eNews – March 27, 2025
Governor’s actions to Support/Oppose, Amendments and vetoes of note, VML section meetings in May...and more!
Thursday, March 27, 2025/Categories: eNews
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Available to officials and staff from VML member localities.
Register for the City/Urban Section virtual meeting (May 1)
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In this issue:
Note: eNews is publishing a day early this week to bring to your attention the budget and legislation amendments and vetoes affecting local governments. The most significant of these items are covered in the “Governor’s Actions to Support/Oppose” section.
Governor’s Actions to Support/Oppose
Budget: Amendments & Vetoes
Legislation: Amendments & Vetoes
VML News
Opportunities
Governor’s Actions to Support/Oppose
OPPOSE: Governor’s budget actions eliminate Stormwater Local Assistance for localities
This week, the Governor issued a line item veto for Budget Item C-53.80.
C-53.80 appropriated $40,000,000 to the Stormwater Local Assistance Fund which provides matching grants to localities for stormwater best management practices projects. This is a VML legislative priority for the 2025 legislative session.
With this budget item veto, localities will be left without important resources for mitigating stormwater impacts.
Action requested: Contact your delegates and senators and let them know how important these funds are for clean water in your community.
VML Contact: Mitchell Smiley, msmiley@vml.org
OPPOSE: Budget Amendment 56 which reduces educational support position funding
Budget Amendment 56 amends budget item 125 by decreasing funds in the second year of the biennium from from $222.9 million to $84.8 million designated to fund additional support positions. As proposed by the General Assembly the $222.9 million would remove the funding cap placed on support positions; amendment 56 funds one additional support position.
Key points:
- Added in 2009 as a response to the Great Recession, the funding cap on support positions has been in place for nearly 15 years.
- VML has worked with stakeholders since 2010 to remove the funding cap.
- The 2023 JLARC report on K-12 funding recommended removing the support cap as a short-term recommendation for the General Assembly to tackle in addressing the funding disparities, and the 2025 General Assembly did so.
Action requested: Contact your delegates and senators to oppose Budget Amendment 56 and support the original language in budget item 125 that would effectively remove the funding cap on support positions.
VML Contact: Josette Bulova, jbulova@vml.org
OPPOSE: Veto of bill that gives local authority for one percent sales tax for school construction by referendum
As he has done in previous years with similar legislation, the Governor vetoed SB1307 (McPike) which grants authority for any county or city to impose a sales and use tax of up to one percent dedicated solely to school construction, renovation, and debt services only if approved by local ordinance and voter referendum. Nine localities currently have this authority following the approval of the General Assembly and the referendum process. This version, excluding the current nine, also stipulates that funds cannot be supplanted for anything outside the referendum language's scope.
Action requested: Contact your delegates and senators to oppose the veto of this legislation which was one of VML’s 2025 legislative priorities.
VML Contact: Josette Bulova, jbulova@vml.org
SUPPORT: Amendments to bills dealing with liability of employer for personal injury or death by wrongful act
The Governor’s amendments to SB894 (Russet Perry) and HB1730 (Delaney) limits the adverse effects of the legislation in meaningful ways.
As passed by the General Assembly, the bills provide that if an employee intentionally causes the death or injury to a “vulnerable victim”, the employer can be vicariously liable for the employee’s conduct.
The Governor limited the kinds of cases where the rule applies, to criminal sexual assault, sexual abuse of a minor and wounding a minor. This is much narrower than the session-approved bill. Further, the Governor’s version applies the rule to injury cases, only, removing death cases. The amendments also limit the term “vulnerable victim” by removing public transit entirely from the bills.
Action Requested: Please ask your delegates and senators to support the Governor’s amendments to SB894 and HB1730.
VML Contact: Mark Flynn, markkflynn@gmail.com
SUPPORT: Veto of bills that allow all public employees to join unions and participate in collective bargaining
The Governor has vetoed HB2764 (Tran) and SB917 (Surovell) which would repeal the prohibition on collective bargaining by all public employees. The bills create the Public Employee Relations Board, which shall determine appropriate bargaining units of state and local government employees.
Action requested: VML supports the Governor’s veto and we ask you to contact your delegates and senators to support the veto.
VML Contact: Mark Flynn, markkflynn@gmail.com
Budget: Amendments & Vetoes
Governor proposes 205 amendments and eight vetoes to the budget
For the second year in a row, Governor Youngkin proposed more than 200 amendments to the budget passed by the General Assembly in late February, giving him the distinction of being the only governor in the last five years who has recommended that many changes to the budget during his term.
