The legislative wrangling over a hefty transportation funding bill might not have ended with Democratic Gov. Tim Kaine’s Monday announcement of amendments that he said represented a compromise with Republican lawmakers.
GOP leaders agreed to the basic framework of Kaine’s changes to the bill, which calls for $3 billion in bonds for projects across for Virginia and another $400 million from tax and fee increases for Northern Virginia projects. As Republicans comb through the bill’s details, however, they are finding changes they don’t like.
The disagreements likely are not enough to kill the measure when the General Assembly reconvenes Wednesday, but the House of Delegates might use a rarely utilized parliamentary procedure to send the bill back to a committee for further amending. A House committee’s changes also would need Senate approval before the measure could go back to Kaine. In that scenario, the governor could only sign or veto, but not further amend, the legislation.
“We will have to consider it because of the importance of this bill,” Griffith said of the committee option.
Specifically, Griffith cited provisions in the bill allowing Northern Virginia localities to impose impact fees on developers and another permitting all localities to tack on an additional $10 vehicle registration as areas causing legislative heartburn.
Sending the bill to committee, and the endless possibilities for political shenanigans such a move creates, concerns Del. Tim Hugo, R-Fairfax, because it could jeopardize funding for the region’s traffic-choked roads. Kaine also opposes sending the bill to a committee, a spokesman said.
“I am inclined to remember that the perfect is the mortal enemy of the good,” Hugo said. “If there is some change everyone can agree on, that’s one thing, but we are so close that we need to close this deal. In the end, between the bonds and the regional package, we are talking about $500 million to $600 million of transportation money every year for Northern Virginia. I am very optimistic we can get this done.”
