Mr. Kaine's Plan

Once again into the transportation breach

VIRGINIA GOV. Timothy M. Kaine (D), whose past attempts to address the state's underfunded and overstretched transportation network have been undone by the anti-tax fervor of Republican lawmakers and, more recently, by a state Supreme Court ruling, is trying again. The governor has proposed a substantive, sensible and sustainable package of taxes and fees that would inject around $1 billion of new funding annually into the state's transportation budget -- a minimal infusion, given the massive needs. His program, which he plans to present next month to a special session of the General Assembly, is already under attack from a state GOP whose unrelenting hostility to investing in basic infrastructure is matched only by its contempt for Northern Virginia's most critical needs.

The governor's package would stanch the alarming leakage of funds intended for highway construction that are being diverted simply to maintain the existing system of roads and bridges. About half of the new revenue secured by his plan -- would be dedicated to maintenance, ensuring that funds earmarked for construction are actually spent to build new roads and highways.

Roughly half the funds also would be spent in Northern Virginia, which makes sense, given that the region accounts for such an enormous chunk of the state's traffic, growth, population and prosperity. All told, the package would roughly double total transportation spending in the region by 2014, to about $1 billion, and in the process provide $50 million a year in critically necessary funding for Metro. In addition, it would boost statewide investment in transit by about $150 million annually by increasing the grantor's tax paid by people who sell their homes.

The governor would increase the statewide motor vehicle titling tax paid on the purchase of new cars and the annual registration fee for vehicles. The legislature approved those increases for regional transportation revenue packages in Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads last year, only to see the scheme thrown out in court. In Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads, Mr. Kaine would impose a regional sales surtax of 1 percent to fund construction.

Republicans cite the legislature's increase in state funds for transportation last year, while using cooked figures that overlook the fact that the new spending has been badly depleted by the economic downturn, declining gasoline consumption, the abolition of so-called abusive-driver fees and the debt service paid on road construction bonds. Attorney General Robert F. McDonnell, the likely Republican nominee for governor next year, cited legislation mandating that two-thirds of budget surpluses be spent on transportation -- never mind that the state's surpluses have disappeared and look unlikely to return anytime soon.

Mr. Kaine's plan is not the only possible approach to plugging the funding gap for transportation. But without something comparable in scale, what is currently a crying need will become a full-blown crisis. Virginia Republicans, who have been losing electoral ground at an accelerating rate, will suffer further losses if they continue to obstruct serious plans to deal with transportation.