How his proposals fare when the General Assembly returns for their annual Reconvened (or Veto) Session next Wednesday is anyone’s guess, but initial reviews from House and Senate Democratic Leaders are less than stellar.
In total, the Governor’s proposed amendments increase net general fund spending by $25.4 million over the biennium (see table below). Net new spending from nongeneral fund sources is $137.1 million for the biennium.
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Governor’s Proposed Budget Amendments (2025 Reconvened Session)
(General fund dollars in millions)
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|
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FY 2025
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FY 2026
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Biennium
|
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Increases
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$299.2
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$208.7
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$507.9
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|
Decreases
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($251.8)
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($230.8)
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($482.5)
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Net Increase (Decrease)
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$47.4
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($22.0)
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$25.4
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Source: Governor’s Recommendations to HB 1600 (Budget Amendments).
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The largest single spending item proposed by Governor Youngkin is a “potential deposit into the Revenue Reserve Fund” of $300 million, in the event that revenues generated in FY 2025 exceed the official general fund revenue estimate. The Governor’s action appears to be a nod toward the General Assembly’s professed concerns about the potential impact of federal actions on state revenues. He suggested that “we should create even more reserve cushion as we recognize that the moves to restore fiscal sanity in Washington are needed, and such moves can cause near-term uncertainty.”
The disconnect, however, between the Governor’s words and his budget amendments are evidenced by the $207.9 million in additional proposed spending on top of the $300 million he is recommending be set aside, including many spending proposals that the General Assembly previously rejected. In other words, the Governor is proposing $507.9 million in new spending when the stated problem, an additional amount to be set aside in reserves, is only $300 million.
It would seem that the proposed spending reductions the Governor sent down would cease when they equal $300 million. Instead, the budget proposal goes further by reducing or zeroing out an additional $183 million for initiatives the General Assembly agreed to fund, ranging in magnitude from $389 up to $138 million.
The biggest reduction the Governor is proposing slashes $138 million that was designed to eliminate the K-12 funding cap on support positions. The Commonwealth has chipped away at this Great Recession era budget gimmick for years, and the 2025 General Assembly finally fully restored funding for local school divisions in February. But this amendment reduces general fund support that schools were scheduled to receive at the same time that localities are finalizing their budgets that begin on July 1, 2025. The timing isn’t helpful.
To be clear, there are numerous other amendments that are problematic for local governments. For example, the Governor also vetoes $40 million scheduled to flow to local governments for Stormwater Local Assistance (SLAF) as discussed above, and it appears he is proposing a substantial reduction in funding for wastewater treatment capital improvement projects funded from the Water Quality Improvement Fund (WQIF) Budget Item C-53.80, but it isn’t clear. We’re continuing to do follow-up on these issues.
In fact, VML staff will continue to investigate all of Governor Youngkin’s proposed amendments in the days ahead and will watch for signals from the General Assembly about their plan to deal with them.
VML Contact: Joe Flores, jflores@vml.org
FOIA and Housing Commission
Remove funding for FOIA Council staffing – Amendment #8 removes in Item 12 of the conference budget the funding and authorization for two staff positions at the Virginia Freedom of Information Advisory Council. These positions are needed to better assist local government officials with required FOIA training and technical assistance to remain compliant with Virginia FOIA laws. VML actively supported the additional funding for staffing.
Remove additional funding for the Housing Commission – Amendment #9 removes in Item 13 of the conference budget the funding in the second year for additional operational support for the Commission ($75,000).
VML Contact: Janet Areson, jareson@vml.org
Health and Human Services
Reduce new funding for Community Services Boards support coordinators – Amendment 116 reduces funding by half in the second year ($4.35 million; leaving $4.35 million) in Item 297 for support coordinators in CSBs that help consumers receive needed services and help maintain them in their community. VML supports greater support for CSBs enable them to meet community needs.
Reduce new funding for the Marcus Alert program – Amendment 117 reduces funding in Item 297 by $3.6 million in the second year (leaving $2.4 million) that would help fund the operation of community-based crisis response teams that are the heart of the Marcus Alert program. VML supports the funding of these programs.
Remove new funding for Area Agencies on Aging - Amendment 123 removes in Item 315 the $750,000 added by the General Assembly in the second year to increase support to Area Agencies on Aging which provide assistance to aging Virginians and their families at the community level.
Remove funding to expand kinship services – Amendment 124 removes in Item 329 a total of $300,000 in the second year to the kinship program in the Department of Social Services. This program helps to find relatives and fictive kin and divert youth from foster care placements.
