Lawmakers Hanging On as Hope for Deal Fades

RICHMOND, Feb. 2 -- Republicans and Democrats in the General Assembly -- and Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D) -- urged their colleagues Friday to keep the door open for a statewide transportation fix despite mounting pessimism that a deal is possible in the final three weeks of the session.

The Senate Finance Committee's rejection Thursday of a Republican-brokered plan dimmed hopes for agreement this year. But the maneuvering continued Friday to keep negotiations alive.

The House Appropriations Committee approved a stripped-down proposal addressing only Northern Virginia's transportation needs and setting aside the debate over where to find money for statewide needs. And Kaine told reporters that, to keep dialogue open, he was meeting with GOP and Democratic lawmakers from both chambers through the weekend.

"This is no time for anybody to take their marbles and go anywhere," Kaine said. "We need everybody to stay at the table, for each house to pass their best version of what they think we can do, and for us all to sit down with those versions and find out what the best compromise is."

Thursday's action by the Senate committee also underscored the philosophical divide between the House and Senate over whether to raise statewide taxes or divert existing revenue from other programs in order to funnel hundreds of millions of dollars annually into statewide transportation improvements.

Members of both houses agree that solving Virginia's growing transportation crisis is the year's top priority. Plans approved by committees in both houses would pour money into improvements for road, rail and bus systems across the state. And both would allow regional transportation authorities in Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads to spend money raised by local governments.

Both plans would funnel money specifically to Northern Virginia for scores of small road projects as well as major ones, such as widening the Capital Beltway, extending Metro to Dulles International Airport and adding toll lanes to Interstate 95.

But the differences are wide.

The plan that emerged from the Senate Finance Committee on Thursday would impose a statewide sales tax on gasoline in order to take less money from the general fund. But opponents in the Senate who believe the GOP-brokered plan is the only one with a chance of survival in the House said they will try to defeat the Finance Committee plan with a parliamentary maneuver when it comes to the floor next week.

In the House, it is not clear that Speaker William J. Howell (R-Stafford) will allow the GOP plan to come to the floor at all. Del. David B. Albo (R-Fairfax) said the Senate action this week is a problem for some of his conservative colleagues, who don't want to take a difficult tax vote if there's no chance for success in the Senate.

"We've got all these conservatives here who don't want to fall on their swords," Albo said. "We're still working."

Del. John S. "Jack" Reid (R-Henrico) believes another path exists to ease the state's transportation woes: a measure to allow Colonial Downs, the horse racing track east of Richmond, to offer a new form of off-track gambling that would generate as much as $300 million annually in state receipts that could be directed toward transportation needs.

"I think we're getting very close to the place where the only way we're going to address transportation at all is with the parimutuel bill," Reid said. "There are a lot of people who are going to have to explain why they voted against $300 million a year for transportation when it doesn't come out of the pockets of anybody who's unwilling. That money comes from people who decide to go gamble."

Kaine said it is too early to say how legitimate the gambling proposal is. But he welcomes another option in the discussions, he said. And he admonished both chambers to pass something so the two houses can come together and negotiate instead of go home empty-handed.

"Why would they not pass a bill?" he asked. "Is transportation not a challenge? People are sitting in traffic. People sent us here to fix it. So why would each house not pass their best bill?"