Bills to implement the Republican transportation funding agreement cleared committees in the House and Senate on Wednesday, but obstacles remain for the legislation.
The House Appropriations Committee voted 17-4 to send the House bill implementing the agreement to the full chamber, where a floor vote will occur early next week.
“This is the most significant piece of transportation financing legislation we have had since 1986,” said Appropriations Committee Chairman Del. Vincent Callahan, R-McLean. “It is not perfect; it is a compromise. Everyone will have to swallow a few toads on this, even me.”
Under the GOP accord, the state would issue$2 billion in bonds, dedicate $556 million in surplus funds plus increase the vehicle registration fee, diesel fuel tax and penalties for bad drivers to fund transportation projects statewide. They would also put $250 million a year toward transportation out of the general fund and earmark half of surpluses in future years for transportation. Northern Virginia would be able to raise $400 million a year if every locality approved a series of tax and fee increases.
In the Senate, the Transportation Committee voted to send over to the chamber’s Finance Committee a measure nearly identical to the House bill. Some supporters of the bill had hoped Chairman Sen. Martin Williams, R-Newport News, would send the bill straight to the chamber floor, but he followed Senate rules that require significant funding bills go to the Finance Committee.
The decision sets up a scenario that could derail hopes of increased transportation funding. The committee’s chairman, Sen. John Chichester, R-Fredericksburg, fiercely opposes using general-fund dollars for transportation. Chichester would not tell reporters his plans Wednesday, but other legislators said he is widely expected to introduce an alternative plan today that would raise money by imposing a 5 percent sales tax on gasoline.
Republicans involved in negotiating the transportation deal, including senators close to Chichester, are publicly cautioning him against trying to change the funding package.
“Nothing is going to survive for a nanosecond in the House with a statewide tax in it,” Sen. Thomas Norment, R-James City, told the Senate Transportation Committee. “That’s just a fact of life.”
