Virginia is finally on its way toward having a state budget. The big hold-up was over how data centers should be taxed. That’s been resolved, at least temporarily, and from the looks of things, nobody’s happy — business groups think it went too far, environmental groups don’t think it went far enough. That’s often the case with compromises.
We will no doubt hear about all these issues again.
There are several ways to look at budgets. One way is through the lens of the politics of the moment. The other way is to look at them through the lens of history. That’s hard to do because we have to be in the future to look back on things, and we’re still stuck in the present.
However, there are some things in the budget where it’s a safe bet to say these provisions probably have long-term consequences. Here are 10 things that will likely still matter longer after the money in this two-year budget is spent.
1. Athletics study
Virginia, unlike some states, allows state-supported colleges to assess mandatory fees on students to help pay for intercollegiate athletics. Virginia law spells out what percentage of each school’s budget can come from these mandatory student fees. For schools in the Atlantic Coast Conference — Virginia Tech and the University of Virginia — that maximum is 20 percent. For James Madison University and Old Dominion University, the cap is 55 percent. For other schools, the figures run as high as 92 percent, depending on whether there’s a football program (since football is typically the big money-maker). One by-product: JMU generates more money from mandatory student fees than any other school in the country. Put another way, JMU — which last year was one of just 12 schools to qualify for college football’s new playoff system — doesn’t have big TV revenues or a lot of deep-pocketed alumni so it’s using students to fund a big-time college football program.
There’s language in the budget (instigated by state Sen. Creigh Deeds, D-Charlottesville) that directs the General Assembly’s investigative arm, the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission, to conduct what could be a far-reaching study on intercollegiate athletic spending, with a report due Nov. 1, 2028. The language directs JLARC to “evaluate approaches taken by other states to create sustainable funding models for intercollegiate athletics” and “consider the impact of the provisions of [those funding caps] on intercollegiate athletics in the Commonwealth in light of evolving trends in intercollegiate athletics.” It’s hard to tell where such a study might lead but it comes at a time when the college sports landscape is in a state of flux — and comes just before that landscape is likely to change more once the TV contracts of some major conferences start to expire in the next few years. This report — depending on what it says, and depending how much legislators heed its findings — could shape Virginia’s place in the intercollegiate sports world into the 2030s.
2. Cannabis
On July 1, 2027, Virginia will get an entirely new business sector — legal retail sales of cannabis. Set aside whatever your feelings might be on the devil’s lettuce and just focus on the business aspects: We will get retail stores. We’ll get a supply chain behind them of processors and growers. We don’t often create a new business sector by legalizing something that was previously outlawed — but we are here.
3. Central Virginia Training Center
Someday, we’ll look back on the transition of the Central Virginia Training Center property from an abandoned state facility with a dark history into, well, whatever kind of economic development it becomes as a historic achievement. The big step came in 2022, when the budget included $25 million for the state to “defease” (“pay off” for us laymen) the state’s bonds on the Amherst County property. Then-state Sen. Steve Newman, R-Bedford County, was the driver behind that appropriation. This year’s budget includes $10 million to help tear down or remediate the property. That’s an incremental step, but a big one.
4. Clean energy
The budget includes $10 million for the Virginia Clean Energy Bank, $2 million for the Solar Interconnection Grant Program, $930,000 for the Smart Solar Permitting Platform and $300,000 to support training for an offshore wind workforce. Taken together, these expenditures represent a new push towards accelerating the development of renewable energy across Virginia.
5. Confederate statues
There are currently three of them at the State Capitol. Under this budget, they won’t be long. The budget includes $1.7 million to move them to Civil War battlefields in the Shenandoah Valley. That won’t build a new regional economy the way most of these other items will, but it is a symbolic step to scour Capitol Square of its Confederate monuments.
6. George Mason University and Averett University
The budget includes language authorizing a partnership between George Mason University, a state school in Fairfax County, and Averett University, a private school in Danville, to pursue workforce development initiatives. All that is pretty vague, likely by design, and the significance is that George Mason University is now directed to plant its flag in Southside. This seems a sign of George Mason’s growing power — it should no longer be thought of as a regional school in Northern Virginia. It’s also a sign that the state wants to make sure there’s some higher ed presence in Danville if Averett (which has had financial troubles in recent years) should go under. The language in the budget refers to Averett “or a successor entity.”
Del. David Reid, D-Loudoun County, was the driver behind this language. In a statement to Cardinal, he referred to how George Mason “will now have official authorization to move forward in what is probably the most dynamic economic area of the Commonwealth.” When a legislator from Northern Virginia calls a city in Southside “the most dynamic economic area of the Commonwealth,” we should all take notice — even if we don’t know exactly where all this will lead.
7. Healthcare cluster in the Roanoke Valley
The budget includes $13.7 million to expand the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine, another $6 million to fund a Virginia Tech Patient Research Center and $250,000 to fund a study of “the establishment of a Regional Public Biomedical Sciences High School.” This is an idea that Del. Terry Austin, R-Botetourt County, has been pushing ever since he saw a high school focused on medical careers in Houston. While all these might be incremental steps, they all lead toward growing the existing healthcare cluster in the Roanoke Valley.
8. Inland port in Washington County
The budget includes $20 million to start building a freight cargo hub — called an inland port — in Washington County. While we don’t know where some of these other budget items will lead, we can see exactly what Virginia’s existing inland port near Front Royal has spawned: About 8,500 jobs related to trucking and warehousing. Studies have projected an inland port in Washington County would be far smaller and have less impact — up to 1,370 jobs. However, all things are relative. That figure would be nearly three times the biggest jobs announcement in Southwest Virginia in the history of the Virginia Economic Development Partnership’s jobs database, which goes back to 1990. The biggest jobs announcements in Southwest Virginia in this time have been 500 jobs — for call centers. No wonder that state Sen. Todd Pillion, R-Washington County, has pushed so hard for this funding. This would be a major state investment in a part of the state that has struggled economically.
9. Interstate 81
Here’s another study. If you’re cynical, you can dismiss this. However, the language here is pretty robust: “The Secretary of Transportation is directed to study and evaluate options for accelerating large-scale improvements to the Interstate 81 corridor. Such analysis shall include assessing the feasibility of utilizing a public-private partnership pursuant to the Public Private Transportation Act.” In the early part of the century, there was a proposed public-private partnership to expand and upgrade Interstate 81. That partnership never moved past the talking stage, and maybe this won’t, either. However, these simple words in the budget set in motion something that could lead to a major road-building program.
10. A new medical school in Fredericksburg
It doesn’t seem like that long ago that the idea of a medical school in Roanoke seemed far-fetched. Now we have one and it’s growing. The University of Mary Washington has been looking at a medical school, as well. This budget includes $1.7 million for the next phase of planning. Virginia Business reported last year that Mary Washington hoped to have the first class enter in 2029.
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