VML Contact: Janet Areson, jareson@vml.org
Education
School Construction – Amendment #55 increases the School Construction Assistance Fund by $50 million. The General Assembly increased the fund by 10 million in the second year. The gubernatorial amendment would use the Literary Fund as its source of additional funding. That fund is already used for school construction purposes.
Private School Scholarships – Amendment #58 would add $25 million in the second year of the biennium for the Virginia Opportunity Scholarship Fund (Opportunity Fund), a scholarship program solely for private schools and home-schooled use. The Governor’s introduced budget proposed $50 million in the second year, but the General Assembly removed the program. Two bills proposing the Opportunity Fund were also unsuccessful.
VML Contact: Josette Bulova, jbulova@vml.org
Public Safety
Restore language requiring localities to comply with U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement Detainers – Amendment 154 adds back language from the introduced budget in Item 377 that the General Assembly removed that directed localities to comply with U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement detainers; failure to comply would result in the withholding of Department of Criminal Justice Services reimbursements due to localities (including HB 599 funding) and Compensation Board per diem payments for financial assistance to local or regional jails.
Use disaster assistance funding for emergency communications equipment – Amendment 161 adds language in Item 394 to transfer $2.5 million in funding in the first year for disaster mitigation efforts to the Department of Criminal Justice Services for competitive grants to localities for purchase of public safety radio and communications infrastructure equipment. Priority would be given to localities with high fiscal stress and with demonstrated need for such communication equipment.
VML Contact: Janet Areson, jareson@vml.org
Legislation: Amendments & Vetoes
Elections legislation vetoed by the Governor
The following bills which VML was monitoring during the session have been vetoed by the Governor.
HB2056 (Reaser) authorizes the governing body of any county or city to establish satellite voting offices for absentee voting in person. Dates and hours of operations of satellite polling locations would be prescribed by local ordinance. Lastly, notice to local general registrars must be provided two weeks before the enactment of the ordinance.
SB1009 (Salim) allows any local election to be conducted using rank-choice voting. The State Board of Elections would be required to create any necessary standards and approve tabulation software on existing systems conducting rank-choice voting elections. The Board would also be required to provide educational materials on ranked-choice voting.
VML Contact: Josette Bulova, jbulova@vml.org
Amendment marginally improves condemnation proceedings bill
The Governor’s amendment to SB1158 (Obenshain) limits the adverse effects of one technical, but significant provision of the bill by making the requirement to provide a title report to the landowner in many eminent domain cases apply only to actions that begin after January 1, 2026. The bill rewrites various provisions of eminent domain law, and those provisions are not affected by the amendments.
The Governor’s amendment is a minor improvement to the bill. The overall result is that eminent domain cases will cost the government a bit more and will require additional procedural steps.
VML Contact: Mark Flynn, markkflynn@gmail.com
Waterworks reporting timeframe further narrowed by amendments to legislation
The Governor’s amendment to HB2749 (Levere Bolling) and SB1408 (Reeves) significantly narrows the reporting window for waterworks operators from the standard that passed the General Assembly. The legislation, as passed by the General Assembly, establishes a six-hour notification requirement for “critical equipment failure or malfunction” which is a significant change from the current 24-hour reporting window. The Governor’s amendment reduces that timeframe to two hours. This means that waterworks staff would only have two hours to detect, assess, and report on equipment failures even as problems may still be emerging.
VML Contact: Mitchell Smiley, msmiley@vml.org
VML News
Legislative review section meetings coming in early May
VML will offer legislative wrap-up meetings through Zoom for the City/Urban Section and the Town Section. VML staff will present updates on bills and budget actions affecting localities during these sessions. The meetings are open to our members and their staff.
- City/Urban Section meeting: Thursday, May 1, from 11:30 a.m.- 12:30 p.m.
- Town Section meeting: Friday, May 2, from 11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
The registration links will also be emailed to VML member localities in the coming weeks.
VML Contact: Janet Areson, jareson@vml.org
VML/VRSA Regional Briefing: South Boston April 23
Join VML and VRSA for this FREE event featuring conversations for local governments – from the smallest to the largest.
Topics will include:
- 2025 General Assembly Update
- Marijuana in the Workplace
- Cybersecurity
- …and more!
Breakfast and lunch will be provided
REGISTRATION:
Register by emailing Jackie Stauffer from VRSA at jstauffer@vrsa.us.
