RICHMOND — The Virginia House of Delegates on Monday shot down Gov. Bob McDonnell’s attempt to force the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority to immediately accept two additional Virginia appointees to its board or risk losing the state’s contribution to the Dulles Metrorail line the authority is building.
The rebuke of the governor by the Republican-led House was one of several setbacks dealt McDonnell on the last day of the 2012 General Assembly session, during which lawmakers considered more than 100 amendments McDonnell proposed to the state’s two-year, $85 billion budget.
McDonnell and Northern Virginia officials have been at odds with the airports authority for months over the $6 billion Dulles Rail project, one of the nation’s largest public works projects. There have been disputes over spending, the appointment of additional representatives from Virginia and the authority’s encouragement of the use of union labor in a right-to-work state.
McDonnell’s amendment was an attempt to pressure the authority into complying with the wishes of state and local officials by threatening to withhold $150 million until it does.
But the House voted 74-22 to reject a budget amendment from McDonnell that would have allowed the state to withhold the funding, saying it was sloppily written and endangered other spending in the budget. Lawmakers also argued that the state could not dictate to a regional agency it did not control.
“MWAA is not a Virginia agency,” said Del. Mark Sickles, D-Franconia. “The best case for supporting this is the lawsuit can start six weeks earlier because the governor wants to seat members.”
The House dealt a blow to McDonnell the day before the U.S. Department of Transportation Inspector General is expected to release a preliminary report examining the airports authority’s handling of the Dulles Rail project.
“The governor believed it is imperative to move forward as soon as possible in implementing MWAA reform legislation,” McDonnell spokeswoman Taylor Thornley said.
The Dulles rail amendment was one of 107 that lawmakers labored through in the session’s marathon final day.
The House eventually rejected 20 of McDonnell’s amendments, including his proposal to finance a 3 percent bonus for state employees through $70 million in additional budget cuts. Lawmakers want to pay for the bonus out of a year-end budget surplus.
Lawmakers also rejected a McDonnell amendment that would have allowed state agencies, and even private contractors, to share residents’ personal information, saying the governor failed to make a case for doing so.
McDonnell withdrew an amendment that would have cut $2.5 million from the budget for local care for seniors.
