General Assembly passes budget amendments on the last day of session

See also: Here’s a list of key bills and how they fared.

The General Assembly passed a package of amendments to the biennial budget in a sweeping bipartisan vote Saturday, on the last day of the unusually short 2025 session. 

After a false start and three days lost courtesy of a water utility crisis in Richmond in early January, questions regarding whether the legislative body would be able to come to an agreement on the budget and adjourn the session on time were put to rest. 

“Any time we can get 30 Republicans to join us in a huge bipartisan way to pass the budget, I think that says a lot,” House of Delegates Speaker Don Scott, D-Portsmouth, said during a press conference after the House adjourned. 

The Senate voted 37-3 to pass amendments to the biennial budget and the House approved the spending bill in a 81-18 vote early Saturday evening.

“This budget reflects a broad consensus of shared priorities, from historic tax relief to expanding childcare access, addressing the housing crisis, and strengthening our commitments to public education, economic development, and workforce support,” Sen. Todd Pillion, R-Washington County, a budget conferee, said in a statement after the bill’s passage on Saturday. “Fighting for Southwest Virginia’s fair share remains my top priority, and this budget delivers substantial victories for our region.”

The spending bill includes $100 million for flood mitigation and recovery. That includes $50 million for Hurricane-Helene related damages and to build houses to better withstand flooding in communities prone to high water. That is an increase compared to the $25 million proposed by both the House and Senate in their initial amendment proposals in early February. Another $50 million would be put into the Virginia Community Flood Preparedness Fund.

The roughly $69.5 billion spending bill also includes a one-time 1.5% bonus for state employees and a $1,000 one-time bonus for teachers, both to be paid out around June, and a one-time rebate of $200 for single and $400 for joint filers to be paid out during fiscal year 2026 to Virginia taxpayers. 

An extension and an increase on Virginia’s current standard deduction has also been included in the conference report. The deduction, which is set to expire Jan. 1, 2026, is currently $8,500 for single taxpayers and $17,000 for joint filers. If signed, the deduction would extend until January 2027 at a rate of $8,750 for single filers and $17,500 for joint filers. An increase and extension to the state’s refundable earned income tax credit, from 15% to 20%, was also included.

The budget also added $150 million for school construction and $15 million for a new program for first-time homebuyers to receive a grant of up to $10,000 to offset the cost of homeownership.

The budget amendment bill will now head to Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s desk. The governor has line-item veto authority and 30 days to take action on the budget and the litany of bills heading to his desk. 

“This General Assembly is sending me a multitude of bills, including a budget, and over the next 30 days I will go to work to review and take action on those bills and budget,” Youngkin said in a statement. “We will have much to address at the reconvene session, but I remain grateful for the hard work of our General Assembly members and their staffs.”

The reconvened session, when the General Assembly will address Youngkin’s vetoes, will take place on April 2. However, legislators also made provisions to convene a special session at some point to deal with impacts of President Donald Trump’s federal governments cuts.