Episode 647 (1-23-23): Virginia’s State Budget and Money for Water

CLICK HERE to listen to episode audio (4:50).

Sections below are the following:
Transcript of Audio
Audio Notes and Acknowledgments
Image
Extra Information
Sources
Related Water Radio Episodes
For Virginia Teachers (Relevant SOLs, etc.).

Unless otherwise noted, all Web addresses mentioned were functional as of 1-20-23.

TRANSCRIPT OF AUDIO

From the Cumberland Gap to the Atlantic Ocean, this is Virginia Water Radio for the weeks of January 23 and January 30, 2023.  This update of a January 2015 episode is the second of three planned episodes this winter on Virginia’s General Assembly.

MUSIC – ~15 sec – instrumental.

That’s part of  “World’s Too Big,” by Blacksburg, Va., musician Kat Mills, from her 2006 album, “Two.”  It opens an episode on what is one of the biggest jobs, and has some of the biggest impacts, of any General Assembly session: the state budget.  The Commonwealth operates on a biennial budget, covering two fiscal years, which run from July 1 through June 30.  In sessions in even-numbered years, the General Assembly sets the budget for the upcoming two years, and typically in every session the Assembly considers amendments to the current budget.  Virginia’s current two-year budget, as approved last year by the Assembly and the governor, is about $163 billion dollars, with about $159 billion for operating expenses and the rest for capital expenses.

Now, have a listen to the music for about 20 more seconds, and see how much of that amount you think goes to water-related matters.

MUSIC – ~22 sec – lyrics: “World’s too big to see in one lifetime.  The world’s too big to see in one day.  And we work too hard to get much perspective; I’d like to see things a different way.  World….”

According to the Virginia Department of Planning and Budget, the Commonwealth’s current two-year operating-expense budget funds about 210 programs.  Of these, Water Radio identified 23 that relate to activities that can affect water, either directly, or indirectly through air, land, or energy management.  Those 23 programs account for about $3.3 billion in the current two-year budget.  Here’s a sample of those programs, to give you a sense of where Virginia’s water-related dollars go: some direct water-connection programs are boating safety, coastal lands mapping, drinking water improvement, marine life management, port facilities, seafood promotion, and water protection; and some indirect water-connection programs are air protection, disaster and emergency preparedness, forest management, minerals management, and regulation of public utilities.

If you’d like more information about the big, complicated subject of Virginia’s state budget, you can get details from the Department of Planning and Budget, online at dpb.virginia.gov.

Thanks to Kat Mills for permission to this episode’s music, and, in the spirit of a subject too big for one short Water Radio episode, we close with about 35 more seconds of “World’s Too Big.”

MUSIC – ~38 sec – Lyrics: “World’s too big to see in one lifetime.  What do you think you’ll do this year in the world, world, world, in the world?”

SHIP’S BELL

Virginia Water Radio is produced by the Virginia Water Resources Research Center, part of Virginia Tech’s College of Natural Resources and Environment.  For more Virginia water sounds, music, or information, visit us online at virginiawaterradio.org, or call the Water Center at (540) 231-5624.  Thanks to Ben Cosgrove for his version of “Shenandoah” to open and close this episode.  In Blacksburg, I’m Alan Raflo, thanking you for listening, and wishing you health, wisdom, and good water.

AUDIO NOTES AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

“World’s Too Big,” from the 2006 album “Two,” is copyright by Kat Mills, used with permission.  More information about Kat Mills is available online at https://katmills.com/ and at https://katmills.hearnow.com/.

Click here if you’d like to hear the full version (2 min./22 sec.) of the “Shenandoah” arrangement/performance by Ben Cosgrove that opens and closes this episode.  More information about Mr. Cosgrove is available online at http://www.bencosgrove.com.

IMAGE

Screen shot of the title page of Governor Glenn Younkin’s proposed amendments to the 2022-2024 Virginia budget, being considered in the 2023 General Assembly.  Budget proposal accessed from the Virginia Legislative Information System’s site for budget bills in the 2023 session, online at https://budget.lis.virginia.gov/bill/2023/1/, January 23, 2023.  The 2023 budget bills are House Bill 1400 and Senate Bill 800.

