Va. assembly to act on military education

The assembly accomplished that goal quickly by unanimously adopting a pair of bills — Senate Bill 6012 and House Bill 6004 — that repeal budget language that restricted eligibility for the tuition waiver program.

The bills also provide an additional $90 million that, combined with $40 million already appropriated in the two-year budget, covers the estimated $65 million cost to public colleges and universities that previously had not received state money earmarked for the Virginia Military Survivors and Dependents Education Program.

Senate Finance Chair Louise Lucas, D-Portsmouth, said her legislation would cover the program’s cost while the assembly awaits recommendations from studies by the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission, a task force appointed by the governor and a Senate Finance work group.

“It gives me comfort that we will not place the burden of the escalating cost of this program on other students through their tuition charges,” she said in introducing the bill to the Senate Finance & Appropriations Committee.

The repeal of the restrictions on program eligibility — such as requiring recipients to live in Virginia and limiting the benefit to undergraduate education — did not appease some military families who remain irate over how the changes, initially proposed by Gov. Glenn Youngkin in legislation, appeared in the budget that took effect on July 1.

“I believe the battle is far from over,” Kayla Owen, co-founder of Friends of VMSDEP, told the finance committee. “My main message to Virginians is ‘don’t get fooled again.’”

Her remarks prompted Sen. Richard Stuart, R-King George, who was sympathetic to her concerns, to ask, “Would you prefer us not to pass the bill today?”

Lucas, who has become the target of program advocates, reminded them that Youngkin had originated the proposed changes in legislation that Sen. Bryce Reeves, R-Orange, then converted to a proposed study that a House committee shelved. Both the Senate and the House of Delegates included the language in the budgets they proposed in February and the compromise they adopted on March 9.

“It was not put into our budget under the cloak of darkness,” Lucas said in comments she repeated on the Senate floor.

Owen and other program advocates challenged the assertion that colleges and universities are passing through the program costs to other students. They also asked for what she called “full transparency and accountability” for how the institutions use the state funding.

Sen. Tara Durant, R-Fredericksburg, said the assembly, and the Senate in particular, had wasted taxpayer money by not resolving the dispute sooner and called the suggestion that the program was costing too much money “deeply hurtful” to military families, citing state spending on diversity programs and undocumented immigrants.

However, after the Senate voted unanimously to adopt the House version of the legislation, two Black senators spoke in defense of Lucas, the first Black senator to lead the finance committee. Sen. Aaron Rouse, D-Virginia Beach, spoke of “the level of disrespect” some colleagues had shown her since Youngkin signed the budget that the assembly approved on May 13 with changes to the tuition waiver program.

During one hearing on the issue on July 1, one public speaker used a profanity toward Lucas.

“It wasn’t the profanity that didn’t sit well with her,” Rouse said. “It was the silence of her colleagues.”

Sen. Mamie Locke, D-Hampton, also decried what she called “vile and vicious attacks” on Lucas, and objected to being called “anti-veteran” for wanting to make changes to the program.

Locke said members of her family had served in combat in World War II, the Vietnam War and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Several of them were completely disabled during active military duty. A nephew, now living in Georgia who had been stationed in Virginia, qualified for benefits under the program for himself and his family, but she said he chose not to do so.

Virginia created the tuition waiver program in 1930 for families of soldiers killed in World War I and expanded over the years to also include those who become 90% or more disabled while on active duty, not necessarily in military combat.

“This is a promise that Virginia made to the military who lost or risked their lives,” said Mitch Rubenstein, state commander of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, who supported repeal of the budget restrictions.

Stuart promised families that they will be involved in public review of changes that the different studies recommend to the program.

“Folks may not like it if changes are made, but they will be part of the process and their voices will be heard in the process,” he said on the Senate floor.

The assembly’s narrow agenda on Thursday was notable for what it didn’t include: legislation to legalize electronic skill games in restaurants, convenience stores and truck stops across the state.

Earlier in the week, Lucas told the Richmond Times-Dispatch in an interview that she hopes to return in October to consider a compromise, but she said the House isn’t ready to deal on the issue.

“It’s not going to do any good for us to return until the House is ready,” Lucas said on Wednesday.

House Speaker Don Scott Jr., D-Portsmouth, said it makes no sense to act now on skill game legislation, especially after Youngkin vetoed a previous compromise that had passed the chamber by just one vote. Youngkin vetoed Senate Bill 212 — the Virginia Small Business Economic Development Act — after the assembly rejected his proposed rewrite of the legislation to prevent operation of skill games near schools and churches or within 35 miles of a city that hosts a casino.

“The House is not ready to deal with it right now,” Scott said on Thursday morning.

But the speaker said the House would remain in special session after acting on legislation. It will recess instead of adjourning so it can return without the governor calling another special session.

“That gives us the opportunity to deal with some things,” Scott said.

Scott said he does not want to “waste members’ time” to consider legislation that the House might not support or Youngkin might veto.

When Youngkin signed the two-year budget on May 13, he indicated that he was willing to consider a potential legislative compromise on skill games, but spokesman Christian Martinez said Thursday, “I am not aware of any conversations at this time.”

Scott said, “I think the governor needs to do a little bit more work with the Senate right now.”