Repeal of Abusive-Driver Fees Easily Passes in Va. House

RICHMOND, Jan. 22 -- The Virginia House of Delegates quickly and quietly voted Tuesday to tweak last year's landmark transportation package by repealing the costly, unpopular fees on dangerous drivers.

The proposal, which goes to the Senate, would require Northern Virginia residents to pay sales taxes on car purchases directly to the state instead of through dealers, a move the state Department of Transportation says could leave buyers standing in long lines at the Department of Motor Vehicles.

With no discussion, the bill passed 95 to 2. It does not say where the $65 million that the fees were supposed to raise annually would come from.

House Majority Leader H. Morgan Griffith (R-Salem) said he voted against the bill to keep alive the idea of charging higher fees to drunk drivers and others who commit felonies while driving. The fees range from $750 to $3,000 and are assessed on drunken-driving and reckless driving convictions.

Del. David B. Albo (R-Fairfax), who has been one of the strongest supporters of the fees in the House, voted for the repeal after he was not able to pass his own bill and an amendment, which would have kept the fees but also applied them to out-of-state drivers, among other changes.

"I gave it my best shot," Albo said. "I promised my constituents that I would not support a bill that applied to only in-state drivers and let out-of-state drivers off the hook. I had to live up to my promise. . . . Without an ability to fix it, we're left with only one choice, to repeal it."

Last year's transportation package was supported by Republicans and Democrats to avoid raising taxes to pay for millions of dollars in road and transit improvements.

Since the law went into effect July 1, Senate and House members from both parties have agreed that the driver fees needed to be changed or repealed. Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D) called for a repeal, and more than 20 similar bills have been introduced in the legislative session.

Similar bills are working their way through the Senate and will be taken up Wednesday in the Finance Committee. Three would require an increase in the gasoline tax to help make up the revenue lost because of the repeal, and one would require that the abusive-driver fees already collected be refunded. A final version could reach the Senate floor as soon as Thursday.

"Legislators are falling all over themselves to get rid of these fees, even the ones who were strongly in favor of them before," said Sen. R. Edward Houck (D-Spotsylvania), chief sponsor of a bill that would repeal the fees.

The change for car dealers was not included in the Senate bills, but Majority Leader Richard L. Saslaw (D-Fairfax) said his colleagues support it.

Instead of paying sales taxes through dealers, buyers would have to pay them at the DMV in person or possibly endure a longer process by mail or online. The proposal would make it impossible for buyers to finance, along with the cost of the car, the new 1 percent tax that is assessed on car sales in Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads.

Del. Vivian E. Watts (D-Fairfax) said she agreed to vote for the House bill after being assured that the DMV could handle the change and perhaps collect the taxes by mail or online.

Car dealers do not want to collect the additional regional tax because of the work it requires and because customers could confuse the tax as part of the car price.

Staff writer Sandhya Somashekhar contributed to this report.