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Statewide transportation funding plans killed
Legislators spent most of the day on Wednesday arguing over procedure and engaging in an array of political maneuvers before voting down the only two plans to fund statewide transportation.Gov. Tim Kaine (D) called a special session of the General Assembly on June 23, ordering legislators to find a way to plug the $1.1 billion transportation shortfall. After several days of impasses, they adjourned until July 9.
On Wednesday, they fared little better and as of Wednesday afternoon, it appeared that there will be no transportation solution this year.
The House of Delegates voted down the transportation funding plan proposed by Kaine and then went on to kill a similar plan introduced by Springfield Sen. Dick Saslaw (D-35th). Those were the only two proposals to fund transportation for the entire state.
“I get the impression that some people here think citizens are bottomless ATM machines,” said western Prince William Delegate Bob Marshall (R-13th), saying he wouldn’t support the tax increases proposed in any of the funding bills.
Democrats responded that while no one wants to raise taxes, the transportation system is broken and is becoming worse by the day.
“This is not an easy time to be doing what we have to do,” said Annandale Delegate Vivian Watts (D-39th), adding that “Now is the time to act.”
The plan Kaine put forward would have raised the annual vehicle registration fee, the tax on car sales and the grantor’s tax. The plan also included 1-percent sales tax increases in Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads to pay for regional transportation projects.
That bill was killed two weeks ago but was revived in the House on Wednesday morning, killed again, revived again and then killed again in a series of votes that had more to do with political posturing on technicalities than with the content of the proposal.
After dealing the third death blow to Kaine’s plan, the House of Delegates went on to vote down a Saslaw’s tax plan. Saslaw had called for a 1-cent-per-gallon gas tax increase each year for the next six years, a ¼-percent increase in the sales tax and a ½-percent increase in the titling tax on car sales.
To offset the extra pain at the pump, Saslaw’s plan would have removed a ½-percent sales tax on food.
The Saslaw plan also included regional packages for Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads. Northern Virginia residents would pay an extra ½-percent sales tax, a 40-cent increase in the grantor’s tax and an additional $5 per night on hotel rooms. Hampton Roads residents would have paid similar tax increases for their transportation projects.
But delegates, led by Democrats, stripped the bill of its gas-tax increase, leaving all of the other provisions intact. Democrats had been hopeful that without the controversial gas tax increase, the bill had a chance of passing.
But those hopes were in vain. The House defeated Saslaw’s plan on a 59-39 vote.
That meant that as of Wednesday evening, only one plan was still alive.
Newport News Delegate Phil Hamilton (R-93rd) and Springfield Delegate Dave Albo (R-42nd) have a compromise bill that hasn’t made anyone happy so far.
The plan does not include any statewide taxes or solutions for the state’s transportation budget shortfall. Instead, it raises taxes and fees in Hampton Roads and Northern Virginia to pay for road projects in those areas only.
The bill is patterned after a similar plan that was adopted by the General Assembly last year but later vetoed by the Virginia Supreme Court. The court ruled the bill unconstitutional because it did not directly levy taxes but instead gave taxing power to the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority, an unelected body.
The Hamilton-Albo bill includes an initial $100 fee for Northern Virginia residents applying for a driver’s license. Sixteen- and 17-year-olds who pass a safe driving class will be exempt. The plan also contains a 2-percent car rental tax in Northern Virginia.
In its original state, the bill also gave Northern Virginia localities the option of increasing the grantor’s tax on home sales by 40 cents and of levying a 2-percent hotel tax.
But local leaders loudly objected to that provision, saying they wouldn’t raise taxes that should be the state’s responsibility.
It appeared likely that Hamilton would amend the bill to find an option more palatable to local officials, but the bill remained unpopular and its fate uncertain.
Meanwhile, the state Senate has done nothing all day. Having passed Saslaw’s bill two weeks ago, Senators have nothing to do now but wait and see if the delegates send them a plan to consider.
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