Friends,
We hope you had a wonderful Labor Day weekend with family and friends. We are back at it working hard to improve Virginia.
Yesterday we were back in the General Assembly doing the people's work. It was bitter sweet because Wednesday was probably my last day on the floor as a member of the Virginia House of Delegates. God willing, I will win in November and continue serving you in the Virginia State Senate!
We Have a Budget!
When you have divided government, as we do here in Virginia, you don't get everything you want. I don't like everything about the budget, but I do like more than I don't. Governor Youngkin, Speaker Gilbert, Chairman Knight, Conferees, and many others put in many hours to get this done.
Here are some highlights of this bipartisan budget:
Tax Policy Changes:
This bill includes a total of $1.05 billion in tax reductions. This is an addition to the $4 billion tax relief adopted by the 2022 general assembly.
This bill also reinstitutes the sales tax holiday for school supplies, hurricane preparedness, clothing, footwear, and energy efficient durable goods which had expired. This year the sales tax holiday will be held the third weekend in October (Oct 20-22).
The standard deduction has increased to $8,500 for single filers and $17,000 for joint filers.
There is a one time Taxpayer relief check $200 for single filers and $400 for joint filers.
Education:
The education budget has 10 Billion Dollars, the largest investment in education
There is a 2% Pay Raise for teachers.
Mental Health:
156 million invested.
I led the charge with Senator Cosgrove to get one million dollars in funding for Va Tech to research groundbreaking Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) – a procedure that uses magnetic fields to stimulate nerve cells in the brain to improve symptoms of major depression – available for veterans, first responders, and law-enforcement officers. This amazing procedure has helped Navy SEALs, Rangers in Regiment, and other special ops folks overcome combat related Traumatic Brain Injuries and in many cases they returned to service.
Public Safety:
$5.1 million to support TDO/ ECO transportation activities and local law-enforcement agencies
$15 million to increase support for operation cease-fire grant program
1.2 million for Internet crimes against children task force to backfill reduce financially revenue receipts
Water Quality:
644.5 million dollars for Fiscal Year 2024
My continued efforts to help led to 1 Million additional dollars for the Louisa County Algae Bloom Mitigation Lake Anna.
State Employees:
2% Pay Raise during middle of fiscal year (Jan 1 paycheck).
There are targeted salary increases for; Community service boards, indigent defense commissioner: Public defenders, deputy sheriffs, regional Jail officers, commonwealth attorney staff, general district court clerks, circuit court clerks, VDH chief medical examiner's office, crime commission staff, Virginia sent us in commission staff.
Drug Overdose:
A few years ago I passed a bill to allow elementary, middle, and high school nurses to store and administer naloxone. Unfortunately overdoses are up and there is a shortage of kits. This budget includes $2 million to counter the shortage of naloxone kits.
Yesterday, we voted for and passed the update to the 23-24 budget.
FYI, the all new General Assembly building is open to the public October 11. I'm looking forward working and representing you as your next State Senator of District 10 there soon!
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