Last Saturday, the Virginia General Assembly adjourned sine die – Latin for “without a day” – without having passed a state budget for Fiscal Year 2027 (which begins on July 1st of 2026) through FY28. 

While both the House and Senate put forth somewhat-similar spending packages, ultimately, the differences between the two budgets proved to be insurmountable by the March 14th deadline for the regular legislative session. Among the biggest points of contention was a tax exemption for data centers – the elimination of which could result in an estimated $1B of additional revenue for Virginia over the coming biennium. 

As reported by The Virginia Mercury, this year is hardly the first time that legislators have adjourned sans a budget: it’s happened at least ten times before, and that’s just since the 2000 legislative session. As they have in decades prior, the General Assembly will reconvene in the near future with a special session. This year, legislators are slated to return on Wednesday, April 22nd. 

Also of note: the deadline for Governor Spanberger to sign any bills into law is Monday, April 13th. When the legislature returns to Richmond next month, their first order of business will be responding to any gubernatorial actions (or inactions). We are hoping to see several of our priority bills – to include the right of first refusal in the sale of affordable housing, inclusionary zoning options for municipalities, and optional tax exemptions for nonprofit-controlled housing – go into effect on July 1st.