Staunton City Council is pressing state legislators to endorse Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s amendments to House Bill 902 and Senate Bill 283 that would make the proposed Augusta County Courthouse referendum more palatable to Staunton’s elected body.
The amendments would change the date of the referendum from November 2022 to November 2023. It would also require that two architects appointed by a circuit court judge prepare two separate estimates. One estimate would be for the cost to move the county’s court facilities to Verona, and the other would be an estimate of either the cost to construct new court facilities in the City of Staunton or the cost to renovate and expand the current Augusta County court facilities in Staunton.
The governor’s amendments would also require the reenactment of the bills in the General Assembly’s 2023 regular session.
At its 2022 regular session, the Virginia General Assembly adopted H.B. 902 and S.B. 283 to permit the voters of Augusta County to conduct a referendum in 2022 on moving their court facility from Staunton to a location in Augusta County. The majority of Staunton City Council members did not support the bills. The governor then proposed amendments to the bills.
A copy of the resolution has been mailed to all 40 senators and all 100 delegates in the Virginia General Assembly.
The Virginia General Assembly is set to reconvene on April 27 for the veto session, when its considers bills that the governor vetoed as well as the governor’s proposed amendments.
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Chris Graham
