RICHMOND — State Del. Barry Knight, the Virginia Beach Republican who represents the 81st House District, will be central to the process of building the next biennial budget for the commonwealth in his new role as the chairperson of the House Appropriations Committee.
Knight, a farmer and businessperson from Back Bay, represents much of the main coverage area of The Independent News. He was selected chair of the powerful committee after Republican control of the House of Delegates was assured following the November elections.
It is not simply a matter of Republicans bending the biennial budget as they wish, striking some balance between the executive and legislative branches. Despite the GOP controlling the executive branch, the legislature is politically divided. Democrats remain in control of the state Senate, and the House and Senate must have a meeting of the minds.
“The Senate and the House have to agree on a budget or it doesn’t move forward,” Knight said during an interview.
On Monday, Jan. 24, Finance Secretary Steve Cummings provided an overview of the economic outlook to the committee Knight leads as well as spelling out some priorities for the Youngkin administration. He touched on the effects of Covid, having money in the bank in uncertain times and the need to bring in new business.
“Obviously, we’re in unprecedented times,” Cummings said, noting this Virginia has some money in the bank.
“But, honestly, that creates a whole other set of problems moving forward,” Cummings said, warning against letting ample funds go to the commonwealth’s head.
The strong position is in part due to the federal government stimulus and funds to help people get past – or at least through – the pandemic.
“But it’s going away,” he said of that influx.
State Del. Luke Torian, D-52nd District, noted the downbeat notes of the secretary’s presentation, and he said he was venting over what he’d heard about the state of the economy being “in a ditch.” Meanwhile, the state is considered a great place to do business, has lower unemployment than the national average and has a significant surplus, he said.
“I’m having some difficulties understanding why our economy is in such a bad shape when we have a record high reserve funds in our rainy day fund,” said the Prince William County Democrat, who served as Appropriations chair before Knight.
“Can you please help me understand this narrative?” Torian said. “And do you think the Virginia economy is in the ditch?”
Cummings said expected the question and appreciates the frustration. He said Virginia tends to be beneath the national unemployment average.
“The environment for the average Virginian is it’s really great if you’re at the top,” Cummings said. “It’s not so great if you’re at the bottom of the spectrum because we have not added jobs. We have not added GDP growth.”
Cummings said the goal is to bring new employers into the commonwealth and create jobs for citizens.
Knight thanked the secretary for the overview.
“We’re a committee,” Knight said. “We work together as a committee. You see we’ve got a lot of thoughts here. We’ll bring something to your attention you probably already know. We’ve gotten in $17.7 billion worth of amendments just in the House, not even counting the Senate.
“We’re going to try to share the wealth a little bit, if you will,” Knight continued, “because you and the governor have some good ideas. We’ve got some good ideas on this side, too.”
During an interview following the meeting, Knight said the goal this year is to set some of the surplus funds aside as a “rainy day fund,” balance the budget and weigh a wide range of inputs from lawmakers.
There are 829 budget amendments that would value $17.7 billion submitted on the House side, though Knight noted that not everything can be funded.
“It’s a whole lot of numbers,” Knight said. “There’s a whole lot of negotiations, too.”
And the money the executive spends comes via the legislature, which means Cummings may spend some bit of time dealing with appropriations in the coming years.
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