UPDATE: Virginia House of Delegates passes transportation bill; Senate to vote Saturday

The State Senate adjourned Friday afternoon, leaving the vote on a transportation compromise until Saturday, the final day of the General Assembly session.
Earlier, members of the House of Delegates approved the legislation, the first major infusion of transportation funding in the last 25 years. The plan will generate close to 900 million dollars a year for improvements, but critics say it amounts to a major tax increase without meaningful reforms. 

"You've seen history today," said Delegate Onzlee Ware (D) Roanoke, "60 - 40, pretty clear that people, even though they don't believe in raising taxes, they put the Commonwealth above their personal political philosophy."

"I believe this was more of a revenue bill not a reform bill, so because of that I voted no," said Delegate Greg Habeeb (R) Salem,  but I'm proud of the fact that both parties and hopefully both bodies will come together to finally have a real conversation about transportation."
Negotiations continue behind the scenes. Democrats want reassurances that Governor McDonnell won't block another bill, legislation that would expand Medicaid in Virginia.
Senators have one more shot at a transportation compromise on Saturday,the day the General Assembly session is scheduled to end.


Virginia's House of Delegates voted 60-40 Friday to approve what would become the first major reform in a generation of the state's system for financing its highway network.

If the Senate follows suit, the legislation will be in front of Gov. Bob McDonnell, who put transportation at the forefront of his policy agenda and has staked his legacy on its passage.

The bill would replace Virginia's 17 1/2 cents-per-gallon retail gasoline tax with a 3.5 percent wholesale tax on gasoline and a 6 percent levy on diesel fuel.

The bill also would boost statewide sales taxes from 5 percent to 5.3 percent and use more of the existing sales tax, increase the titling tax on car sales and add a $100 fee to the purchase of fuel-sipping hybrid vehicles.

The key to the bill's House passage was overwhelming support from Democrats: 25 supported the bill and only seven opposed it. Republicans, who control more than two-thirds of the House's 100 seats, were almost evenly split, with 33 anti-tax Republicans opposing it and 34 Republicans supporting it along with the chamber's only independent, Del. Lacey Putney, who organizes with the GOP.

Del. Ben Cline, R-Rockbridge County, called it a massive tax increase that would negate any economic benefit from upgrading and maintaining the state's 58,000-mile web of roads and alleviate urban gridlock.

"I hear my colleagues say, `We've got to do something, we've got to do something.' Well, this bill does something, but I will tell you that it is the wrong thing," Cline said. "See what happens when we raise just about every tax dealing with transportation and some others that don't deal with transportation and see what happens to our business rankings and our business reputation."

The bipartisan vote, however, exposed an undercurrent of regional differences attendant to every transportation funding debate over the past dozen years.

Del. Robert G. Marshall, R-Prince William, suggested the formula for allocating statewide transportation revenue to different regions, unchanged since the early 20th century, was outmoded. He said it shortchanged burgeoning suburbs such as his own, subsidized rural localities and should be reconsidered.

A rural Republican, Del. Terry Kilgore of Scott County, noted Marshall's comment.

"What did he just tell you? How was he going to get the money to fund roads in Northern Virginia? He was going to get them from me. He was going to get them from my friends in the rural area. He was going to get them from the Shenandoah Valley by changing the transportation formula, by changing the membership on the CTB (Commonwealth Transportation Board)," Kilgore said.

The outcome was assured, however, when one Democrat after another blessed the compromise.

"There are times when you have to look beyond yourself and look at the whole, and that's what governing is. That's why you're down here. Yes, you're down here to protect your individual piece of the pie, but the puzzle doesn't work `til you put it all together," said Del. Onzlee Ware, D-Roanoke and the lone House Democrat on the team of five delegates and five senators who brokered the compromise over four days of negotiations.


The House of Delegates has approved Governor McDonnell’s transportation funding bill.

The bill now goes to the Senate.

The Senate goes into session at 2:30 p.m. Friday.

Check back soon for more updates.


Original story from February 20, 2013

House and Senate negotiators delivered a compromise on state transportation funding Wednesday.

The proposal would raise close to $900 million a year for road construction and other transportation improvements.

But it's still a hard sell for conservatives who are opposed to raising taxes.

The proposal will reduce the gas tax, at least initially, by replacing the current tax of 17.5 cents a gallon with a wholesale tax of 3.5 percent.

It increases the state sales tax from 5 to 5.3 percent.

A $100 fee on hybrid vehicles is back in the equation, along with a one percent increase in the sales tax paid on motor vehicles.

Roanoke Delegate Onzlee Ware was the only House Democrat on the transportation conference committee. He signed off on a compromise he believes is the best possible deal, but he pegs the odds at 50/50.

“It's not a perfect bill. It doesn't fully fund transportation, but in my opinion it's the first time we've made a serious effort at realizing we need to raise taxes as a source of revenue,” Ware said.

Ware has reason to worry. Some conservatives, including Rockbridge Delegate Ben Cline, have problems with the transportation package they say amounts to major tax increase.

“I think that in these tight economic times and this fragile economic recovery, the one two punch of transportation tax increases and the sequester are really going to hurt Virginia's economy,” Cline said.

We also learned more late Wednesday afternoon about potential funding for passenger rail.

At this point, we're told the transportation package does include enough money to maintain existing trains, and extend passenger service to Roanoke.

But how this will play out between now and adjournment on Saturday is anybody's guess.