Less than a week before legislators meet in a special session to fund transportation projects, progress on how to raise the money crawls like traffic on a Northern Virginia interstate.
“I expect the session will last about four hours,” said Delegate David B. Albo, Fairfax Republican. “Right now, no one’s willing to compromise, and you can’t get anything done if you don’t compromise.”
The General Assembly will meet for a scheduled two-week session beginning Monday and consider Gov. Tim Kaine’s proposal to raise $1 billion in taxes to help maintain roads throughout the state, increase investments in rail transit and ease congestion in Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads.
Mr. Kaine’s plan, announced last month, includes proposals to increase the statewide sales tax on vehicles from 3 percent to 4 percent and the annual vehicle registration fee from $39 to $49.
In Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads - two of the most congested areas in the state - the governor also hopes to increase the retail sales tax by 1 percent on everything but food and medicine.
Mr. Kaine, a Democrat, has scheduled a news conference for Thursday to discuss his bill, and said earlier this week that its major tenets will remain unchanged.
Kaine spokesman Gordon Hickey also said the governor is optimistic about getting support for his proposal and has had numerous conversations with leadership in the House and Senate. He said the governor likely will appear Thursday with legislators in support of the bill.
“He’s always been optimistic that a bill, if it’s not his, at least something similar … will pass,” Mr. Hickey said. “Discussions always lead to progress.”
However, a divide between leaders of the Republican-controlled House and Democratic Senate on at least one key aspect of the plan appears to have hindered substantial progress.
Mr. Albo said Senate Majority Leader Richard L. Saslaw, Fairfax Democrat, would support a statewide tax increase that House Speaker William J. Howell, Stafford Republican, would oppose.
The impasse is one of several that has sparked discord.
“I think if the governor would quit insisting on a statewide tax increase, we could probably go in and figure out something for Northern Virginia, but I haven’t seen any compromise on his part,” said House Majority Leader H. Morgan Griffith, Salem Republican.
House Republicans also hope to have a performance audit done on transportation spending, Mr. Albo said.
Mr. Griffith and others have suggested seeking more private money as part of the governor’s proposal, and the majority leader said he expects Mr. Kaine to come out with the support of some legislators for his plan this week.
Sen. J. Chapman Petersen, Fairfax Democrat and member of the transportation committee, said he expects the Senate to pass legislation and that “a medley of different options” will be pulled together.
“What the House does with that, whether they kill it or amend it, I don’t know,” he said.
Mr. Kaine, meanwhile, has pledged that Republicans will pay at the polls if they leave Richmond without a transportation fix.
Sen. Yvonne B. Miller, Norfolk Democrat and chairman of the Transportation Committee, said she would support a statewide plan and “the worst thing we can do is to not act.”
“The citizens can help them talk to each other,” she said. “Remember that legislators are accountable to people in their districts. They can talk to legislators in ways that legislators can quickly understand.”
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