EXTRA INFORMATION ABOUT THE VIRGINIA STATE BUDGET FOR 2022-2024

Information on Virginia’s 2022-2024 Biennial Budget, as passed by the 2022 General Assembly, is available from the Virginia Department of Planning and Budget, online at this link.  The information in this section is taken from that site, as of January 20, 2023.  More details on each budget area are available at that site.

Operating Budget Area	Fiscal Year 2023	Fiscal Year 2024
Health and Human Resources	$26,364,044,319	$26,810,037,425
Education	$24,884,645,068	$24,573,203,446
Transportation	$10,998,522,561	$11,160,519,957
Administration	$4,068,056,357	$4,059,438,773
Finance	$3,962,409,064	$2,868,971,687
Public Safety and Homeland Security	$3,875,692,814	$3,936,309,518
Central Appropriations	$1,579,579,115	$954,544,033
Independent Agencies	$1,163,448,379	$1,188,533,229
Natural and Historic Resources	$967,459,378	$571,566,614
Commerce and Trade	$834,564,885	$797,528,152
Labor	$768,382,626	$691,499,774
Judicial	$619,984,876	$620,537,681
Veterans and Defense Affairs	$230,244,411	$224,122,379
Agriculture and Forestry	$140,225,694	$132,051,489
Legislative	$123,734,824	$121,798,602
Executive Offices	$92,367,860	$93,772,543
TOTALS	$80,673,362,231	$78,804,435,302

Capital Budget Area	Fiscal Year 2023	Fiscal Year 2024
Central Appropriations	$1,318,481,611	$191,400,000
Transportation	$931,000,000	$197,500,000
Education	$365,420,715	$0
Natural and Historic Resources	$153,321,350	$10,750,000
Administration	$52,959,000	$0
Everything Else	$63,330,033	$0
TOTALS	$2,884,512,709	$399,650,000

Details of the 2022-2024 Operating Budget by program are available online at this link.  The entire table at that link includes 212 program lines (“Administrative and Support Services” is repeated in 7 lines).  Following are 23 line items from that table that are directly or indirectly (as assessed by Virginia Water Radio) related to water.

Operating Budget Program Area	Fiscal Year 2023	Fiscal Year 2024
Agricultural and Seafood Product Promotion and Development Services	$490,509	$490,509
Air Protection	$28,368,536	$28,368,536
Boating Safety and Regulation	$8,677,834	$8,677,834
Coastal Lands Surveying and Mapping	$7,701,039	$3,201,039
Disaster Planning and Operations	$1,055,528,787	$149,749,665
Drinking Water Improvement	$42,071,518	$39,511,518
Emergency Preparedness	$68,215,489	$68,028,589
Emergency Response and Recovery	$33,396,273	$25,321,972
Emergency Response Systems Development Technology Services	$23,006,035	$23,006,035
Environmental Financial Assistance	$71,439,431	$70,829,391
Environmental Health Hazards Control	$14,730,847	$14,690,956
Environmental Monitoring and Evaluation	$27,229,549	$27,600,315
Financial Assistance for Port Activities	$11,612,325	$11,612,325
Forest Management	$44,618,537	$39,041,707
Land and Resource Management	$483,960,272	$135,547,272
Land Protection	$30,278,763	$30,278,763
Marine Life Management	$23,723,122	$23,697,972
Minerals Management	$30,537,252	$30,287,252
Plant Pest and Disease Control	$4,857,158	$4,832,158
Port Facilities Planning, Maintenance, Acquisition, and Construction	$121,067,624	$125,881,499
Regulation of Public Utilities	$33,989,788	$32,372,448
Water Protection	$56,271,232	$55,951,232
Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries Management	$50,330,696	$50,330,696
TOTALS	$2,272,102.616	$999,309,683

SOURCES

Used for Audio

David Mudd, “Inside Virginia’s State Budget for Water,” Virginia Water Central Newsletter, Virginia Water Resources Research Center, April 2001, online at https://vtechworks.lib.vt.edu/handle/10919/49321.

