There is just one full week left in the 2017 General Assembly session, which is scheduled to adjourn sine die next Saturday, February 25. Perhaps the biggest item left to finalize is the state budget. Budget conferees were appointed this week and have been meeting to work out the differences between the House and Senate versions of the budget. Below, you’ll find brief updates on a number of items we’re tracking this week.

This week, you’ll find a couple of articles below on recently released state rankings. In 24/7 Wall Street’s “Best and Worst States for Business,” the Commonwealth dropped from 8th last year to 13th this year. In the Small Business and Entrepreneurship Council’s ranking of most entrepreneur-friendly states, we dropped from 15th last year to 17th this year. The top goal set by our Chairman this year is to begin to reverse Virginia’s recent fall in business rankings.

One way we’ll be working to improve Virginia’s business climate is through the update to our long-term jobs plan, Blueprint Virginia. I hope each of you will take the time to fill out our Blueprint Virginia 2025 survey to have your voice heard in the plan we will present to our next governor. We also encourage you to attend a regional meeting in your area–a list of meetings that are already scheduled can be found here. We’ll also be scheduling industry council meetings later this spring and summer, and then bringing together data analysis from all of our surveys and in-person meetings to develop consensus growth strategies for all regions of Virginia.

To view the full Chamber Briefings Newsletter, please click here.