The General Assembly concluded the 2026 legislative session on Saturday without passing a biennial budget as the two chambers continue work to resolve differences regarding data center tax exemptions.
Lawmakers are expected to return to Richmond in a special session to take up the 2027-2028 spending bill. House of Delegates Majority Leader Charniele Herring introduced a joint resolution to ask Gov. Abigail Spanberger to call for a special session to begin on April 23. The General Assembly passed the resolution Saturday evening.
Sen. Louise Lucas, chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee and a budget conferee, has said she will not send a budget to Spanberger without a clause to end the tax exemptions for data centers in 2027. Those tax exemptions are slated to expire in 2035.
Del. Luke Torian, chair of the House of Delegates Appropriations Committee and a budget conferee, has said that it is crucial that Virginia not go back on contracts it signed with data centers that include those tax exemptions. Spanberger echoed Torian, saying that the commonwealth must honor those agreements…