NORFOLK, Va. — Uncertainty looms over the future of a bill dealing with surviving military spouses.
The bill aimed to correct an issue that arose after Virginia voters approved a constitutional amendment regarding their taxes, but legislative fixes did not advance prior to this year's deadline, known as Crossover Day.
The bill would have given localities the ability to completely exempt surviving spouses of fallen military members.
Previous coverage: Legislative fix needed for Virginia military spouse property tax exemption
In January, News 3 first spoke with Vanessa Fegyo, whose husband, David, died in 2014 of brain cancer related to his service as a Navy SEAL.
Over the years, due to policy in Virginia Beach as an acknowledgment of her family's sacrifice, she didn’t have to pay real estate taxes.
“To have a zero property tax bill for some people can be life-changing,” Fegyo said.
In November, voters approved a constitutional amendment expanding the military families eligible for the exemption.
However, the way the amendment calculates the exemption means some families in Virginia Beach could now actually owe taxes.
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Virginia Beach Commissioner of the Revenue Phil Kellam called on lawmakers to fix the issue.
“The minutia of taxes can be quite confusing,” Kellam said in January.
Three different bills were filed this year to address the problem, but none were ever called for a hearing, meaning they have failed for the year.
“It’s a bit perplexing, but I am hopeful because, as I’ve said, we do have a lot of support,” Fegyo said.
A similar bill, however, was approved in the House of Delegates, but now goes to the Senate for them to take up.
The bill from Del. Michael Feggans (D-Virginia Beach) would expand the families eligible to include service members who died by suicide.
“The state has dealt with trying to figure out how to decriminalize suicide at the state level in the past,” Feggans said.
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Feggans said his bill could be amended to potentially include fixing the other issue, but he’s still figuring out how that would work.
“I need to look more into [the issue] and, you know, with only two or three weeks left before we gavel out, it will be a short timeframe on if we're going to be adding anything additional on,” he said.
Sen. Bill DeSteph (R-Virginia Beach) carried one of the bills that failed. He said Senate Finance Chair Louise Lucas just never called his bill for a hearing.
“I'll provide the same bill forward next year if we don't get it through with Feggans' bill this year,” DeSteph said.
News 3 reached out to Lucas and Senate Democrats and is awaiting a response as to what happened.
Fegyo remains optimistic lawmakers will figure it out before the end of their session.
“I hope it goes through. I hope other people can see that this is a small thing but a very big win,” she said.
