Va. House Committee Kills Kaine Road Plan

Panel Advances Its Own Proposal Before a Recess

By Tim Craig, Anita Kumar

Friday, June 27, 2008

RICHMOND, June 26 — A proposal by Gov. Timothy M. Kaine to raise $1.1 billion a year in taxes and fees for statewide transportation was killed Thursday by a House committee, which advanced a plan to collect money for Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads.

After a meeting that included partisan bickering and testy exchanges, the House Rules Committee agreed to allow a floor vote on a Senate bill that would raise the state's gasoline tax. Both parties agreed, however, that the gas tax bill would be defeated. Some legislators said the floor vote was a political move to force House Democrats to vote for a tax increase.

The actions by the Rules Committee are likely to continue the standoff between the Republican-controlled House of Delegates and the Democrat-controlled Senate after the General Assembly returns to Richmond on July 9 to resume its special session on transportation issues.

After four days and no resolution in sight, the session has cost more than $60,000. The two chambers, with their stark philosophical differences, have vowed to kill each others' bills.

"We're back at square one," said Sen. Ken Cuccinelli II (R-Fairfax). "This is a significant waste of time and money."

Kaine (D) accused House Republicans of killing his bill for political reasons and not giving it a fair hearing. "It is like 'Green Eggs and Ham,' " he said. "However, I do it, they are going to find a reason to say it's deficient."

The General Assembly passed a landmark package last year to add $1.1 billion annually for transportation needs across Virginia. Regional authorities were set to collect $400 million a year in Northern Virginia and $200 million in Hampton Roads, but the state Supreme Court ruled that the authorities could not constitutionally levy taxes and fees because they are not elected bodies.

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Gov. Tim Kaine speaks to the media during a news conference in the Patrick Henry Building, in Richmond on Thursday. Kaine's transportation bill was killed by the House Rules Committee, after being approved by the Senate, earlier in the day. (AP Photo/Richmond Times-Dispatch, Eva Russo)

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Gov. Tim Kaine speaks to the media during a news conference in the Patrick Henry Building in Richmond on Thursday. Kaine's transportation bill was killed by the House Rules Committee earlier in the day. (AP Photo/Richmond Times-Dispatch, Eva Russo)

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Gov. Tim Kaine speaks to the media during a news conference in the Patrick Henry Building in Richmond on Thursday. Kaine's transportation bill was killed by the House Rules Committee earlier in the day. (AP Photo/Richmond Times-Dispatch, Eva Russo)

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On Thursday, House Republican leaders fast-tracked a bill to salvage the regional plans by providing millions of dollars in state-imposed and locally enacted taxes into Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads, but in vastly different ways.

The Northern Virginia proposal, which would bring in $156 million in new revenue a year, includes a $100 license fee for new adult drivers, an increase in the tax on home sales of 40 cents per $100 of assessed value, and a 2 percent tax increase on rental cars and hotel rooms.

Some parts of last year's regional plan in Northern Virginia remain intact, including a commercial real estate tax that would bring in an additional $208 million.

"This compromise in my opinion is the only thing that at the end of the day is going to bring Northern Virginia any money," said Del. David B. Albo (R-Fairfax). "This is the best I can get."

Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Chairman Gerald E. Connolly (D) called the bill "a slap in the face to Northern Virginia" because part of the Hampton Roads proposal will be subsidized by taxpayers across the state.

"Northern Virginia is being asked to fund its own transportation needs while underwriting the transportation needs of Hampton [Roads], and that is not to going to happen," said Connolly, who is running for Congress.

To win approval in the House, the regional plans probably will need support from a few Democrats, because some conservative Republicans remain opposed to any new taxes imposed by the state. But Democrats in both chambers said they will not support any proposal that does not include a way to pay for a shortfall in the part of the budget used to maintain roads.

"It doesn't address our needs at all," Sen. Janet D. Howell (D-Fairfax) said. "It would be like trying to fill the bathtub with the drain open."

Del. Terry G. Kilgore (R-Scott) said he thinks Democrats might change their minds after they realize they will probably not be able to pass any bill. "I think when it's all said and done, everyone is going to realize it's going to be a last chance," he said.

Kaine has been reluctant to support only a regional fix but said he remained hopeful that a compromise on statewide transportation could be reached.

"We are going to be talking about transportation every time we are together until this issue is solved, one way or another," Kaine said.

His bill, which was killed in committee by a vote of 11 to 4, would have increased taxes statewide on car and home sales and vehicle registration fees, and boosted the sales tax in Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads. Afterward, Kaine met with House Speaker William J. Howell (R-Stafford).

"He just wanted to know where we were. I haven't seen any negotiations yet," Howell said as he was leaving the governor's office.

House Democrats say they will try to salvage parts of Kaine's bill, perhaps by amending the Senate's gas tax bill. The Rules Committee voted 11 to 4 to send the Senate gas tax bill, sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Richard L. Saslaw (D-Fairfax), to the full House.

"There's been talk that we wouldn't let a bill out and that all we were going to do was be obstructionists," House Majority Leader H. Morgan Griffith (R-Salem) said. "That's just not the case."

House Democrats accused their Republicans colleagues of sending the bill to the floor just to force a vote on the gas tax, a tactic, they said, that was more geared toward the 2009 elections than fixing roads.

"There's some gamesmanship that's being played by the Republicans," said House Minority Leader Ward L. Armstrong (D-Henry), who sponsored Kaine's bill in the House.

If a bill is not approved in the special session, Saslaw said he doubts the transportation issue will be resolved until 2010, after Virginians elect a new governor and 100 delegates.

"I don't see how you can revisit it in 2009 with the same makeup and the same people," he said. "I have done all I can."

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