RICHMOND — When it comes to the nitty-gritty of Virginia Gov. Robert F. McDonnell’s transportation-funding fix, state Sen. John C. Watkins isn’t a big fan.
Getting rid of the gas tax? Taking money that could be used for schools or health care? Betting on Congress to pass an Internet sales tax bill? The Powhatan Republican has doubts about all of it.
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Still, just days after McDonnell (R) unveiled his plan, Watkins took to the Senate floor to applaud the governor for offering a solution and urge colleagues to work with him.
“All 40 of us need to find solutions,” Watkins told his Senate colleagues.
“They’ve also got to be solutions that at least 51 people on the other end of this dark hall can go along with,” he continued, referring to House members. “And I think if we come up with a solution, [McDonnell] will go with us because he knows that the economic vitality of this state and the quality of life in this state is at stake.”
Less than two weeks after the governor announced his transportation-funding proposal, the General Assembly has not fully embraced the particulars. But Richmond seems to be heeding the governor’s challenge to solve an issue that has vexed Virginia for nearly a generation.
A number of factors seem to be conspiring to prod lawmakers into action this session. One is the shrinking availability of funds for road repairs, which has made rural areas more aware of what urban areas have long considered a funding crisis. Another is the approach of 2017, when officials say the state will be out of money to build new roads. And there’s a popular governor, with national ambitions and a legacy to burnish, putting the issue on the front burner. Not to mention the fact that McDonnell will be gone in a year, quite possibly replaced by a successor more partisan and less likely to engineer a compromise.
“The governor’s proposal is so bold and so new that it’s been able to move the debate to a dialogue,” said Sean T. Connaughton, the state transportation secretary.
McDonnell’s plan tries to claim a middle ground between paying for roads with increased taxation or with revenue the state already has. He eliminates the gas tax but also raises the sales tax; he redirects some existing state revenue but increases some motor-vehicle fees.
In a rare move that underscores the urgency of the issue, Speaker William J. Howell (R-Stafford) is sponsoring the governor’s plan in the House of Delegates. It is one of just four that list him as chief patron this year.
Other legislators have stepped up with transportation plans of their own, and at least eight bills are in the mix, an indication that state government is focused on transportation if not yet wedded to a particular approach.
For decades, regional, partisan and philosophical divides have stalled efforts to devise a long-term funding method for roads. In heavily congested Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads, there have been calls for more funding. But rural areas were largely content as long as their roads were maintained.
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