Senate Education and Health Committee- January 13, 2022

The Senate Education and Health Committee met for its first meeting of the 2022 legislative session. Following introductions by committee members and staff, the following actions were taken on pending legislation.

SB 161 (Hashmi) Department of Education; heat-related illness; guidelines. Directs the Department of Education, in conjunction with stakeholders, to develop guidelines on policies to inform and educate coaches and student athletes and their parents or guardians of the nature and risk of heat-related illness, how to recognize the signs of heat-related illness, and how to prevent heat-related illness to be distributed to local school divisions by August 1, 2022. The bill was reported and referred to the Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee by a vote of 14-0.

SB 238 (McPike) Department of Education; school division maintenance reserve tool. Requires the Department of Education, in consultation with the Department of General Services, to develop or adopt and maintain a data collection tool to assist each school board to determine the relative age of each public school building in the local school division and the amount of maintenance reserve funds that are necessary to restore each such building. The bill requires each school board to provide to the Department of Education in a timely fashion the local data that is necessary to ensure that such tool remains relevant and useful for the determination of maintenance reserve needs. The bill requires the Department of Education to consider converting or using as a template the Department of General Services' M-R FIX tool to meet the above requirement to maintain such a tool. This bill is a recommendation of the Commission on School Construction and Modernization. The bill was reported and referred tot he Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee by a vote of 15-0.

In addition tot he legislative actions taken this morning, the committee announced that the Public Education Subcommittee would meet during the 2022 session 30 minutes following the adjournment of the Senate of Virginia on Thursday afternoons. To view the subcommittee membership and docket which is revised each week, click here.

2022 Session Convenes in Richmond

The Virginia General Assembly convened this afternoon for the 2022 legislative session. Among the business conducted on the first day was to formally elect a speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates and for the Senate of Virginia and House to adopt a procedural resolution to govern legislative business. 

Delegate Todd Gilbert, R- Shenandoah County, was elected Speaker and the two chambers agreed to a procedural resolution for the session which will last 60 days. 

Additionally, the House leadership announced committee assignments for the session. The following Delegates were assigned to the House Education Committee.

Delegate Glenn Davis (Chair)
Delegate G. John Avoli (Vice Chair)
Delegate Dave LaRock
Delegate John McGuire
Delegate Amanda Batten
Delegate Will Wampler
Delegate Nick Freitas
Delegate Carrie Coyner
Delegate Mike Cherry
Delegate Tara Durant
Delegate Karen Greenhalgh
Delegate Anne Farrell Tata
Delegate Jeff Bourne
Delegate Schuyler VanValkenburg
Delegate Sam Rasoul
Delegate Delores McQuinn
Delegate Suhas Subramanyam
Delegate Elizabeth Guzman
Delegate Eileen Filler-Corn
Delegate Shelly Simonds
Delegate Briana Sewell
Delegate Michelle Maldonado

To see all committee assignments made in the House, and to view committee membership in the Senate, which will not reorganize until after the 2023 elections, click here.

Legislators Return to Richmond for 2022 Legislative Session Wednesday

The 2022 session of the Virginia General Assembly convenes at noon on Wednesday, January 12, 2022. The VSBA Government Relations team is advocating for our members and legislative positions in person for the first time since 2020. We are excited to be back in Richmond but will still need your help in answering Legislative Action Alerts and talking to your legislative delegations about important legislation being considered by the general assembly.

As much as we enjoy fighting on your behalf, we realize that you are the most effective advocates for education in the Commonwealth. If you haven’t already, we strongly encourage you to contact your legislators and educate them on positions of importance to you and the VSBA. To that end, we want to make sure you are aware of several tools that will help you stay on top of everything going on. 

Below is the link to resources for our members to help with advocacy:

https://www.vsba.org/advocacy-government-relations/advocacy/

Below is the link to the Virginia Legislative Information System where you can search for legislation and track developments:

http://leg1.state.va.us/lis.htm 

We hope to see you virtually at our 2022 VSBA Capital Conference on January 24 and 25. The second day of the Conference is focused on visits with your elected members of the General Assembly. We would encourage you to schedule those meetings now if you haven’t already. 

If you have questions regarding VSBA’s work at the General Assembly, you may contact VSBA Chief Lobbyist, Stacy Haney, at shaney@haneyphinyo.com or VSBA Government Relations Specialist JT Kessler at jason@vsba.org. 

Finally, be sure to check back regularly and monitor VSBA on Facebook and Twitter daily for real time information from the general assembly, as well as responding to any Legislative Action Alerts from the VSBA Government Relations team.

Thank you for all you do on behalf of public education in the Commonwealth!

Governor Northam Unveils 2022-2024 Budget Proposal

Governor Ralph S. Northam presented his outline of the 2022-2024 biennium budget recommendations at a meeting of the Joint Money Committees (Senate Finance and Appropriations, House Appropriations, and House Finance) of the Virginia General Assembly. Northam’s two-year spending plan of roughly $158 billion dollars draws heavily on the budget surplus of $2.6 billion for Fiscal Year 2021 with key investments in public education, the state retirement system, and deposits into the state’s reserve funds.

