Sen. Greg Elkins and newly-elected House Majority Whip Josh Bray described 2027's shorter 30-day General Assembly as a "cleanup session" — with the GOP majorities likely to push a handful of major bills that narrowly missed the cut in 2026 over the finish line.
As for front burner issues, Bray outlined a few.
"We still have a housing bill that needs to be passed. It's going on it's be third year now. We got really close last year. There were some minor disagreements on just a few things but I think that's going to be a focus," he said. "Data centers has been the largest topic I guess going on throughout the state. There's a lot of consensus there. I think we'll have some robust ratepayer protections next session put in place. And then every off year it's a good time to just look at all of our tax policy, tax expenditures, tax credits."
On the topic of taxes, Bray was asked about the possibility of another incremental decrease in the state's income tax. To enact those, the state must hit certain revenue thresholds or triggers and the Mount Vernon Republican said he's highly skeptical of the revenue projections coming out of the state's consensus forecasting group.
"The fact that we've got all these revised estimates makes me really really leery, but if what they say is halfway true that first year we're going to hit a trigger and the second year we're probably going to hit another. So we'll see," Bray said, adding that it's a difficult moment to sort through "what's true, what's not, (and) what's fluff."
Both lawmakers identified flock cameras as another issue that could prompt more legislation.
Bray and Elkins agreed that reopening the budget in the coming year is unlikely, though Bray said its's possible the General Assembly could tinker with Medicare funding if needed.