Weekly update from the General Assembly

Moving into the 3rd week of session, the Capital has seen a large numbers of daily visitors actively participating in the political process.  Last week several groups from the 29th District held their respective organizations annual “day on the hill” including local 4-H students, Shenandoah Valley Electric Cooperative, Winchester and Frederick County Public School Boards, Frederick County GIS students, Mountain Vista Governor’s School students, Dental Hygienist students from Lord Fairfax Community College, Valley Interfaith Council and elected officials from the Commissioner of Revenue and Treasurer offices.

State Budget Update

You have likely read or heard about the State’s revenue shortfall and the House and Senate Appropriations Committees efforts to close the gap.  One of the major priorities is to fund raises for state employees and law enforcement.  Last week, Delegate Chris Jones, Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, held a press conference with Senate budget leaders to highlight their joint priorities in regards to a compensation package.  See the summary below:

State Employees

• A 3% pay raise for state employees.

Virginia State Police

• An increase to the starting salary of Virginia State Police.  New police officers, as they enter the academy, will see a salary increase of almost $6,800 to bring their annual salary to $43,000.
• An increase to a trooper’s annual salary from $40,482 to $47,275 one year after they graduate from the Police Academy.
• All current sworn state police personnel will receive a $6,793 salary increase.
• In addition to the salary increase, state police officers will also receive the 3% salary adjustment proposed for state employees.

Local Sheriff Offices

• Proposal includes funds to address salary compression issues for sheriff’s deputies.
• The agreement includes a compression salary adjustment for employees in local sheriff’s offices and regional jails.
• The compression adjustment provides an increase for employees with 3 or more years of service. For sworn personnel the increase is equal to $80 per year of service and for other personnel the increase is $65 per year of service.

Governor McAuliffe recently criticized the announcement regarding education funding priorities however his budget does not offer a teacher pay raise.  Instead, the Governor’s budget includes a 1.5% bonus, but the language does not require the bonuses go towards a teacher pay raise.  If school divisions were to elect to use the proposed state allocation for a 1.5% bonus, then they would have to provide a local match, estimated to be about $83 million, for employees to receive the actual bonus percentage.

In 2016 the adopted budget sent 29% of lottery funds, or $157 million, back to local school divisions.  This mechanism gives local schools more flexibility by not requiring matching funds or mandating how the funds must be spent. This year we look to build on this investment that gives local school leaders the flexibility to meet their own unique public education needs.   Our language would permit the school divisions to use this lottery money to provide a salary increase or to pay for increased local Virginia Retirement System costs.

I encourage you to keep in touch with me and my office over the coming weeks. I value the feedback you provide on a continual basis as it helps me do a better job of representing you. You can email me or call me at (804) 698-1029.  You can also join the conversation on my Facebook,  Twitter and Instagram pages.

Thank you for the opportunity to represent Virginia’s 29th District.

Sincerely,

Christopher E. Collins, Member
29th District