Virginia’s Senate, for the second year in a row, has upheld Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s veto of an Isle of Wight County-backed bill that would have authorized any Virginia city or county to raise its sales tax by 1% by voter referendum to fund school construction.

Only nine Virginia localities – Charlotte, Gloucester, Halifax, Henry, Mecklenburg, Northampton, Patrick and Pittsylvania counties and the city of Danville – are afforded the option under current state law. Isle of Wight has been lobbying for the referendum option for the past four years as a possible means of funding the replacement of the 1960s-era Westside Elementary in the near future.

The Senate’s decision marks two consecutive years where a bill proposing the 1% local sales tax option has passed both General Assembly chambers, was vetoed by Youngkin and failed to garner the same support when the legislature reconvened, this year on April 2.

According to Virginia’s online legislative information system, Senate Bill 1307 was “passed by for the day,” which typically would table a bill to the next day’s calendar though in this case the legislature reconvened for only one day to consider whether to accept Youngkin’s suggested amendments to bills and potentially override his vetoes.

SB 1307 was cosponsored by Sens. Jeremy McPike, D-Prince William, and Travis Hackworth, R-Tazewell. A House substitute for SB 1307 passed that chamber 62-33 and was agreed to by the Senate in a 27-12 vote in February, but Youngkin vetoed the bill ahead of his 11:59 p.m. deadline on March 24 to act on this year’s bills.

The February House vote exceeded the two-thirds majority that, if repeated on April 2, could have overridden Youngkin’s veto, but the Senate’s February vote was just under the required threshold.

Youngkin said in his veto statement that his recommended amendments to the House budget bill include an additional $50 million for school construction grants and loans beyond what’s in the current biennial budget, bringing the total available to $610 million if the General Assembly adopts his budget amendments.

“The Commonwealth should pursue a tax policy that unleashes economic development and prioritizes job and wage growth through innovative reforms,” Youngkin said in his statement. “These reforms must allow hardworking Virginians to keep more of their money, not less; any proposal that increases the cost of living and the cost of business is not a policy we should pursue.”

The General Assembly made a second attempt this year at expanding the 1% sales tax option by including it in the Senate budget bill, dubbed SB 800, but the Senate budget bill stalled in the House of Delegates and the House budget bill, dubbed HB 1600, does not include the 1% sales tax option.