Va. Legislators Prepare to Convene With Expected Focus on Transportation

RICHMOND, Jan. 10 -- Virginia's legislators convene for the 2006 General Assembly on Wednesday with a self-imposed mandate to improve the state's transportation network, but their leaders remain divided on how best to do that.

Neither chamber in the Republican-led assembly has unveiled a comprehensive plan that is likely to draw widespread support. Some senators indicate that they are open to increasing revenue through taxes, and some House members have made it clear that they will oppose such a move and will press to tap the state budget surplus.

"The story of the session is certainly going to be transportation. The question is: How are we going to get there?" said House Majority Leader H. Morgan Griffith (R-Salem). "And there are, at this point, more questions out there than answers. The only answer is that we're going to do something."

State leaders will debate many other issues during the 60-day session. They must review the two-year, $72 billion budget proposed by Gov. Mark R. Warner (D). And they will approve or reject thousands of bills, including proposals to clamp down on illegal immigration, amend the state constitution to bar same-sex marriage, alter the state's telecommunication taxes and eliminate the car tax.

But as lawmakers returned to the capital this week, they said transportation will dominate the agenda.

"This is the year to find a longterm solution if we're going to continue to grow as a state," said Sen. John H. Chichester (R-Northumberland), chairman of the powerful Finance Committee, who is working on a plan that many legislators speculate would pump a healthy amount of revenue into improving the transportation system. "It takes such a long time to put infrastructure in place . . . that we must get started."

House leaders are unlikely to support an increase in the gas tax and other levies. They want to use money from the state's general fund -- not a traditional source of transportation funding -- and to raise more money by increasing some penalties on bad drivers, a proposal that was defeated last year.

Some House Republicans said this week that they might try to take part of the money that Warner marked for mental health and higher education programs and spend it on transportation.

"I think I'd be doing the commonwealth and the taxpayers a disservice by saying: 'We've fixed your problem. We've raised the gas tax and the [car] dealer tax X percent,' and they don't see any difference," said House Speaker William J. Howell (R-Stafford). He said the House might support dedicating more of the tax revenue on insurance premiums to transportation. A third of such revenue is dedicated to transportation.

Howell, like several senators, said his chamber will wait on presenting a comprehensive plan until after Gov.-elect Timothy M. Kaine (D) offers his proposal. Kaine, who will be sworn in Saturday, is expected to outline his plan in an address to the legislature Monday.

While the House leadership considers a comprehensive plan, several delegates said they will propose regional solutions. Dels. Thomas Davis Rust and David B. Albo, both Republicans from Fairfax County, plan to introduce a measure they say would raise $300 million annually for Northern Virginia transportation projects without increasing taxes. Several Hampton Roads lawmakers are considering proposals to increase local fees.

"We're trying to avoid the T-word," said Rust, who was one of 17 Republican delegates in 2004 who broke with the GOP leadership to raise taxes. "But we also want to make sure that money raised in Northern Virginia stays in Northern Virginia."