Virginia Department of Planning and Budget, online at https://dpb.virginia.gov/index.cfm.  Specific pages/documents used were the following:
“Virginia’s Budget,” online at https://dpb.virginia.gov/budget/budget.cfm; and
2022-2024 Biennial Budget, online at this link.

Virginia Legislative Information System (LIS), online at https://lis.virginia.gov/lis.htm.  Budget information is online at https://budget.lis.virginia.gov/; the budget bills in the 2023 General Assembly are House Bill 1400 and Senate Bill 800.  The LIS site to access specific budget amendments in 2023 is https://budget.lis.virginia.gov/amendments/2023/1/.  That page has links to “Member Request” and “Committee Approved” amendments for each proposed budget bill (the House version and the Senate version); the amendments are organized by Executive Office, with many of the water-related amendments located under the Natural and Historic Resources Office.

For More Information about the Virginia General Assembly

Ballotpedia, “Virginia General Assembly,” online at https://ballotpedia.org/Virginia_General_Assembly.

Virginia General Assembly main Web site, online at https://virginiageneralassembly.gov/index.php.  See particularly the following specific pages:
About the General Assembly;
Citizen Involvement;
Legislative Terms;
Senate of Virginia;
Virginia House of Delegates Member Listings.

Virginia Department of Planning and Budget, “History of Planning and Budgeting Agencies,” online at https://dpb.virginia.gov/about/history.cfm.

Virginia Water Resources Research Center, “Virginia Water Legislation,” online at https://www.vwrrc.vt.edu/virginia-water-legislation/.  This site provides access to inventories of water-related bills in the Virginia General Assembly from 1998 through 2023.

RELATED VIRGINIA WATER RADIO EPISODES

All Water Radio episodes are listed by category at the Index link above (http://www.virginiawaterradio.org/p/index.html).  See particularly the “Community/Organizations” subject category.

Following is the link to a previous episode focusing on the Virginia state budget.

Episode 247, 1-5-15 – “January Means State Budget Time in the Virginia General Assembly.”

Following are links to other episodes on the Virginia General Assembly.

Episode 143, 1-7-13 – “Music for the Past and Present of the Virginia General Assembly” (annual General Assembly introduction).
Episode 147, 2-4-13 – “Committees Guide the Flow of Bills in the Virginia General Assembly.”
Episode 196, 1-13-14 – “The Virginia General Assembly on its 396 Opening Day, January 8, 2014” (annual General Assembly introduction).
Episode 252, 2-9-15 – “Voting on Water in the 2015 Virginia General Assembly.”
Episode 297, 1-4-16 – “Water’s on the Agenda—along with a Whole Lot Else—When the Virginia General Assembly Convenes” (annual General Assembly introduction).
Episode 302, 2-8-16 – “Voting on Water in the 2016 Virginia General Assembly.”
Episode 350, 1-9-17 – “Old English Music Helps Preview the Old Dominion’s 2017 General Assembly” (annual General Assembly introduction).
Episode 353, 1-30-17 – “Voting on Water in the 2017 Virginia General Assembly.”
Episode 359, 3-13-17 – “Subcommittees are Where Many Proposed Virginia Laws Start to Float or Sink.”
Episode 402, 1-8-18 – “The Virginia Legislature Begins Its 400th Year in 2018” (annual General Assembly introduction).
Episode 405, 1-29-18 – “Voting on Water in the 2018 Virginia General Assembly.”
Episode 410, 3-5-18 – “Virginia Electricity Regulation and Water” (on legislation in the 2018 session on electricity regulation).
Episode 454, 1-7-19 – “The Virginia General Assembly, from Jamestown in 1619 to Richmond in 2019” (annual General Assembly introduction).
Episode 460, 2-18-19 – “Voting on Water in the 2018 Virginia General Assembly.”
Episode 506, 1-6-20 – “Action on Budget, Bills, and Other Business Commences January 8 for the 2020 Virginia General Assembly” (annual General Assembly introduction).
Episode 510, 2-3-20 – “Voting on Water in the 2020 Virginia General Assembly.”
Episode 522, 4-27-20 – “Virginia Enacts a New Energy Era” (on legislation in the 2020 session on electricity generation, carbon emissions, and recurrent flooding).
Episode 558, 1-4-21 – “January 13 is Opening Day for the 2021 Virginia General Assembly” (annual General Assembly introduction).
Episode 562, 2-1-21 – “Voting on Water in the 2021 Virginia General Assembly.”
Episode 611, 1-10-22 – “The Second Wednesday in January Means the Virginia General Assembly Convenes” (annual General Assembly introduction).
Episode 614, 1-31-22 – “Voting on Water in the 2022 Virginia General Assembly.”
Episode 646, 1-9-23 – “Near Richmond’s James River Falls, Each Second Wednesday in January Calls the Virginia General Assembly to Order” (annual General Assembly introduction).

