RICHMOND — The Virginia Senate’s money committee intends to strip provisions for Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s highest priority — an arena for the Washington Capitals and Wizards — out of the state budget that it plans to unveil Sunday.
“I’m not changing my mind,” Lucas said in a brief interview outside the Senate chamber Thursday.
Lucas’s intended move does not kill the arena proposal — it is expected to remain in the budget bill that the House Appropriations Committee plans to advance Sunday — but it underscores the stance that the powerful Democrat took Monday when she announced she would not docket a stand-alone arena bill.
Youngkin (R) included the arena language in the budget he proposed in December, a week after he and Ted Leonsis, owner of the NHL and NBA teams, announced a handshake deal to move them from downtown D.C. to a future arena at Potomac Yard in Alexandria.
Monica Dixon, a top executive at Leonsis’s Monumental Sports & Entertainment, declined to comment on Lucas’s plan Thursday.
A Youngkin spokeswoman also declined to comment but pointed to a recent statement from the governor saying that he was “encouraged by the continued bipartisan support” for the project and that he appreciates the “deep engagement with legislators and their staff.”
Youngkin and Leonsis have backed a plan for the state to help finance construction of an arena that would not just host games, but serve as the centerpiece of a 12-acre mixed-use complex. A concert hall, underground parking, a conference center, a Wizards practice facility, and corporate offices and media studio for Monumental are all part of the plan, which, in addition to state-backed bonds, calls for the state to bankroll $200 million in transportation improvements and the city of Alexandria to kick in more than $100 million toward the garage and concert hall.
The governor is urging the House and Senate, both narrowly controlled by Democrats, to create a sports and entertainment authority to issue about $1.5 billion in bonds. Those would be paid back through a combination of state and local tax receipts generated by the project, parking revenue, rent payments from Monumental and the proceeds from the eventual sale of naming rights for the sports and entertainment district, though not for the arena itself.
The project has received mixed reviews from legislators on both sides of the aisle, with some eager for the promised economic benefits and others wary of adding to Northern Virginia’s epic traffic woes and providing financial incentives to a billionaire businessman.
Lucas suggested on social media at the start that she might support the plan if the governor backed some of her priorities, including lowering the cost of tolls in her part of the state and creating a legal marketplace for recreational marijuana. Other Democrats have sought to link the project to more Metro funding and a higher minimum wage.
The project’s prospects — uncertain since the legislature kicked off its session last month — seemed to take a turn for the worse over the weekend, after Youngkin insulted Democrats in a speech by saying they do not believe in or want “a strong America.” Noting the speech as well as concerns about putting the state’s bond rating at risk, Lucas declared what she called the “Glenn Dome” dead and announced she would not docket the stand-alone bill.
That action alone did not doom the project since the House also passed a stand-alone bill. That bill, however, is headed for Lucas’s committee.
Even if that bill dies, the project could advance if language creating the authority appears in the final state budget, which legislators will likely hammer out until the final hours of the session, scheduled to adjourn March 9.
Language related to the arena will be in the budget bill the House Appropriations Committee plans to advance Sunday, according to two House members familiar with budget plans, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss confidential matters. House Appropriation Chairman Luke Torian (D-Prince William) declined to comment on the budget but referenced the stand-alone arena bill he sponsored in his chamber.
“I’ve got a bill going over to the other side,” he said, “and I’m hoping it’ll get to the Senate floor and pass out.”
Gregory S. Schneider contributed to this report.
