State Sen. Lynwood Lewis (D-Accomac) faced a generally friendly crowd on Monday at his first 2016 town hall meeting in Mathews County.

In his usual style, the senator introduced himself and immediately launched into a brief personal history of his service in the state legislature. He then gave a rundown of issues he expects to see during the upcoming General Assembly session, which begins on Wednesday, Jan. 13, and ended by opening the floor to questions and discussion.

Governor’s budget

Even-numbered years are when the state develops a new budget, said Lewis, and since the House and Senate won’t have their competing budgets completed until mid-March, he discussed the governor’s proposed budget.

Lewis explained that the budget schedule in Virginia has each governor working for the first two years of his or her single term off the previous governor’s budget. This year is the first time Gov. Terry McAuliffe has been able to incorporate his own spending priorit...