The Virginia House of Delegates and the Senate released amendments to the state budget Tuesday. Speaker William J. Howell, R-Stafford, proposed a series of reforms to increase budget transparency at the State Budget Conference Jan. 30.
The changes will provide members with a list of all non-state agency requests, items in the conference report left out of the original budget and items similar to legislation that were not passed in either chamber.
Howell said the transparency measures implemented this year were modeled on recommendations from Delegates Terry Kilgore, R-Gate City, Ben Cline, R-Rockbridge, and John O’Bannon, R-Richmond.
“More sunlight on the work of the General Assembly will further empower the constituents we work for to demand the best of their elected leaders,” Howell said in a press release. “This is a conservative, responsible budget that invests money in core priorities like state police officers and teachers, while eliminating debt and new fees proposed by Governor McAuliffe.”
The Budget Conference Report allocates $1 billion less in general funds than originally adopted in the two-year budget and restores the “rainy-day fund deposit” to about $429 million. The report does not raise taxes and eliminates $11.7 million in fees proposed by Gov. McAuliffe.
The report shows a $60 million increase for K-12 educational expenses as compared to McAuliffe’s proposal, which allocates $43 million into the teacher retirement fund.
The report includes a two percent pay raise for local employees, 1.5 percent pay raise for teachers and staff, and a two percent college faculty pay raise.
Also included is $132.9 million for health care safety net and funding to offer services to approximately 22,000 mentally ill patients.
Due to new policies introduced last month by Howell, the House is mandated to post the budget online 48 hours prior to voting.
The conference report will be collected by the House Thursday.
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