Budget Passes Virginia Senate, Sen. Travis Hackworth Votes with Republican Senators

Richmond, VA – Senator Travis Hackworth (R-Tazewell) joined with the majority of Republican Senators to vote against the state budget in the 2021 Special Session. On the Senate floor, Sen. Hackworth thanked the Conference Committee for including part of his Senate-approved floor amendment to increase the Governor’s proposed $1,000 hazard pay bonus to $5,000. However, Sen. Hackworth expressed his disappointment in learning that the Conference Committee removed the language including the locally funded deputies and decreased the Commonwealth’s commitment from $5,000 to $3,000 for one fiscal year instead of three years, as originally written. Under the passed budget, a committee must be formed and report back to the Virginia General Assembly by October 2021 on the Commonwealth’s law enforcement salary disparities.

Several wasteful spending and special interest carveouts that Senator Hackworth opposed in the final budget include:

• $800M discretionary fund for the Governor to spend without oversight;

• $2.5M to fund a “Gun Violence Fund;”

• $4.5M for “voter education” and expanding early voting on Sunday;

• Funding for special interest groups on monuments; and

• Extends the eviction moratorium through June 30, 2022, further placing hardship on landlords that depend on rental income to make their mortgage payments.

Senator Hackworth concluded, “I promised voters that I will always balance fighting for our region while also standing for our values. The compromise necessary to support this bill would have forced me to support a slush fund for our Governor and Democrat majority to advance their progressive agenda with taxpayer dollars while exploring ways to take away our gun rights. While I am glad we made this bill slightly more palatable, I simply could not betray our values and region by supporting such a bill.”