The Jefferson Journal
Commentary
6/29/2026 — Virginia is now facing one of the most dangerous habits in modern state government: using a must-pass budget to carry major policy changes that could not, or did not, move through the normal legislative process. Budgets have always contained some policy language. No one who has watched Virginia government closely would pretend...
6/26/2026 — Yesterday, the Virginia Board of Education voted by a near majority to reject a proposal to delay the implementation of more rigorous Standard of Learning cut scores. I was honored to testify before the Board, along with Arlington Democrat Todd Truitt — who really has been a leader on this important issue. A handful of...
6/23/2026 – The energy regulatory provisions buried in the final conference report on Virginia’s 2026-2028 budget, approved by the General Assembly Monday, are as complex and detailed as energy bills reviewed earlier during the regular session. They are also just as damaging. The data center industry was a particular target. The...
(Note to readers, the Virginia Board of Education needs to hear from you before Thursday’s meeting. Tell them not to delay implementing the already approved higher accountability standards. Email Secretary of Ed, Jeffery Smith – jeffery.smith@governor.virginia.gov, State Superintendent, Jenna Conway – jenna.conway@doe.virginia.gov, and Deputy Superintendent of Assessments, Performance and School Improvement, Anne Hyslop – anne.hyslop@doe.virginia.gov.)...
6/18/2026 — Governor Abigail Spanberger announced her support for a deal to create a legal retail cannabis market in Virginia — only weeks after vetoing a bill to do much the same thing. That should give Virginians pause. Virginia has yet to pass a budget and is only two weeks from a government shutdown. While...
5/29/2026 — Virginia’s return to the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) will produce such an explosion of new tax revenue and will cause such major increases in consumer electricity costs, a political feeding frenzy is beginning to erupt over the money. A legislative study panel heavily controlled by Democrats who...
6/6/2026 — This week has moved the Commonwealth much closer to its first government shutdown than one might expect with 25 days still left in this fiscal year. For most of last week, it felt like we were on the glide path for a budget deal. Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee (SFAC)...
6/2/2026 — Just as Governor Spanberger and the General Assembly appeared deadlocked over how to fund competing budget priorities, Virginia’s latest revenue reforecast requested by Governor Spanberger arrived with welcome news: roughly $1.5 billion in additional projected revenue through Fiscal Year 2028. The timing and the reforecasted increase in revenue are both remarkable. For...
5/29/2026 — The ongoing fight over the future of natural gas power generation in Virginia has now moved to the Virginia Supreme Court, with environmental activists asking that court to reverse the State Corporation Commission’s (SCC) decision from six months ago approving a new gas project in Chesterfield County. The...
5/20/2026 — General Assembly leaders are threatening to bring a government shutdown to the Commonwealth, a scenario much more reminiscent of Capitol Hill than Capitol Square. Despite unified Democrat control of state government, the General Assembly adjourned in March without sending a budget to Governor Spanberger’s desk. Virginia Scope’s Bradon Jarvis reported that Senators...