RICHMOND, Va. — Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger said she supports the House of Delegates' proposed budget as state lawmakers race to avoid a government shutdown before the July 1 deadline.
Legislators are set to meet Tuesday to review their proposed budgets, and the House could vote as early as Thursday. But a major obstacle remains: the Senate Finance chair is insisting that a billion-dollar sales and use tax exemption for data center operators must end — a position that puts the Senate at odds with the House proposal.
The governor said her team has not had a substantive discussion on what Sen. Louise Lucas (D-Portsmouth) might present as a counter proposal. On Friday, Lucas posted a graduated tax proposal for data centers on social media but has not presented that plan to the governor's team.
As recently as Sunday, Lucas was adamant that the companies behind the data centers would pay what she called their fair share.
"They keep saying to us, 'well, if we don't get that sales and use tax exemption in Virginia, we're gonna go someplace else.' Well, Senator Locke just laid it out for you: all the other states are saying, 'no, we don't want them' and if we get them, we're going to make sure that we modify how we do these use and sales tax exemptions," Lucas said.
Spanberger reiterated her support for the House version of the budget.
"In the absence of any counter proposal or any additional budget language coming from the Senate, I continue to remain supportive of the House of Delegates proposed conference report, because it's thorough, it's thoughtful, it addresses priorities across the board," she said.
She added that if it were brought to a vote, there is broad support for the measure.
"If it were brought to a vote, certainly there's many members ... of the state Senate whose budget priorities are also in that conference report," she said.
The timeline is tight. While House of Delegates members return Thursday, Senate members do not convene until next Monday. Under legislative rules, an agreed-upon budget must be on legislators' desks 48 hours before a vote can be taken. If a budget agreement is not ready by the close of business Tuesday, the House will not be voting on Thursday.
This is a developing story. Email the CBS 6 Newsroom if you have additional information to share.
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