FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE · February 2, 2025
Office of Delegate Luke Torian
Nathan Dowdy
House Appropriations Committee Reports Amended Budget for FY25-26
Committee Budget Contains Critical Investments in Relief for Working Virginians
RICHMOND, VA – This afternoon, the House Appropriations Committee reported its amendments to Virginia’s biennial budget. The House of Delegates’ budget includes increased funding for Virginia’s childcare system, affordable housing, healthcare, and natural resources. Today’s reported budget reflects the spending priorities of the Democratic majority in the House. House Appropriations Chair Luke Torian issued the following statement:
“At its core, our one job as legislators is to do what we can to improve the lives of Virginians’ citizens. We are committed to ensuring that the government works for everyone. Our job is to provide core services like strong education, childcare systems, and healthcare to make people’s day-to-day lives more manageable.
We are blessed to be in an era of economic growth. Last year, the General Assembly was able to invest an additional $6.4 billion in key programs. Unlike many years, the biennial budget fully addressed many needs in both years of the biennium, leaving few second-year gaps to address this year. We already have provided pay increases for our teachers, our state and local employees, and our personal care providers that will go into effect this coming July. We already have worked to hold down college costs, provide more DD waiver slots, and invest in much needed crisis services. We are far from done but let us not forget the investments already approved that come online this July.
Once again, this year, we have surplus revenue from FY 2024, which allows us to make one-time investments to help hard-working Virginians. Our responsibility is to use that blessing to shore up our core services and use one-time revenues to provide financial relief. The recommendations you will consider today focus on putting cash in our citizens’ pockets, addressing our housing crisis, expanding the availability of childcare, investing in our K-12 and higher education systems, and expanding worker protections.
Looking first at tax relief, the amendment package dedicates $1.1 billion to provide both immediate and ongoing relief to our citizens. The amendments authorize a $200 individual, $400 joint filer tax rebate check to be issued by October 15, 2025, at a cost of $978 million. This action benefits more Virginians than the Governor’s proposal because it does not exclude those without cars, or those making more than $50,000 a year. It provides relief sooner, with rebate checks sent this fall instead of waiting until after next year’s tax filing season, and gives each person more money than the Governor’s proposal.
The amendment package reduces all citizens’ tax liability by deducting from taxation the first $8,750 of income for individuals and $17,500 for joint filers. Also included is an increase in the refundable portion of the Earned Income Tax Credit to 20% of the federal credit, providing ongoing tax relief to lower-income citizens. The budget recognizes the revenue loss of $114 million associated with these actions.
This budget fully eliminates the waitlist for families seeking affordable preschool options. We include $25 million to establish a pilot program for private employers to provide childcare benefits to their employees. Our budget also includes $222.9 million to remove the “support cap” that limits funding provided to school divisions for support activities.
In the area of housing, we have included $15 million to provide grants up to $10,000 for first-time homebuyers earning less than $100,000 a year to offset the costs of purchasing a home, alleviating the undue burden that the housing market has put on many Virginians throughout the Commonwealth. The budget also provides $14 million in one-time investment of resources to local housing trust funds and projects that will expand access to affordable housing.
In the field of public safety, the House budget includes $6.3 million in new general fund revenue spending to enhance healthcare services and expand career and technical education programs for individuals in state correctional facilities. These investments aim to improve conditions within the prison system and support better outcomes for individuals upon release.
We have included $12.3 million to support the initiative of this body to improve maternal and child health. Our amendments provide funding for presumptive Medicaid eligibility for pregnant women, comprehensive Medicaid dental services for pregnant and postpartum women, a mobile maternal health clinic, community grants for maternal mental health care, and efforts to provide resources for pregnant and postpartum women.
This budget is a workhorse for our public sector employees, who, day in and day out, provide critical services to the citizens of the Commonwealth. Our budget adds $3.3 million to expand collective bargaining to state employees. We also included $55.6 million to provide a 1% bonus for state and state-supported local employees to be paid by July 1, 2025. The House budget also adds $61.4 million in targeted salary increases for specific hazardous duty positions and positions within our behavioral health facilities. Lastly, we are providing $140.5 million for $1,000 teacher bonuses to be provided this September 1st in appreciation of our educators’ hard work and dedication.
Finally, we are building upon my focus in my years as chairman in ensuring access to higher education by working to keep tuition costs down. We are investing $66.9 million to minimize the cost of tuition for in-state undergraduate students. Our budget also provides $20 million for an innovative partnership between public and private Historically Black Colleges and Universities to support minority small businesses, improve quality of life, and increase opportunities.
With that, this package of budget amendments fulfills our duty to support hardworking Virginians.”
The House of Delegates will vote on the reported budget bill this Thursday, February 6th.
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