2025 General Assembly Session: The Crossover Report
February 4, marked the official halfway point of the 2025 General Assembly Session, often referred to as crossover. While we began this session with more than 2500 introduced bills and resolutions, crossover marks the deadline in which each chamber must act on all its originating bills and those not acted upon are effectively dead. Additionally, each crossover week marks the period where the Senate and House reveal its amendments to the Governor’s Introduced Budget. This week’s newsletter will give you information on both, as well as some additional updates from this session.
Legislative Update
We began the 2025 legislative session with 20 bills and two study resolutions. As of the crossover point, we are sending 13 bills and our two study resolutions to the House of Delegates for final action. Most notable are the following: (SB1267) allowing for civil penalties for property owners failing to adhere to zoning codes for multifamily residences; (SB1221) aiming to prevent the number of vulnerable individuals from being evicted from public housing authorities; (SB1230) ensuring our schools have the ability to keep more quality long-term substitutes in classrooms when needed to prevent new substitutes being replaced every 90 days.
Also now under consideration in the House of Delegates is (SB1383) relating to the sanctioning of nursing homes. From 2018 to 2024 complaints increased by 59%, in 2024 alone the Virginia Department of Health (VDH) received 939 nursing home complaints. Our legislation not only stands to improve the quality of care being offered, but it also empowers the VA Health Commissioner to prevent problems discovered from escalating to serious conditions. I had an opportunity to discuss this critical legislation with WTVR Channel 6 news as part of their ongoing coverage of nursing home concerns. Take a look at the story here.
As it relates to our study resolutions (SJ262) requests the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission (JLARC) to study the need for and feasibility of creating a Secretariat of Rural Affairs in the Commonwealth, and (SJ263) requests the Department of Transportation to study the need and options for constructing a bridge.
While several bills failed in committee, I regret that the formation of the Virginia Autism Advisory Council (SB1232) did not move forward. A formal recommendation of the Behavioral Health Commission in which I serve, our legislation would have transitioned the existing council into a commission. Annual reports from DBHDS show a 339% increase in the number of individuals with autism using Developmental Disabilities (DD) services through Community Services Boards (CSBs). This dramatic increase highlights the growing need for autism-specific services and a commission with this focus. I look forward to working with all of the community partners to move this forward in a future session. Information on all of our bills, the full language under consideration and their status can be found here.
Further, I received numerous calls and emails from around the district regarding opposition to a bill proposed by a legislator in the House of Delegates (HB232) that sought to divert casino generated revenue from the City of Petersburg to the entire region. I am pleased that this bill was not acted upon by crossover and therefore was left to die in the Finance Committee. While the delegate released a statement indicating that “revenue sharing was part of the discussion surrounding the Petersburg casino project,” I can confidently say this is completely false. As the patron of the casino legislation and as someone whose intentions around the casino has been extensively covered publicly, I can say with great clarity that not only was this not ever explored, it was never even considered. This attempt to usurp the decision making authority around the use of tax revenue from the citizens of Petersburg by a legislator that does not represent this community and worse, supported by the sitting delegate for Petersburg was not only unprecedented but entirely inappropriate. Again, this outcome was the right result and I hope the last we will see of any such attempt.
Senate Budget Overview
The state budget affects everything that the state has oversight for, from funding for our schools, healthcare services to compensation and more. While last session we adopted a new budget, on February 2, the Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee revealed its proposed amendments to the 2024-2026 budgets, specifically FY2025-2026. Their proposal takes into account Governor Youngkin's proposals released in December, a nearly 3-billion dollar surplus, any legislation introduced that has a cost to implement and the individual budget amendments from all 40 members of the Senate.
At the start of this session and in my State of the Commonwealth Rebuttal, I made it clear that Senate Democrats would be prioritizing putting more money in the pockets of families and this is fully represented in the budget proposal released. Most notably the following tax relief recommendations were offered:
Working Virginians Tax Rebate: Provides a tax rebate of $200 for single filers and $400 for joint filers up to their tax liability by October 15
Expiring Standard Deduction Extension & EITC: Extends the expiring tax provisions tied to the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act to December 2027
Standard Deduction Increase: Increases the standard deduction to $8,750 for single filers and $17,500 for joint filers, a nearly $250/$500 increase respectively
Refundable Earned Income Tax Credit: Increases the refundability of the state earned income tax credit from 15-percent to 20-percent of the federal credit
In addition to the abovementioned proposals, also included in the Senate’s budget is $222.9 million to lift the cap for school support staff funding 27.89 positions per 1,000 students. For 16 years this has been a public school priority and we have been incrementally carrying legislation chipping away at this cap for years. This year our legislation (SB1236) while not acted on in committee was ultimately incorporated into the budget. We were proud to join the Fund Our Schools Coalition and legislative partners in celebrating this milestone moment! Additional coverage on this proposal was featured on WRIC Channel 8 and can be viewed here.
To view a complete chart of the Senate Budget, the House Budget and the Governors proposal take a look at the chart available here courtesy of the Commonwealth Institute for Fiscal Policy.
Without question, the actions taking place at the federal level have left many uncertain about how those decisions will affect them here in Virginia. Whether you're a federal government employee/contractor, dependent on federally funded healthcare access or assistance I know these decisions matter to you. That’s why I joined my colleagues in a joint press conference to publicly express concerns regarding the actions of President Trump and his administration and how we are working to identify ways to protect Virginians during this tumultuous time. We will also be preparing how to provide resources that may be impacted while billions of dollars are being froze. If you have already been affected by these changes, please don’t hesitate to let us know so we can be of support to you.
With the 2025 Session scheduled for adjournment on February 22, there is still time for you to schedule your visit or get in contact with our office. As always, we can be reached via email at senatoraird@senate.virginia.gov, phone at 804-698-7513 or by visiting our website at lashrecseaird.com. The honor remains mine to represent you.
