TJPDC legislative liaison briefs Greene Supervisors on upcoming General Assembly session

There are just under four months until the 2026 session of the Virginia General Assembly and a legislative liaison who works for the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission is making the rounds of local elected bodies.

David Blount briefed the Greene County Board of Supervisors on September 9 and began with a fiscal snapshot of where the state budget stood as fiscal year 2025 came to a close.

“There was excess revenues of about $500 million, another $900 million or so due to some savings from vetoes and other actions, some other transfers,” Blount said. “There’s going to be money that the Governor will work with in the current fiscal year 26 for amending the current state budget.”

Blount said the next General Assembly will be putting together the next two-year budget. He added there is a lot of concern related to a shifting federal government and economic uncertainty. There’s also an election in less than two months.

“I’m standing here telling you that now is September,” Blount said. “We don’t know what November is going to look like. We don’t know what, you know, things may look like with the time we get to February trying to put the wraps on a budget.”

Blount said one item to be considered is whether Virginia will replace federal revenues for programs like SNAP and Medicaid.

Governor Glenn Youngkin will put forward his budget in December as well as amendments to the current fiscal year.

Blount predicted the session will be another one that will see bills to curtail local control over energy generation and other land use issues.

“I think heading into 2026 it might be a broader conversation that’s not just fully solely focused on solar, but is, you know, looking at energy capacity and loads and tax credits and things like that, a little bit broader perspective,” Blount said.

Greene County is wholly within Virginia’s 28th Senate District and the 62nd House of Delegates District.

This year only the House of Delegates is up for election and Greene County and its districtmates will have a new representative in the next General Assembly.

Delegate Nick Freitas (R-62) has opted to retire. Republican Karen Hamilton and Democrat Sara Ratcliffe are competing to be his successor.

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