The Virginia House of Delegates is trying to force a special session on the state’s transportation projects by holding action on the Senate’s recent package of bills, but the Senate said it won’t be easy.
Last week, the House Finance Committee put the Senate’s transportation package on hold for 90 days. The package includes gas tax and fee increases, as well as special taxing districts for Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads, to fund more road construction and maintenance.
“This is a two-year budget of $74 billion here. You are talking about less than 2 percent [of it dealing with transportation]. We can do the other 98 percent of the budget — schools, higher education … and everything else the state does. We can pass that in a blink,” said Del. Vince Callahan, R-McLean, House Appropriations Committee chair.
The House is using $625 million in general fund dollars, collected from Virginia residents and businesses, for transportation, said Sen. Charles Colgan, D-Manassas. The Senate plan uses that money to beef up education, public safety and other state services.
“If [the $625 million] stays in the budget, fine. And [if] they increase the core services to ours, then we’ll agree with that,” Colgan said. “That is not going to happen. That is a more serious problem than they think it is.”
Colgan said the House plan relies on Virginia taxpayer and surplus monies to fund transportation, whereas the Senate plan expects those who use the road network to pay up.
Callahan blasted the Senate’s statewide plan as having the same formula that makes Northern Virginia “the cash cow for the rest of Virginia.” He also said the Senate and House regional packages generate the same amount of money, but the House does not use tax increases.
“[The House] could have killed the bills, so I guess it is a sign of some progress,” said Kevin Hall, a spokesman for the governor. “It was the Senate that made the dramatic move toward compromise. It would be nice to see the House respond in kind. To date, the only thing the House put on the table is their elbows.”