DATE/TIME/LOCATION
- April 23, 2025
- 9:00 am - 12:00 pm
- South Boston Town Hall (420 Main Street, 24592)
VML Contact: Rob Bullington, rbullington@vml.org
Opportunities
Public input requested: Amended State Plan for Aging Services
The Virginia Department for Aging and Rehabilitative Services (DARS) has released draft amendments to the State Plan for Aging Services to align it with updated federal Older Americans Act regulations.
The amendments address key areas, including Grab and Go meals and Program Development and Coordination Activities.
DARS is hosting a 30-day Public Comment Period from March 24 to April 23, 2025. Public comments can be submitted online, via email, mail, or fax.
DARS is also hosting a Virtual Public Hearing on April 11, 2025, from 1:00 - 3:00 PM. Live captioning and ASL interpretation will be available.
To learn more about the amended State Plan for Aging Services and the public input process, visit: https://vda.virginia.gov/stateplans.htm.
DARS Contact: Charlotte Arbogast, charlotte.arbogast@dars.virginia.gov
Invitation to local elected officials to join Virginia’s Wandering Waterways Tour happening April 10-11
The Chesapeake Bay Alliance and the Local Government Advisory Committee invite local elected officials to join them for an exploration of Virginia’s Wandering Waterways Tour on April 10 and 11.
This tour will visit utility scale solar operations, the Hampton Roads Sanitation SWIFT project, and provide attendees with an opportunity to network with other like-minded local officials. The goal of this tour is to provide insight into how best to balance economic growth with environmental sustainability to build a more resilient future and communities.
View/Download the invitation for additional information about the tour and how to register.
This tour is free and includes transportation. The deadline to sign up is March 21, 2025.
VML Contact: Mitchell Smiley, msmiley@vml.org
Funding available from National Fitness Campaign for outdoor wellness infrastructure in Virginia localities
Free, accessible outdoor wellness opportunities for communities and schools across Virginia are possible thanks to a continued partnership between National Fitness Campaign and Aetna.
In 2025, the sponsorship provides over $350,000 in new grant funding to communities and schools in the Commonwealth of Virginia. This funding will be allocated to support municipalities across Virginia to join the growing National Fitness Campaign, building healthy infrastructure for smart communities and schools of the future. The campaign has expanded significantly in the past few years, with plans to welcome its 750th Healthy Community in America in 2025, fostering a healthier, more active country.
If you are unfamiliar with the Campaign, the program is designed to bring world-class healthy infrastructure to public spaces, along with consulting, funding, and community programming support. Watch NFC’s 3-minute video describing the program: Campaign Video.
The Town of Dumfries celebrated the launch of their Fitness Court in 2023 at Ginn Memorial Park. Town of Dumfries Mayor, Derrick Wood, shared his enthusiasm for the community, "Based on our comprehensive plan and resolutions that had already passed in Dumfries, the Fitness Court Studio already aligned with the vision, creating unanimous support in the town. We chose the location for highest density and best walkability in town to make sure the space would be activated for years to come.”
The Town of Dumfries is now joined by Bedford, Sterling, Pulaski County, and other communities as the campaign continues to grow across Virginia.
In 2025, the program is seeking applications from municipalities of all sizes across Virginia, interested in building accessible outdoor wellness infrastructure to support the health and wellbeing of their residents. Funding is now available for 2025 applicants and is projected to be allocated over the next 60 days.
If you would like to join a 30-minute briefing to learn more about the NFC/Aetna wellness campaign in Virginia and how to qualify for funding, please fill out a short contact form at the link below. The briefings with NFC require the attendance of the Park Director, and/or Mayor, Town Manager, and/or Administrator, to qualify for funding.
Sign up for briefing for funding qualification here >.
NFC Contact: Sarah Morgan, sarah@nfchq.com
New round of Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant (EECBG) funding now available
The third round of Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant (EECBG) funding is now available from Virginia Energy. The maximum cap has increased to $200,000 for eligible local governments to encourage residents and small businesses to improve energy efficiency and conservation. In addition to assisting residents and small business owners in lowering their energy bills and creating healthier, more comfortable buildings, this initiative serves as a catalyst for new economic opportunities within these communities. Funding can be used to address a variety of goals, from community education programs to energy audits, energy auditor training, and more.
Eligible applications will be accepted on a first come, first served basis until all funding has been awarded or until 11:59 pm on March 31, 2025. Details, eligibility requirements, support materials, and the application can be found here. Localities can opt to partner together on a single project to braid their respective EECBG funds together or partner with Virginia Energy's MEO vendor to streamline project implementation.
Funding is limited, so apply early!
Virginia Energy Contact: Jessica Greene, jessica.greene@energy.virginia.gov