The D.C. Council switched gears Tuesday and approved revised legislation that clears a key hurdle in the path to Metro receiving up to $3 billion in dedicated funding.
The set of unanimous votes puts the District in sync with neighbors Maryland and Virginia after an initial conflict among the jurisdictions over how to change the compact that governs the regional transit agency.
Metro officials welcomed Tuesday’s vote. Spokeswoman Lisa Farbstein called it a “very, very pleasant surprise” because she said staff there thought it would take years for such measures to be finalized.
Instead, the legislation passed just months after Congress opened the door to dedicated federal funding.
Congress in the fall authorized $1.5 billion over 10 years to the agency as long as Metro added two federal voting spots to the board of directors.
Maryland, Virginia and the District each would need to pay $50 million to the system annually, producing a total of $3 billion over a decade for the agency to refurbish its rails and buses.
However, the switch faced a big bureaucratic hurdle: Each jurisdiction had to approve identical legislation.
The version that D.C. passed in February required a quid pro quo that the voting seats would be given to federal appointees only if Congress appropriated $150 million each year.
But after the Maryland and Virginia legislatures subsequently passed laws without the caveat, then ended their sessions, it fell to the District to fall in line — or put off the effort until next year. D.C. Councilman and Metro Chairman Jim Graham has said he didn’t want anything to get in the way of the federal funding, so he reintroduced a modified, emergency bill Tuesday.
Still, even with all jurisdictions now agreeing, many steps remain.
D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty needs to sign the bill, then the District must approve a permanent version of the change. Congress must sign off on it, according to Metro, and President Barack Obama must sign it.
And that’s before Congress even appropriates the money, which entails another process.
But it’s a start for the transit agency, which is the largest system in the nation without some form of dedicated funding. The moneywould go toward chipping away at Metro’s long list of improvements needed for its aging infrastructure.
