Members of the Virginia General Assembly were back in Richmond Monday to approve a deal on the budget days before the new fiscal year starts next week.
The compromise keeps a huge tax exemption for data centers, although it creates new consumption tax revenue that will charge data center companies for energy use.
"I would have loved to have had the $2 billion for the biennium, but we kept trying to do something as a compromise so that we could get the House to come along with us. And so, all I can say is, at some point you got to give some in order to get some," said Senator Louise Lucas, chair of the Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee. "And so, this is what we did."
Governor Abigail Spanberger has an opportunity to make line-item vetoes and amendments. If she does, lawmakers will consider them next week.
Another significant part of that document moves forward with a new marketplace for adult use cannabis.
It was only a few weeks ago that Governor Abigail Spanberger vetoed the bill that would have created a marketplace for retail marijuana sales. Now, it's going to be happening anyway despite the veto because members of the General Assembly are including it in a budget approved by the House and Senate this week. The bill was introduced by Senator Lashrecse Aird of Petersburg.
"This is what governing looks like. It looks like actually being responsive to people," Aird says. "I think that the governor felt the outcry of Virginians that wanted to see this move forward, and she was big enough to respond to that by coming back to the table and to continue the conversation."
Senate Minority Leader Ryan McDougle says lawmakers should not be enacting policy changes that were not passed by the General Assembly and signed by the governor.
"Legislating through the budget, regardless of what the issue is, is not the way we should go," McDougle says. "If it's important enough to have a marketplace for marijuana, then you should do it by a regular bill during the regular session, not eight days before the state would be shutting down."
Under the budget agreement, marijuana sales would start next summer at 350 retail locations across Virginia.
