Virginia Special Session recap

Over the past two weeks, the General Assembly met for the first time back in our respective chambers in the Capitol since the start of the pandemic. The Special Session was to approve a spending plan for the $4.3 billion American Rescue Plan coronavirus federal relief funding and to elect judges to fill 8 vacancies on the Virginia Court of Appeals.

There were some positives to come out of the process, even with the Democratic majority’s effort to try and stifle debate and amendments to the proposal from the Republican members of the Senate.

$700 million in funding was appropriated for rural broadband expansion, which is desperately needed in my district and around our Commonwealth. Senate Republicans advocated for even more money to be committed to this initiative, but we were shot down. I promise to keep fighting for broadband expansion for our families and our businesses here in the Valley and other rural areas of Virginia.

$250 million of the funding will go towards the ReBuild Virginia grants to help small businesses affected by the pandemic and the Governor’s mandates and restrictions. Those applicants who have been denied in the past will now be at the front of the line for the grants.

As introduced by the Governor, the budget contained no additional funding for bonuses or salaries for deputy sheriffs, regional jail staff, or correctional officers, and only a small sum for the Virginia State Police. Senate Republicans supported an amendment sponsored by our brand-new state Senator Travis Hackworth, which would have provided a $5,000 per year bonus for deputy sheriffs across Virginia for each of the next three years. While the Governor opposed any amendments, the final budget did include a $3,000 hazard pay bonus for our sheriff’s deputies, regional jail staff, and corrections officers and a $5,000 bonus for state police, but only for one year. We do need to do more for our law enforcement who work so hard to keep our communities safe, and I will work hard to see that we do more when we go back to Richmond in January.

Now, I want to explain why I ultimately voted against the spending package. It was not in opposition to the earmarked rural broadband expansion funds nor the bonuses for law enforcement or the funding to fix HVAC systems in schools. It also was not merely a protest vote in opposition to the process that was followed in the Senate to reach this agreement – although the process was deeply flawed, and it deprived most Virginians any voice in the spending plan.

My “NO” vote was primarily cast in opposition to the approximately $800 million blank check we gave to this Governor for “future needs if the pandemic worsens.” Yes, you read that right. $800 million out of the federal funding was left unappropriated for the Governor to spend as he wishes by the end of the year. I have a really big problem with the legislature writing a blank check to a Governor. Never before has any Virginia governor ever been given discretionary spending authority of anything approaching this magnitude. It is an abdication of our legislative responsibilities. It is a poorly kept secret that the Governor knows exactly what his spending plans are for these funds, but that he did not want it debated in the special session or covered in the newspapers. The whole process lacked transparency, and it prevented any public participation.

There were also other significant problems that also buttressed my opposition, such as $1.5 million going to the Department of Elections for a voter misinformation fund allocated to combat alleged voter misinformation…with no accountability on how the money is spent. There was also $2.5 million reserved for the Attorney General to “combat gun violence” without any explanation on how or where that will be spent. Our current Attorney General has time and again demonstrated that he is no friend of law-abiding gun owners in the Commonwealth, and has given little reason that these funds actually will be spent to fight crime.

We will return in January for the 2022 General Assembly Session. It is imperative that in the interim we elect a Republican Governor and that we return a Republican majority to the House of Delegates.

It is my utmost privilege to serve as your State Senator. If you have any questions about the Special Session, how the federal money was allocated, or any other issue dealing with state government, please do not hesitate to email me at mark@markobenshain.com or call my district legislative office at 540-437-1451.

Mark Obenshain