Youngkin signs budget bill into law after line-item vetoing over 30 items

RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) -- Governor Glenn Youngkin has signed Virginia’s budget bill into law. 

“Very, very good budget today. I’m very happy with it,” Youngkin said on Friday, May 2.

Youngkin signed off on most of the Democratic-controlled General Assembly’s budget changes, including $1,000 bonuses for teachers and a 1.5% bonus for state employees on top of the 3% raises they are already set to receive in the next fiscal year. 

In addition, the budget includes about $1 billion in tax relief in the form of rebate checks. Virginians who filed their taxes individually this year will receive a $200 check by October 15. Those who filed jointly with their spouse will receive $400. 

However, Youngkin did use his line-item veto power to remove 37 items from the budget -- to the tune of around $900 million.

WATCH FULL: Governor Glenn Youngkin signs Virginia budget

"He gave us zero heads up about what he was doing or why he was doing it. None of this was discussed during session. It’s not the way to run a commonwealth. It's very disappointing and aggravating that we’re gonna have almost a billion dollars cut out of our budget that we never even talked to him about,” Senate Majority Leader Scott Surovell (D-Fairfax) told 8News. 

Those cuts mostly affect infrastructure projects at public colleges and universities. 

Youngkin said the cuts will save Virginia money if actions taken by the federal government impact how much tax revenue the state brings in. 

“The President's actions to reset fiscal spending and reset unbalanced trade relationships are expected to have some impact in the near term, on not only on the Virginia workforce, but also therefore the revenues we collect,” Youngkin said.

Surovell said Youngkin’s decision to slash infrastructure spending is shortsighted. 

“One of the ways you counteract that risk is you spend on things like infrastructure. We saw this under Governor Bob McDonnell when we had the Great Recession, one of the things we tried to do to stimulate our economy was spend on infrastructure because infrastructure spending stimulates all different parts of the economy, and it percolates down through the entire state,” Surovell said.