FOR VIRGINIA TEACHERS – RELATED STANDARDS OF LEARNING (SOLs) AND OTHER INFORMATION

Following are some Virginia Standards of Learning (SOLs) that may be supported by this episode’s audio/transcript, sources, or other information included in this post.

2020 Music SOLs

SOLs at various grade levels that call for “examining the relationship of music to the other fine arts and other fields of knowledge.”

2018 Science SOLs

Grades K-5 – Earth Resources
3.8 – Natural events and humans influence ecosystems.
4.8. – Virginia has important natural resources.

Grade 6
6.9 – Humans impact the environment and individuals can influence public policy decisions related to energy and the environment.

Life Science Course
LS.9 – Relationships exist between ecosystem dynamics and human activity.

Earth Science Course
ES.6 – Resource use is complex.
ES.8 – Freshwater resources influence and are influenced by geologic processes and human activity.
ES.10 – Oceans are complex, dynamic systems subject to long- and short-term variations, including effects of human actions.
ES.11 – The atmosphere is a complex, dynamic system subject to long-and short-term variations, including effects of human actions.

Biology Course
BIO.8 – Dynamic equilibria exist within populations, communities, and ecosystems, and natural events and human activities influence local and global ecosystems and may affect the flora and fauna of Virginia.

2015 Social Studies SOLs

Virginia Studies Course
VS.10 – Knowledge of government, geography, and economics in present-day Virginia.

Civics and Economics Course
CE.1 – Social studies skills that responsible citizenship requires.
CE.7 – Government at the state level.
CE.10 – Public policy at local, state, and national levels.

World Geography Course
WG.18 - Cooperation among political jurisdictions to solve problems and settle disputes.

Government Course
GOVT.1 – Social studies skills that responsible citizenship requires.
GOVT.8 – State and local government organization and powers.
GOVT.9 – Public policy at local, state, and national levels.
GOVT.15 – Role of government in Va. and U.S. economies, including examining environmental issues and property rights.

Virginia’s SOLs are available from the Virginia Department of Education, online at https://www.doe.virginia.gov/teaching-learning-assessment/instruction (as of 2-23-23).

Following are links to Water Radio episodes (various topics) designed especially for certain K-12 grade levels.

Episode 250, 1-26-15 – on boiling, for kindergarten through 3rd grade.
Episode 255, 3-2-15 – on density, for 5th and 6th grade.
Episode 282, 9-21-15 – on living vs. non-living, for kindergarten.
Episode 309, 3-28-16 – on temperature regulation in animals, for kindergarten through 12th grade.
Episode 333, 9-12-16 – on dissolved gases, especially dissolved oxygen in aquatic habitats, for 5th grade.
Episode 404, 1-22-18 – on ice on ponds and lakes, for 4th through 8th grade.
Episode 407, 2-12-18 – on snow chemistry and physics, for high school.
Episode 483, 7-29-19 – on buoyancy and drag, for middle school and high school.
Episode 524, 5-11-20 – on sounds by water-related animals, for elementary school through high school.
Episode 531, 6-29-20 – on various ways that animals get water, for 3rd and 4th grade.
Episode 539, 8-24-20 – on basic numbers and facts about Virginia’s water resources, for 4th and 6th grade.
Episode 606, 12-6-21 – on freezing and ice, for kindergarten through 3rd grade.