(The Center Square) – Virginia lawmakers approved Gov. Abigail Spanberger’s 14 budget amendments Monday, completing work on the state’s two-year spending plan ahead of the Wednesday's start of the new fiscal year.

The Senate and the House of Delegates adopted all 14 amendments the governor submitted Friday, approving spending and policy changes affecting firearms, Medicaid, data centers, election administration, paid sick leave and other state programs.

“To further deliver for Virginia families, I am returning this budget with a request that the attached 14 amendments be adopted,” Spanberger wrote in a letter accompanying the amendments.

The most debated amendment delayed until July 1, 2027, implementation of changes to Section 18.2-287.4 of the Code of Virginia governing firearms in certain public areas.

The amendment passed the Senate 20-18 and the House 56-34.

Senate Majority Leader Scott Surovell, D-Fairfax, said the amendment delays the law’s effective date after lawmakers identified “some unintended consequences” in the underlying legislation that would likely require additional revisions during the 2027 General Assembly session.

Sen. Bill DeSteph, R-Virginia Beach, said he had heard concerns from police chiefs, sheriffs, military legal officers and government contractors about how the law could affect firearm transfers involving retired law enforcement officers and contractors working with government agencies.

Another amendment accelerates reimbursement increases for Medicaid-funded home care services, moving a planned increase forward by one year. The change provides more than $108 million in combined state and federal Medicaid funding over the biennium, including a 4% increase beginning Jan. 1, followed by an additional 3.9% increase Jan. 1, 2028.

Lawmakers also approved two amendments affecting data centers.

One revises water conservation requirements for certain new facilities in Cooling Water Scarcity Areas and the Eastern Virginia Groundwater Management Area, while another requires electric suppliers to list the Data Center Electricity Consumption Tax as a separate line item on invoices sent to data center operators.

Other amendments establish a firefighter cancer screening grant program; expand Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative utility bill credits to eligible electric cooperative customers; provides $2 million over the biennium for Atlantic menhaden research through the Virginia Institute of Marine Science; creates a $5 million state digital services team; and authorizes the creation of Oak Hill State Park in Loudoun County if funding and other conditions are met.

The remaining amendments provide funding for election referendum costs; revises Medicaid payment language for sickle cell gene therapy; clarifies exemptions allowing certain law enforcement officers to wear facial coverings while performing official duties; makes technical corrections to local sales tax referendum language; and revises definitions and implementation language for Virginia’s paid sick leave law.

According to the governor’s amendment package, the changes reduce the budget’s unappropriated balance from $179 million to $117 million before the budget takes effect.