General Assembly to reconvene in special session after time runs out budget bill negotiations

The Virginia General Assembly adjourned Saturday without agreeing to a budget for FY27 and FY28, setting the state for a special session.

David Blount, the legislative liaison for the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission, said in an email to subscribers that the impasse relates to one side of the General Assembly having more revenue to spend than the other.

“The Senate wants to eliminate, by next January, the sales and use tax for data center computer equipment and software, currently scheduled to expire in 2035, with the money saved targeted for tax relief, transportation, and education in its budget amendments,” Blount said in an email sent out on March 14. “The House did not include such a proposal and so its budget was crafted with much less available revenue.

Legislators have asked Spanberger to call a special session on April 23 to finish the work, something she has indicated she will do.

In the meantime, Governor Abigail Spanberger now has to consider what to do with hundreds of bills that passed both the House of Delegates and the Senate. She has until April 13 to sign, veto, or amend legislation.

“I am reviewing the legislation on my desk as we continue to focus on lowering costs for families, growing Virginia’s economy, and making sure every Virginia student is set up for success,” Spanberger said in a statement sent out the afternoon of March 14.

The General Assembly will return on April 22 to consider any changes Spanberger may make during her deliberations.

Spanberger’s statement highlights 16 specific pieces of legislation that are part of an agenda announced in December by the Governor and members of the Democrat-led General Assembly.

Some of these related to housing are:

• HB4 would allow localities to pass ordinances giving them the right of first refusal to purchase properties that are currently receiving some form of public subsidy to remain affordable to renters. This passed the House 65 to 34 and the Virginia Senate 21 to 19.
• HB15 would amend the Virginia Residential Landlord and Tenant Act to increase the amount of a time a landlord has to wait until pursue a remedy for non-payment of rent from five days to fourteen days. This passed the House 63 to 36 and the Virgina Senate 21 to 19.
• HB1227 and SB729 would increase the ceiling for private activity bonds which will increase the amount available to the Virginia Housing Development Authority, otherwise known as Virginia Housing. HB1227 passed the House on a 92 to 6 vote and the Senate on a 37 to 0 block vote.
• HB867 would allow any locality in Virginia to adopt an “affordable housing dwelling unit program” such as the one already in place in Charlottesville. The legislation also expands what such a program can offer in terms of implementation measures and tools. This passed the House on a 65 to 32 vote and the Senate on a 21 to 19 vote. This will go into effect on July 1, 2027.
• HB820 would create the Virginia Housing Revolving Loan Fund for “entities that incur costs in the acquisition, construction, or improvement of mixed-income housing projects or for infrastructure needed for site development and readiness for housing projects.” This passed the House on a 90 to 7 vote and the Senate on a 39 to 0 vote.
• HB527 would establish an official Eviction Reduction Program in the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development to expand existing work. This passed the House on a 64 to 33 vote and the Senate on a 21 to 19 vote.

A total of 446 bills are being carried over to 2027 with 256 in the House of Delegates and 176 in the Senate.

One of the bills that has been continued to next year would allow any jurisdiction to hold a referendum on the levying of a one-cent sales tax to pay for school construction. While this passed the House of Delegates on a 70 to 28 vote in late January, the Senate Finances and Appropriations Committee voted unanimously to take it up in the 2027 session.

“Language from the House bill allowed such revenues to be used for previous school construction indebtedness, while the Senate budget language does not allow funds to be used for previous debt,” Blount wrote.

Blount said the idea may still be alive this year with a possibility that language will be worked out in the final version of the budget during the special session.

Another bill awaiting Spanberger’s signature would fully repeal a provision in Virginia Code that had at one point prevented public employees to engage in collective bargaining. Here is the definition in HB1263.

“‘Collective bargaining’ or ‘negotiation’ means the performance of the mutual obligation of the public employer, by its representatives, and the representatives of its public employees to negotiate in good faith at reasonable times and places with respect to wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment and the continuation, modification, or deletion of an existing provision of a collective bargaining agreement, with the intention of reaching an agreement, or to resolve questions arising under the agreement, and includes executing a written contract incorporating the terms of any agreement reached,” reads the definition.

This passed the House on a 62 to 34 vote and the Senate on a 20 to 18 vote.

For more on what’s emerged from the General Assembly, check out the rest of David Blount’s comments. The next newsletter will be posted here.

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