.3 million.
And while signs indicate a coming turnaround in Virginia’s revenues, the state recently got slapped with an estimated $2 billion price tag over the next 10 years to bring its services for the mentally disabled up to code.
Members on both sides of the aisle agree that the system needs work, and Gov. Bob McDonnell last week sent down legislation to address the issue by shoring up a trust fund that would go toward financing services for the intellectually disabled.
But the big battle could be over transportation.
“The Democrats have always held firm on not using general fund [money] for transportation, so I’d be shocked if they’d give it up,” said Albo.
