Virginia governor continues to weigh options to address high gas prices

RICHMOND, Va. -- Gas prices in Virginia continued to set records Wednesday, according to AAA, as the average statewide price for a gallon reached $4.77 and $4.82 the Richmond-Petersburg area.

A spokesperson for Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin said the governor remains concerned about the high gas prices and is considering all options to bring them down, including his gas tax holiday proposal that was and ways of achieving this include amendments to the recently passed state budget, as first reported by The Washington Post.

After months of negotiations, state lawmakers approved a two-year budget last week, but it did not include Youngkin's proposal for gas-tax holiday or a stop to a scheduled increase to the tax.

Democrats had argued against the proposal and said the savings would not be guaranteed to be passed along to Virginia drivers and would impact the state's transportation fund, instead calling for direct rebates.

"As much as we all want to reduce the price of gas, reducing the gas tax at the wholesale level will do nothing for consumers. That's the problem. We want to make sure money goes into the consumers pocket, not in the pockets of the gas companies," said Del. Mark Keam (D - 35th), who added he hopes the governor does not try to shoehorn something in at the last minute. "I'd like to see if we can negotiate directly with the governor and see if we can come to some common ground as far as rebates, as well as maybe a little bit of a holiday. But, to do this at the last minute in the budget is not the right way, procedurally."

CBS 6 Political Analyst Dr. Bob Holsworth said he would be surprised if Youngkin does not do something through a budget amendment because it would force a floor vote, including in the Senate where the Democrats hold a slim advantage.

"What the governor only needs is really two Democrats to switch sides on the budget and then he will have a majority there. And so, by putting this there -- this is not something that the Democrats can bottle up in committee, they're going to have to have a floor vote in which everybody is going to be public on it," said Holsworth. "From the governor's perspective, he wins either way. He either gets some version of his gas tax holiday or be he puts political pressure on the Democrats, who are going to have to run next year having voted down the governor's request for a gas tax holiday at the time that the public is up in arms about gas prices."

A spokesperson for Governor Youngkin said as of midday Wednesday, he had not officially received the budget. When he did, the spokesperson said he would then have seven days to make any potential changes to the budget before sending it back to lawmakers.

Macaulay Porter, a spokesperson for Governor Youngkin, shared the following statement with CBS6:

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