Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine warned General Assembly members he may veto a transportation funding bill if they reject key amendments to the measure he has promised to propose next month.
Kaine has until March 26 to suggest changes to legislation passed during the session that ended last Saturday. He thinks sections of the bill are unfair to local governments and that the package’s major funding source would harm other state programs. The General Assembly is scheduled to reconvene April 4 to consider his proposals.
“There are parts of the bill that I hate,” Kaine said on WTOP radio’s “Ask the Governor” show Tuesday morning. “This is a big complicated stew. There are some pieces of it that are good, but there is some work that needs to be done. Some of the amendments will be so critical that if they don’t approve them, then there is the possibility of the veto.”
The major issue is the proposal to take roughly $200 million a year from the state’s general fund to repay interest on $2.5 billion in bonds that will be issued for road projects and mass transit. Kaine would prefer creating new revenue by increasing transportation-related taxes or fees to tapping the general operating fund, but many conservatives in the General Assembly are resistant to that idea.
“There could be some amendments that we would agree, but if he wants to change major aspects of the package, I do not think we would be interested,” Speaker of the House William Howell, R-Stafford, said Tuesday.
Kaine also objects to the bill’s requirement that Northern Virginia localities vote to impose the higher taxes and fees that will generate an additional $400 million for projects in the region. He and his legal advisers are looking for a way to implement the increases by a General Assembly vote and still protect the funds from being diverted by future legislatures, something that could not happen if the hikes are locally enacted.
“If the Northern Virginia localities do not approve the things, then all we are left with is a worthless piece of paper that does very little for a critical region of our state,” Kaine said.
