Gov. Glenn Youngkin has recommended almost 400 amendments to legislation passed by the General Assembly and vetoed almost 160 bills, he announced Monday.
Over 200 of the recommendations are part of a budget proposal to remove or reduce spending and instead put money into reserves to prepare for risks posed by “needed actions” coming from President Donald Trump’s administration, he said in remarks Monday.
“Let's prepare for risk around potential federal worker layoffs with a pathway for new jobs,” said Youngkin Monday, who is proposing setting aside $300 million into revenue reserves. He’s also recommended reducing spending items that Democrats had proposed to have “fewer long-term spending obligations.”
Click here to see a full list of Youngkin's recommended amendments.
“This is what I think advanced management looks like,” he told reporters. “You go attack issues. You don't stand back and wait for them to happen to you.”
Among the largest cuts to the General Assembly’s budget were $138,000,000 from funding for school support staff, $25,000,000 from HVAC improvements at Nottoway Correctional Center, $20,000,000 for a rental assistance pilot program, and $15,000,000 for a first-time homebuyer grant program.
Speaking to reporters Tuesday, Senate Majority Leader Scott Surovell (D–Fairfax) criticized the trade-offs the governor made in his budget amendments.
“This is just the way of the governor, playing politics with issues and trying to make media moments out of this,” he said. “We're not going to fund the revenue reserve fund by cutting all those priorities.”
After he presented his December budget proposal before legislators, Youngkin had said he was preparing for economic tailwinds. On Monday, he and Secretary of Finance Stephen Cummings referred several times to preparing a “cushion” for Virginia’s economy.
Del. Luke Torian (D–Prince William), chair of the House Appropriations Committee, said it was “prudent” to look at reserves given the uncertainty in Washington.
“We share an interest in growing our reserves. We just may have a different approach,” he said in an interview Monday.
Youngkin said he vetoed eight budget items and made 205 amendments to the 515 budget changes the General Assembly passed earlier this month.
Youngkin, who is in his last year as governor, said the other two priorities were tax relief and fewer ongoing spending obligations.
Youngkin said that he was including $85 million to “raise” the cap on state funding for non-instructional support positions in schools. Legislators put forward over $200 million dollars to eliminate that cap in their budget.
The General Assembly’s budget proposal would use tax rebates to send money back to Virginians rather than Youngkin’s proposal to make cuts to the car tax and eliminate taxes on tips. Both tax relief proposals were for roughly $1 billion.
Youngkin also included additional tax relief for low income filers in his recommendations by making 20% of the Earned Income Tax Credit permanently refundable. Currently that measure is set to expire in 2027.
The Legislature will consider his proposed changes April 2. If the Democratic majority votes in unison, they can block his proposed changes without the threat of a shutdown — because Virginia’s biennial budget system means funding is already in place for the next fiscal year, which starts July 1. However, if they reject them, Youngkin can veto individual budget items.
This is the second year Youngkin has proposed over 200 amendments to spending bills. Last year, after a similarly unprecedented number of budget amendments, a monthslong standoff was averted when Virginia’s tax collections ran above expectations.
Youngkin said Monday that over the course of his administration, Virginia has collected $10 billion in excess revenues and provided $9 billion in tax relief.
Virginia’s revenues are again running above the administration’s forecast, to the tune of $200 million so far this fiscal year, which began July 1, 2024. That’s even after planners raised the amount they expected Virginia to collect by over $3 billion in December.
This may not be the last budget adjustment. Leadership in the Legislature can reconvene in a special session to address “impacts upon the Commonwealth, its budget, and its services due to layoffs, firings, or reductions in force by the federal government,” according to a resolution it passed earlier this year.
So far, Youngkin’s efforts at mitigating possible effects from the restructuring of the federal government have been to offer workforce development and unemployment guidance to laid off employees. VPM News asked Youngkin if this was the first time new money was being put behind the effort to mitigate effects from Washington.
“It’s our first budget since we've been discussing these topics,” he said. “Putting nearly a $600 million revenue reserve deposit … enables us to feel confident that if there is a bump in the road, we can deal with it.”
“No one should worry about the fact that we would have to come back and cut programs for people or raise taxes on people. That's just not in the cards, because we don't need to do that,” he said.
Cummings said Monday that layoffs had not shown up in Virginia Employment Commission data yet.
In a Thursday press release, the VEC said about 1,100 unemployment claims were for individuals who previously worked for the federal government, with about one-third being contractors. These claims do not include Virginia residents who work in DC or Maryland.
The Weldon Cooper Center at the University of Virginia said the effects of a 10% reduction in Virginia’s federal workforce would cancel out the state's projected 2025 job growth.
Youngkin’s $300 million proposed deposit into the reserve fund is similar to the amount Weldon Cooper said such a reduction in the federal workforce would cost Virginia: $248 million.
In a press release Monday night, the governor’s office said he had signed 599 bills, amended 159 bills, and vetoed 157 bills.
The signed legislation includes bills to define fusion energy, expand the dentistry workforce and lengthen the period in which protective orders can be in force.
Youngkin recommended adding clauses to several pieces of legislation too, including bills related to permits for data centers and the establishment of a right to contraception. That requires those bills to be passed again next year.
Youngkin was expected to veto many bills since many were repeats of legislation he killed last year. The Virginia Public Access Project called his 201 vetoes in 2024 a record amount.
Over 140 bills were passed during this year’s session after party-line votes, according to data from VPAP. But Youngkin also vetoed legislation that had Republican votes in the General Assembly: the creation of a prescription drug affordability board, holding presidential primaries the same day as other primaries, and temperature regulations in correctional facilities.
