House of Delegates Appropriations Committee oks budget with pay raises for teachers andstate workers

The House of Delegates Appropriations Committee released and passed its 2020 Budget on Feb. 17, according to a report from Del. Hala Ayala of Lake Ridge, who represents part of the Prince William County area. This includes the Governor’s Budget as well as numerous budget amendments presented to and approved by the Appropriations Committee, she said.

The budget contains:
• nearly $300 million for increasing teacher pay in both years of the budget
• $76 million for the cost of the minimum wage increase for state employees,
• and $21 million for increasing Medicaid Developmental Disability Waiver rates, partly from a budget amendment Del. Ayala said she carried this year.

The delegate was quoted in the news release as saying, “I am so proud to see the increase for the Medicaid Developmental Disability Waiver rates and I want
to give a special thanks to Del. Mark Sickles for his advocacy as well as Prince William County’s legislative affairs team, the Arc, and Chairman Luke Torian for all of their hard work for this very important issue. This along with the rest of the budget is the most progressive our Commonwealth has seen in its history, while at the same time maintaining the fiscal responsibility that allows Virginia to save nearly $2.2 billion and retain our ‘AAA’ bond rating . I am looking forward to supporting this budget on the House floor.”

She added that Prince William County will benefit directly through the increased funding for Pre-K-12 education aswell as transportation, much of it due to HB 1414 , the transformative transportation omnibus bill.

Ayala also said the Governor yesterday announced a $125,000 grant to Prince William County Public Schools for the purposes of promoting computer science programs.

Members of the Prince William delegation are holding a number of leadership positions at the 2020 General Assembly: Del. Luke Torian is chairing the House Appropriations Committee , Dels. Guzman and Roem are chairing a number of subcommittees , and Del. Ayala is the Chief Deputy Whip for the majority (Democratic) caucus, Vice-Chair of the Communications, Technology, and Innovation Committee and is chairing one of its subcommittees .