Economic Opportunity

Virginia’s new budget finances multiple measures to help improve the lives of Virginians. The budget funds the extension of health care coverage to nearly 400,000 newly eligible Virginians, and it funds increased salaries for teachers, nurses, counselors, and other staff in Virginia’s public schools. However, lawmakers failed to continue the progress made over the past two years in increasing support for Virginia’s poorest families with children, despite the serious erosion in Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) benefits over the last two decades. 

Virginia’s new budget finances multiple measures to help improve the lives of Virginians. The budget funds the extension of health care coverage to nearly 400,000 newly eligible Virginians, and it funds increased salaries for teachers, nurses, counselors, and other staff in Virginia’s public schools. However, lawmakers failed to continue the progress made over the past two years in increasing support for Virginia’s poorest families with children, despite the serious erosion in Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) benefits over the last two decades. 

When Governor Northam signed a budget that included Medicaid expansion on June 7, it was the culmination of years of work by hundreds or even thousands of Virginians, and will mean real improvements in the lives of hundreds of thousands of Virginia workers and families. Medicaid expansion has been at the center of Virginia policy debate for six years, and The Commonwealth Institute has been highlighting the benefits of this policy all along. 

Special Session: Comparing the governor’s, House, and General Assembly budgets to the FY 2018 budget With no agreement on the...

Voting along party lines, Congressional Republicans are proposing to decrease nutritional assistance for low-income families in the Farm Bill, creating a partisan fight over a bill that has long had bipartisan support. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), the most effective anti-hunger program in the country, supports over 374,000 households (794,780 individuals) on average each month in Virginia. But the newest Farm Bill proposal – passed by the House Agriculture Committee on April 18 and could be voted on by the full House this month – will end or cut SNAP benefits for many people, while setting up costly bureaucratic hurdles to qualify that do more harm than good. 

Virginia’s 2018 regular legislative session has come to a close. While disappointing in some respects – legislators adjourned without having reached agreement on the 2018-2020 budget– it saw the birth of new, promising partnerships across regional and party differences. Legislators representing cities and rural communities found common ground in efforts to strengthen struggling communities and address the challenges of heightened poverty. 

Twelve states and the District of Columbia already allow unauthorized immigrants to obtain some form of driver’s card. Expanding access to driver’s licenses for unauthorized immigrants would increase safety and help Virginia’s economy and communities.

The availability of in-state tuition rates at public colleges and universities for Virginians provides a pathway to better jobs and opportunities that benefits students and the state economy.

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