The General Assembly passed another milestone in the 2026 session yesterday, as the House and Senate met the March 4 deadline adopted in the procedural resolution governing the session schedule to place the biennium budget bill in conference to resolve differences between the House and Senate versions. In keeping with tradition, HB 30 is the legislative vehicle for budget negotiations.
VACo’s breakdown of key elements in the two budget proposals may be found at this link.
The House conferees are House Appropriations Chair Torian, House Appropriations Vice Chair Carr, Delegate McQuinn, Delegate Krizek, Delegate Austin, and Delegate Bloxom.
The Senate conferees are Senate Finance and Appropriations Chair Lucas, Senator Deeds, Senator Locke, Senator Pillion, and Senator Stuart.
Conferees have a short window of time to complete negotiations. Under the procedural resolution, the conference committee’s compromise budget proposal must be available for at least 48 hours prior to legislators voting on it, which means that the conference committee’s report would need to be available sometime next Thursday in order for the General Assembly to adjourn as scheduled on Saturday, March 14.
VACo Contact: Katie Boyle