State lawmakers meet to study road money

By Jeff E. Schapiro
Richmond Times-Dispatch
Published: May 7, 2008

Updated 4:51 p.m.

They came. They ate. They talked.

Thirty legislators from Hampton Roads and Northern Virginia met in suburban Richmond today for more than four hours to discuss new ways to finance transportation improvements in their traffic-clogged regions.

Democrats outnumbered Republicans 2-1, generally reflecting the partisan breakout across the Washington-to-Virginia Beach urban crescent.

Del. David B. Albo, R-Fairfax, said the issue of paying for roads and rails ultimately would be settled by two people who weren’t in the room—House Speaker William J. Howell, R-Stafford, and Senate Majority Leader Richard L. Saslaw, D-Fairfax.

Howell and Saslaw are worlds apart. Howell is resisting higher taxes, and says the General Assembly—in its special session next month—should only adjust regional features of last year’s hard-fought transportation plan to comply with a Virginia Supreme Court decision. Saslaw is pushing for higher fuel taxes, saying they’re necessary to cover growing maintenance and construction costs.

Democrats on both sides of the Capitol have different ideas, too.

House Democrats favor a penny increase in the sales tax; it’s currently a nickel on every dollar.

Senate Democrats would rather increase the gasoline tax, now 17.5 cents per gallon. It was last raised in 1986.

The meeting followed the release of a letter to legislators and Gov. Timothy M. Kaine, urging $1 billion in new taxes to finance transportation projects across the state

——————

About 25 legislators from Northern Virginia and the Hampton Roads area are meeting this morning, trying to come up with new ways to pay for transportation improvements in their traffic-clogged regions.

The legislators, who are almost outnumbered by lobbyists, are conferring in suburban Richmond—a symbolic halfway point between the Washington suburbs and Tidewater.

The General Assembly is expected to return to Richmond next month for a special session—a third effort in as many years to come up with a reliable, long-term fiscal fix for rails and roads.

The meeting follows the release of a letter to legislators and Gov. Timothy M. Kaine, urging $1 billion in new taxes to finance transportation projects across the state.

There are sharp divisions among legislators on how to pay for new asphalt, commuter rail and bus routes.

Anti-tax Republicans who control the House want only to fine-tune last year’s hard-fought transportation plan to bring it in line with a recent Supreme Court decision.

Democrats on both sides of the Capitol have different ideas, too.

House Democrats favor a penny increase in the sales tax; it’s currently a nickel on every dollar.

Senate Democrats would rather increase the gasoline tax, now 17.5 cents per gallon. It was last raised in 1986.