Senator Jordan briefs board on 2025 session: tax rebates, education funding, mental‑health flexibility and grant opportunities

Senator Jordan provided the board with an overview of the recently concluded 2025 legislative session in Richmond, highlighting several measures and budget actions relevant to localities.

Jordan said the enacted budget included a taxpayer rebate — $200 for single filers and $400 for married filers — and that the previously debated car‑tax reforms were not adopted; instead the budget included the rebate. On education, he said the budget provides a $1,000 bonus for State‑Operated‑Quality (SOQ) funded positions with no locality match required and additional school infrastructure funding, including roughly $310 million added for school infrastructure in the biennium and $12 million for instructional/math grants. He said a Fairfax casino‑linked proposal that would have channeled some revenue to rural localities passed the Senate but did not pass the House.

On mental‑health policy, Jordan said the governor signed legislation giving hospitals flexibility to reclassify secure spaces (not necessarily a physical psychiatric bed) to help manage ECO and TDO processes and reduce time deputies spend off the road. He also mentioned bills aimed at critical infrastructure and foreign‑monitoring activities that create state crimes to supplement federal enforcement and a $1 million grant program for replacement of non‑U.S.‑made drones used by public safety agencies.

Jordan encouraged local officials to share legislative priorities ahead of next year’s session, offered to carry funding amendments (he cited a $1,250,000 award for Liberty Road in response to the board’s earlier request) and invited the board to meet in the fall to prepare a legislative priority list. He took questions from supervisors and said staff should provide lists of possible unfunded mandates or digitization efforts for coordination with the senator’s office.