A pair of bills aimed at tackling Northern Virginia’s road congestion were killed by a Senate committee Monday, as well as one that would have given Gov. Bob McDonnell a long-coveted seat on Metro’s board of directors. Proposals that would direct the Virginia Department of Transportation to use computer models to determine which Northern Virginia transportation projects would provide the most congestion relief, as well as divert available money to those projects, were rejected by the commonwealth’s Senate Finance Committee.
“In the future, transportation dollars would be better spent and better managed,” said Bob Chase, president of the Northern Virginia Transportation Alliance. “These are bills that are very much pro-taxpayer, pro-consumer, and pro-transportation system user.”
Critics, though, argued that the bills disproportionately favored widening highways over developing transit-oriented projects, and would undermine the power of the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority, which is responsible for long-range planning for transportation projects in Northern Virginia.
| Also in Richmond |
| • The Senate killed a bill that would have required parents to be notified by schools if their children violate school policies that likely would result in a student’s suspension. |
| • The House of Delegates signed off on a bill that would allow car title lenders to issue loans to out-of-state residents. The industry had been regulated to the point of virtual nonexistence in surrounding states, and last year, the Virginia legislature voted to change how much such lenders, which use car titles as collateral for loans with high interest rates, can charge clients. |
| • Gov. Bob McDonnell sent a letter to the General Assembly urging lawmakers to support legislation to shore up a trust fund to help improve the state’s services for people with intellectual disabilities. Those services have come under fire from the Justice Department. The legislation also would facilitate efforts to transfer people from training centers to community-based settings. |
Democrats on the finance committee terminated the proposals, which had cleared the Republican-dominated House.
“They are an absolute simplification to the point of wasting money,” said Stewart Schwartz, executive director of the Coalition for Smarter Growth.
Del. Jim LeMunyon, R-Loudoun, who introduced the bills, said the decision came down to politics.
While many of Virginia’s battles pit Northern Virginia against the rest of the state, “this is Northern Virginia vs. Northern Virginia,” he said.
Chase expressed frustration regarding the committee’s actions.
“How do you explain to the average voter that local and state elected officials voted against even finding out which projects do the most to ease congestion?” he said. “How do you even explain that to people?”
Another bill killed by the committee would have given the state a seat on the Metro board, an issue that McDonnell has been pushing for some time.
“Just as a fundamental question of fairness, it makes sense for the commonwealth to have representation on the board,” LeMunyon said.
A representative for the Northern Virginia Transportation Commission, which selects the state’s seats, said that Virginia localities provide the bulk of the state’s Metro funding and so the current system, in which four Northern Virginia officials sit on the 14-member board, is fair.
