Gov. Tim Kaine and General Assembly members agree the legislature should pass language for a constitutional amendment this year that protects transportation funds from being diverted to other areas of the commonwealth’s budget, but lawmakers are having trouble settling on the details.
“We will definitely get something done this year,” said Del. Vivian Watts, D-Annandale. “We just need to work some things out.”
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To take effect, a proposed constitutional amendment would have to win legislative passage this year and again in either 2008 or 2009, and then be approved by voters in the November 2009 election.
The House of Delegates favors an amendment that would allow money to be taken out of the transportation trust fund only if two-thirds of General Assembly members voted for it and if the money would be repaid with interest in four years.
The Senate-approved version requires the money be repaid over three years with interest but includes a controversial provision that would block general fund money from being used for transportation, except to pay off bonds or other debt. That section would block plans from Kaine and House Republicans to use much of the state’s $1 billion budget surplus this year to fund projects such as the high-occupancy toll lanes on the Beltway.
Legislators have used money from the transportation trust fund, which they did repay with interest, in the past to plug holes in the general-fund budget during tight economic times.
This week the House could consider the Senate’s proposed amendment. The House likely will eliminate the prohibition on general funds going to transportation and send the proposal back to the Senate. That would lead to conference committee being set up so the two chambers could negotiate an agreement.
Northern Virginia legislators, even those in the Senate, would prefer the amendment not block general fund monies from going to transportation needs.
“If we have extra money, why would we not want it used for transportation?” said Sen. Jay O’Brien, R-Clifton. “To me, this is a no brainer. It will boost public confidence in the General Assembly.”
