Last week, Gov. Glenn Youngkin completed action on the state budget and legislation from the General Assembly after we took action on his first round of proposed amendments and vetoes. The actions bring a conclusion to four years of an usual style of dealing with the General Assembly and a disappointing end to this budget cycle.
Governor Youngkin vetoed an additional 38 bills bringing this four-year total to 437 vetoes which broke the prior record of Governor McAuliffe by 317. None of Governor Youngkin’s budget vetoes were discussed with the General Assembly in advance and the pure number of vetoes and amendments was unprecedented. Prior governors such as Mark Warner and Tim Kaine governed with legislatures controlled by the other party and typically vetoed less than 10 bills per session.
This behavior is contrary to the Governor’s campaign promises to work towards bipartisan compromise. For example, he vetoed many bills that passed unanimously and one of my procedural cleanup bills that received just two negative votes after four committee hearings and six floor sessions. Most of these vetoes came with no notice or dialogue prior to announcement.
The Governor also made 37 “line item vetoes” to our state budget and claimed it was necessary because the Commonwealth needs to reduce spending and reserve funds due to economic uncertainty. While I appreciate the Governor’s recognition that the Trump Administration has created extraordinary risk to the Virginia economy, his line item vetoes were unusual in many respects.
First, the Governor vetoed $900 million of capital spending – most of which he proposed in his December budget. This is the second year that Governor Youngkin has rejected budget proposals that he initially proposed. It is impossible to cooperate with someone who cannot agree with his own proposals.
Second, the Commonwealth currently has the largest combined revenue reserves we have ever held in the history of the Commonwealth — $4 billion. These are a combination of constitutionally required “Rainy Day Fund” deposits and a General Assembly established revenue reserve fund we created consistent with our conservative budgeting which maintains our triple A bond status that keeps borrowing costs low for taxpayers.
He also gave no notice that he wanted to cut this spending and engaged in no dialogue. In addition, construction spending is exactly what economists recommend in economic downturns because of the broad impact it has on various sectors. The Trump Administration’s tariffs are also likely to make these projects more expensive if the Commonwealth delays them even six months.
The Governor also cut much needed and merited spending including a new first time homebuyer program and renter’s assistance to help young people with affordable housing.
Governor Youngkin also rejected our proposal to lower the body mass index required to obtain new weight loss drug regimes funded by Medicaid. The General Assembly proposed a BMI of 35 or more or 30 if someone has diabetes. A BMI of 30/35 equals about 200/235 lbs. for a 5’10” person. His rejection of the lower BMI proposal saves taxpayers only $7 million while forfeiting $40 million in federal matching funds, and will cost taxpayers millions more in obesity-related healthcare expenses.. He also vetoed additional investments in Geriatric and Dementia services for elderly in nursing homes.
We also saw line item vetoes for community violence reduction grants and over $20 million towards our $400 million state park deferred maintenance needs. He also vetoed tens of millions in storm water mitigation, Hurricane Helene relief money, and environmental education programs.
Other than actions we will likely have to take this fall to triage The Trump Administration’s proposed massive cuts to Medicaid, education funding and climate change policy, this was Governor Youngkin’s last chance to reach bipartisan compromise in our regular budget cycle before his term ends. He has continued to attempt to govern as a partisan candidate and make decisions based on his next Republican primary or act unilaterally like a business executive rather than work with the legislative branch of government to reach consensus. I am hopeful our next Governor will not make the same choice.
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Sen. Scott Surovell is Virginia Senate Majority Leader & State Senator from 34th District of Virginia