Northam Calls Special General Assembly Session for April 11

When lawmakers left Richmond Saturday they knew they would be back because a budget had not been adopted. Senate and House members were at a stalemate due to Medicaid expansion something that was provided by the House of Delegates but not Senate.

Because business was not concluded by Saturday’s sine die, Governor Ralph Northam signed a proclamation Tuesday calling for a special session and declared, “Virginians sent us to Richmond to work together to make life better for every family, no matter who they are or where they live.”

The special session is set for April 11 to iron out the budget and final details. Read more from political reporter Laura Vozzella at the Washington Post. The House budget bill, she wrote, “did include millions in federal funding associated with expanding Medicaid, but the Senate bill did not.” That divide must be bridged.

Below is the press release and proclamation from Governor Northam:

“After a legislative session that was marked by bipartisan progress on issues that matter to people’s lives, I remain disappointed that the General Assembly was unable to extend that spirit of cooperation to its work on the budget.

“Virginians sent us to Richmond to work together to make life better for every family, no matter who they are or where they live. We can live up to that responsibility by passing a budget that expands health care to hundreds of thousands of Virginians who need it. Expanding coverage will also generate savings that we can invest in education, workforce training, efforts to combat the opioid epidemic, and a healthy cash balance to prepare for fiscal downturns.

“Thanks to the political courage of many leaders in both parties and both chambers, we have made significant progress on this issue over the past several months. In the coming weeks, I intend to work with the General Assembly to ensure that we pass a budget that expands coverage as quickly as possible once this special session convenes. I have also directed Secretary of Finance Aubrey Layne to work with the members and staff of the General Assembly money committees to ensure that work on the budget continues in the period between the regular session and the special session.

“It is my hope that people from across the Commonwealth will continue to speak to their legislators about the need to bring our tax dollars home to benefit our families, our economy, and our budget. We shouldn’t have to wait any longer for a budget that reflects the priorities of the Virginians who sent us here to serve.”

Proclamation

In accordance with the provisions of Article IV, Section 6, and Article V, Section 5, of the Constitution of Virginia and the powers thereby vested in the Governor to call a Special Session of the General Assembly;

I, Ralph S. Northam, Governor of Virginia, do hereby summon the members of the Senate and the House of Delegates, constituting the General Assembly of Virginia, to meet in Special Session in their respective chambers in the Capitol at Richmond, commencing the eleventh day of April, two thousand eighteen, for the purpose of adopting budgets for the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Given under my hand as Governor of Virginia, and under the Lesser Seal of the Commonwealth, at Richmond, this thirteenth day of March, two thousand and eighteen, and in the two hundred and forty-second year of the Commonwealth.