Northam announced an overall investment of $2.3 billion in direct aid to public education, including $268 million in funding to support at-risk students in high poverty school divisions. This marks an increase of over $128 million dollars from the 2020-2022 biennium budget. Northam also proposed $500 million in funding to assist localities with school construction and renovation.

Additionally, the Governor’s proposed budget calls for a 5 percent pay raise for public school teachers in each of the budget’s two years. The 10 percent total raise over the biennium has an estimated cost of nearly $750 million. To view in-depth analysis of the Governor’s education budget from the Virginia Department of Planning and Budget, click here.

Other Highlights of the Governor's Proposed Budget include:

• A set aside of $1.7 billion for the Commonwealth’s revenue reserves, including a $564 million voluntary deposit beyond the constitutional requirement bringing the Commonwealth’s reserves to more than $3.8 billion or 16.8% of state revenues.
• $900 million deposit to the Virginia Retirement System to reduce unfunded liabilities.
• Expanded access to the Virginia Preschool Initiative for three-year-olds and an increase in the Child Care Development Fund by more than $73 million each year.
• A proposed total of nearly $2.1 billion in tax cuts.
• One-time rebates of $250 per individual taxpayer or $500 for married couples filing jointly.
• Eliminates the state’s 1.5 percent tax on groceries, but leaves the 1 percent local add-on tax unchanged.
• Allowing working families who meet certain criteria to get money back for the earned income tax credit.
• $42.5 million in each year for payments expected to Amazon—payments that are contingent on Amazon meeting their obligations for investments and job creation.
• Spending $1 million to study Virginia’s need for more capacity in behavioral health facilities in Fiscal Year 23, with an additional $100 million in the second year for increasing capacity in Fiscal Year 24.
• $60 million for cybersecurity upgrades across state government.

The proposed 2022-2024 biennium budget will be considered by members of the General Assembly when the 2022 session convenes on January 12th. The VSBA Government Relations team will continue to monitor the budget and legislative developments as session approaches. If you have any questions, please contact VSBA Government Relations Specialist, J.T. Kessler, at jason@vsba.org.   

Governor Releases August 2021 Revenue Report

Virginia Governor Ralph S. Northam released numbers from the August 2021 Revenue Report showing Virginia's economy continues to recover from pandemic lows last spring. According to administration numbers, the General Fund rose 18.9 percent in August 2021 when compared to the same period in 2020.

Collections of payroll withholding taxes increased 12.7 percent in August. Collections of sales and use taxes, reflecting July sales, grew 20.2 percent in August. Recordation taxes from real estate transactions increased by 8.9 percent. There was one more deposit day this August than there was August of last year. The first estimated payments from individuals, corporations and insurance companies are due in September.

On a year-to-date basis, collections of payroll withholding taxes—62 percent of General Fund revenues—were up 9.6 percent, above the annual estimate of a 1.7 percent increase. Sales tax collections—17 percent of General Fund revenues—grew 14.3 percent year-to-date, ahead of the forecast of a 4.2 percent decline. On a fiscal year-to-date basis, total revenue collections rose 5.2 percent in August, above the annual forecast of an 8.0 percent decline.

The full report is available here.

Budget Compromise Passed by House and Senate

 The Conference Committee reached a compromise on the spending plan, which makes several amendments to the introduced spending plan.  The Conference Report can be found here.   

Today both the Senate and the House approved the Conference Report, which now heads to the Governor's desk.  

The adopted spending plan includes the $250 million for ventilation improvements as well as the language to restore the option for public employers to use compensatory time in lieu of overtime, which we wrote about here last week.  

In addition, the spending plan also includes the following additional amendment:

Line 1048, introduced, after § 207(o)

insert

, and the term "Employee" shall not include an individual described in 29 U.S.C. §203(e)(4). In addition to the provisions of subsection D of § 40.1-29.2 of the Code of Virginia, an employer may assert an exemption to the overtime requirements for employees who meet any of the exemptions set forth in 29 U.S.C. § 213 (a)

This additional language restores certain exemptions under the Virginia Overtime Wage Act and clarifies that certain volunteers are not considered employees under the Virginia Overtime Wage Act.  This amendment was intended to address a concern that the Virginia Overtime Wage Act, passed earlier this year, may have conflicted with the practice of paying coaches a nominal stipend, which is permitted under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act.  With this language now in the budget, that practice with regard to coaches can continue.  

   

APRA Spending Plan Heads to Conference Committee

The plan to spend the 4.3 billion dollars of federal funding provided through the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA)  is headed to a conference committee in the Virginia General Assembly. Yesterday, the House (HB 7001) and Senate (SB 7001) insisted on their own spending plans during afternoon floor sessions.

The action followed a marathon session Wednesday night, in which the State Senate approved its priorities for the funding from the American Rescue Plan Act by a vote of 22-18. Unlike the House of Delegates, which quickly rejected amendments to the governor’s plan, the Senate debated over 100 amendments before passing their version of the legislation.

Conference Committee members are meeting Friday with hopes of reaching an agreement on a final spending plan before the legislature returns Monday. Please check back for updates and watch the VSBA social media outlets, Facebook, and Twitter, for breaking alerts. The VSBA Government Relations Team will post the conference report upon release from the committee.