General Assembly Update
March 30th, 2010
General Assembly Update
The 2010 General Assembly session adjourned on Sunday, March 14, after adopting the conference committee report on the budget. The session required one extra day of work for legislators, but once more Virginia has a balanced budget.
Revenue declines will result in a return to 2006 general fund spending levels. Like families and small businesses across the state, the Commonwealth will adjust and find ways to live within its means. A return to 2006 spending levels did not mean, however, simply dusting off the budget from a prior year and re-inserting those spending levels. A number of difficult spending decisions had to be made.
The budget conference process restored some funding for public education, and this will be helpful to school boards and supervisors in Culpeper, Madison, and Orange as they complete their budgets. Additionally, the budget provides flexibility to local school divisions in staffing ratios and program decisions.
The budget also directs significant additional federal funding toward the Medicaid reimbursement process for hospitals, nursing homes and other healthcare providers. With the new budget, Virginia will add 250 Intellectually Disabled waiver slots to the Medicaid program, providing home and community-based care.
Several other areas saw at least a partial restoration of funding in the conference report on the budget including law enforcement and public safety, Virginia Cooperative Extension, and the Virginia Commission for the Arts. A proposal to eliminate or consolidate Extension offices was eliminated and Extension officials are given an opportunity to craft a program for efficiency and focus on the agency’s core mission going forward.
It’s important to note that the budget does not increase taxes. Governor Kaine’s income tax increase was defeated early in the session by a vote of 97-0. While Governor Kaine also proposed $145 million in new fees and the Senate budget proposed over $300 million in new fees, the conference report contains only $95 million of fee increases. House budget negotiators worked to see that fees fund services to which they are related. Again, legislators were mindful of the businesses and individuals who would bear the burden of any form of revenue increase.
Finding savings was an important part of our work as well. The budget cuts $5.2 million from the cost of operating the tax department, $4 million in health agency savings, saves $7.3 million in the legislative branch and reduces the cost of operating the judicial branch by $22.6 million. The budget also contains language that was introduced by your Delegate to require the Secretary of Transportation to evaluate options regarding the sale or lease of closed VDOT facilities. Some of these locations could generate rental income, and others may more properly be sold, generating both short-term sales income and long-term income from property taxes and job creation.
Responsibly addressing both sides of the budget ledger was essential this session. Additional budget details are on-line at the websites of the General Assembly (http://legis.virginia.gov) and the House Appropriations Committee (http://hac.virginia.gov).
