After a few days off due to a delay caused by massive infrastructure failure in the city of Richmond, the Virginia General Assembly got back to work today with an assessment of the Commonwealth from Governor Glenn Youngkin.
“After the difficult and frustrating water crisis in Richmond last week. I want to thank everyone, everyone who stepped up to serve neighbors, to serve communities and to serve our capital city,” Youngkin said in his State of the Commonwealth address.
This time next year, Virginia will be preparing to install a new Governor, but Youngkin will preside over the next 12 months and described the Commonwealth as “winning” and the economy is strong.
“Our student scores are up,” Youngkin said. “Violent crime is down. People are moving to Virginia faster than in a very long time. We’ve seen record job growth, record new business investment, and our state budget is projected to run a large surplus again.”
Youngkin took the opportunity to call for further reform of the way education is funded and pledged $1 million from the executive Office of Transformation to support the work. He also called for $50 million in funding for a program called “Virginia Opportunity Scholarships.”
“Virginia Opportunity Scholarships will provide $5,000 for scholarships for 10,000 low income families and do not take a single penny away from our existing education funding,” Youngkin said.
Youngkin also reminded the General Assembly of his proposal last year to end the use of cell phones in public schools during instruction periods, a proposal he said will help decrease depression as people begin to talk to each other again.
“Many divisions across the state that attempted half measures, found they didn’t work and have now gone bell to bell,” Youngkin said. “We know local leadership is critical. At Middlesex High School, the principal is tracking a dramatic decrease in disciplinary referrals and reports that lunch in the cafeteria is loud once again because students are talking to one another instead of buried in their phones.”
The governor also set up a legislative request to continue the pursuit of tax reform and to transfer more funding to local governments partially funded by the personal property tax as well as making tips tax deductible. He also indicated he will continue to oppose items passed under the Virginia Clean Economy banner in 2020 by the Democratic-held General Assembly. Many proposals call for an end to generation of power by fossil fuels.
“We need to nearly double our power generation in the next 10 years,” Youngkin said. “And wind and solar just aren’t going to get it done. We must stop decommissioning our baseload generation. We must build more natural gas generation, lots of it. Build small modular reactors and yes, finish the projects currently underway. We must aggressively pursue innovative technologies, carbon capture, SMRs, fusion and hydrogen.”
Much of the growth in power demand is fueled by the proliferation of data centers across Virginia, including Amazon’s $11 billion investment in two data center campuses in Louisa County. Youngkin said Virginia should continue to pursue data centers.
“Different communities will make different decisions on data centers, but these must be their decisions and Richmond should not stop them from capitalizing on these incredible economic opportunities,” Youngkin said.
One loose thread about the Virginia Clean Economy Act relates to whether Virginia will rejoin the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. Youngkin signed an executive order on his inauguration day in 2022 stating an intent to leave the cap-and-trade carbon emissions system. However, last November, a Floyd Circuit Court Judge ruled that only the General Assembly had the power to leave the interstate compact.
Before you go: This article was originally sent out as part of the Charlottesville Community Engagement newsletter in the January 13, 2025 edition. Both are functions of Town Crier Productions. You can support the work by purchasing a paid subscription or contributing monthly through Patreon. You can also send in a check or send an email, but drop me a line first.
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