Kaine to send transportation bill to House, skirts fight with Senate

WASHINGTON (Map, News) - Gov. Tim Kaine is expected to send his $1.1 billion transportation funding package only to the House in an effort to avoid a politically awkward confrontation with the Democratic-controlled Senate, whose leaders plan to introduce their own, conflicting plan to raise needed revenue.

Lawmakers are preparing to return to Richmond on Monday for a special session focused on plugging a widening gap in

highway maintenance and

funding new road and transit projects.

The Commonwealth Transportation Board on Thursday voted to cut or put off $2.75 billion in road construction — or 607 projects — over the next six years because of lack of funds.

But Kaine’s plan, which he rolled out in May, has not been embraced by convincing margins in either chamber, and looks increasingly to be dead on arrival.

The governor likely will send the package to the Republican-controlled House, whose leaders have been openly hostile to many aspects of it, especially the 1 percent statewide increase in the motor vehicle sales tax and an increase in the tax on selling a home, which would grow by 25 cents per $100 value.

With a regional 1 percent uptick in the sales tax and $10 increase in the auto registration fee statewide, the funding package would raise $1.08 billion by fiscal 2014, $516 million of which would go toward maintenance.

The Senate’s Democratic majority, however, has had a lukewarm reaction to the governor’s proposal at a time when Kaine needs strong support from his own party. An intraparty clash would undermine any effort to pass regional and statewide transportation revenue this year.

“He doesn’t want to embarrass us, we don’t want to embarrass him,” said Sen. Chap Petersen, D-Fairfax. “Why put something in if we’ve got our own plan?”

Del. Dave Albo, R-Springfield, said “the obvious reason” the governor is focusing on the House is to avoid a fight in the Senate.

“My bet is they couldn’t get the votes in the Senate for it,” he said.

Kaine spokesman Gordon Hickey said the route of the transportation bill, which is not final, was meant to “do the hard thing first.”

“Our biggest problem is that we need to get something out of the House,” Hickey said.

Senate Democrats are expected to propose a $1 billion package that includes a gas tax increase, a car titling tax increase and some form of sales tax increase.

Kaine has said he avoided the gas tax, which is favored by Senate Majority Leader Richard Saslaw, partly because it had little chance of passing as gasoline prices top $4 a gallon.

wflook@dcexaminer.com

Advertisement