Welcome to Notes from the Square, a weekly roundup of state politics and policy news. Each Friday, we bring you updates on the movers and shakers in Virginia politics as well as the legislation they’re supporting or opposing — with a Southwest and Southside Virginia focus.
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What a week, Virginia.
Gov. Abigail Spanberger concluded her action with vetoes and signatures on the roughly three dozen bills that were sent back to her by the General Assembly following the April 22 reconvene session. She signed roughly 1,132 bills passed by the Democratic-controlled legislature during the 2026 session in all.
A bill to establish paid family medical leave, legislation to increase the minimum wage to $15 per hour by 2028, and a prohibition of the manufacture, sale or transfer of assault firearms were among those approved by the governor.
Spanberger vetoed more bills passed by a General Assembly controlled by the same party in her first year as governor than any of her predecessors in modern history, as pointed out by the Southwest Sage himself, Dwayne Yancey. Read into that what you will, but there was an overarching theme among the bills she vetoed: The General Assembly had rejected amendments she’d made to the legislation.
Spanberger’s veto of legislation to create a framework for the retail sale of cannabis and legislation to create a prescription drug advisory panel were a couple of the big ones. She riled up the Democratic base with an earlier veto of a bill that would have allowed public-sector workers to collectively bargain. Her action on that bill could have been considered a harbinger of sorts for her action on other key bills.
She also vetoed a bill by state Sen. Mike Jones, D-Richmond, that would have prohibited inmates from being transferred to Red Onion State Prison, in Wise County, following allegations of abuse of inmates by correctional officers.
A bill by freshman Del. Lily Franklin, D-Montgomery County, to adjust the membership of governing boards for colleges and universities was also vetoed.
House Speaker Don Scott, D-Portsmouth, said during a healthcare press event on Wednesday that the bills vetoed by the governor are issues that will continue to be worked on, and there are ways to move them forward. He did not expand on that statement, but some of those issues could be resurrected in the biennial budget through enactment clauses. Spanberger does have line-item veto authority over the budget, however.
“It’s always her prerogative, we have three co-equal branches of government for a reason and there is nothing that she has done that I can say I’m surprised by. I can say there are a couple that I am disappointed by but I’m not despaired,” he said.
Speaking of the budget …
The General Assembly is just over one month out from the deadline to come to an agreement over its spending priorities. That deadline is 11:59 p.m. June 30, when spending for the current biennium is set to expire. Leaders in the legislature have said that there will be a budget before that deadline, but not much else, as talks appear to have stalled.
Spanberger requested a full re-forecasting of the state’s financial status on Monday in an effort to aid budget negotiations.
“Every day that goes by is a day that I would have loved to see a budget but we are working aggressively and my goal is to have one in advance, well in advance, of the ultimate June 30 deadline,” she said during a press availability on Monday.
The main sticking point is data center tax subsidies.
In Virginia, data centers that meet certain requirements, including investing at least $150 million and creating at least 50 jobs — or, in economically distressed localities, $70 million and 10 jobs — are exempt from paying state retail sales and use tax on computers and other equipment.
The state Senate budget proposal includes a clause to end those exemptions in 2027, eight years earlier than their current expiration. The House budget proposal includes no such clause, creating a more than $1 billion difference between the two proposals.
State Senate President Pro Tempore Louise Lucas, D-Portsmouth, who chairs the Senate Finance Committee, has been a strong proponent of ending the exemptions early. House Finance Committee Chair Del. Luke Torian, D-Prince William County, has said that he believes Virginia must honor memorandums of understanding that it signed with the tech companies — a position shared by Spanberger. Torian has also said that it is ultimately up to the state Senate and the Data Center Coalition to come to an agreement.
Senate Finance Committee dust-up
Lucas came out swinging ahead of Secretary of Finance Mark Sickles’ presentation to the Senate Finance Committee on Tuesday: She said the Senate is focused on policies regarding “who pays their fair share of taxes” and how businesses treat Virginians and resources.
Her statement came after Spanberger called for a financial re-forecasting to aid in budget negotiations that have stalled over the data center tax exemption impasse.
Lucas argued that the governor’s office will likely use that re-forecasting to show an existing financial surplus and to argue that the data center tax exemption does not need to end early to fill the more than $1 billion budget gap between the state Senate and House proposals.
Sickles pointed out that the state Senate included about $500 million of the surplus funds in its budget proposal, and that it would not be unheard of to use more of the surplus to get past the current impasse.
Regardless, Lucas said she remains committed to requiring data centers to pay the taxes they are currently exempt from.
