By Anita Kumar and Tim Craig
Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, January 23, 2008 10:29 AM

RICHMOND, Jan. 23 -- A key Senate committee Wednesday approved a measure to end Virginia's costly, unpopular fees on dangerous drivers, one day after the House of Delegates quickly and quietly approved its own repeal of the fees included in last year's landmark transportation package.

The Senate Finance Committee voted unanimously for the fee repeal Wednesday morning. The bill now awaits action from the full Senate. A final version could reach the Senate floor as soon as Thursday.

On Tuesday, the House voted for a separate bill to repeal the fees. The House transportation bill also 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into effect July 1, Senate and House members from both parties have agreed that the driver fees needed to be changed or repealed.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.

Some senators are seeking an increase in the gasoline tax to help make up the revenue lost because of the repeal. One Senate proposal would require that the abusive-driver fees already collected be refunded. "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 to repeal the fees.

The change for car dealers was not included in the Senate legislation, 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.

"Any leftover details can be worked out," she said. "I wasn't going to vote for it if I didn't think there was a reasonable opportunity for these things to be worked out."

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.

Dealers already collect a 3 percent sales tax for the state, which can be financed as part of a car sale.

If a vehicle was bought privately, regardless of where, the fee would be paid when the car was registered. About half of Virginians buy their cars through dealers. More than half a million vehicles were sold in Northern Virginia in 2006.

Staff writer Sandhya Somashekhar contributed to this report.