Good ideas never stood a chance

By DON MERRICKS
Published: July 17, 2008

Gov. Timothy M. Kaine originally said he would not call a special session until there was a consensus on a transportation plan that would address budget shortfalls and pass the General Assembly.

Obviously, he had a change of heart, because the plan he presented had few patrons in the House of Delegates — and his bill was not even introduced in the Democrat-led Senate.

Without a consensus from his fellow Democrats, much less the Republicans, I can only conclude this session was strictly a political move on the governor’s part, knowing that any substantial plan to solve the transportation issue was not attainable.

The House defeated the governor’s plan 98-0. Not one Democrat voted for it, including the chief patron. The Senate bill increasing gasoline taxes was amended to remove the gasoline tax by a vote of 95-1, but the bill, which still included higher fees and taxes, was defeated in the House by a vote of 59-39.

I was co-patron of several bills that advanced from the Republican-led House to the Democrat-controlled Senate. These bills dealt with performance audits of VDOT, contracts for highway bridge maintenance and reconstruction projects, dedicating all future revenues and royalties that are paid to the commonwealth as a result of offshore natural gas and oil drilling to the Transportation Trust Fund and a proposed constitutional amendment requiring a “lock box” for transportation funds. These bills overwhelmingly passed the House, but were killed in committee in the Senate. The exception was the bill protecting the Transportation Trust Fund. It was amended in the Senate, which would have altered the intent of the original bill. As a result, the amendments as approved by the Senate were not approved by the House.

Several bills were advanced by the House that would have provided funds from future revenue growth to Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads. These bills were innovative and would have resulted in no new taxes statewide — or for the residents of those areas. Unfortunately, the Democrat-dominated Senate Finance Committee defeated these initiatives.

Remember, there are always two parts to the budgeting process, revenues and expenditures. How we spend what we take in is equal or more important than the revenue we collect. As the owner of two small businesses, I have felt the economic slowdown. Most of our work is contract work and is started eight to 12 months after the bid date. I don’t have the luxury of increasing contract amounts to adjust for escalating costs. I have to look at ways to cut expenses in order to keep my businesses operating. I feel very strongly the commonwealth should do the same. Raising taxes and fees — especially during the current economic downturn — should not be an option.

So what’s next? I suggest we determine the actual needs of transportation in order for us to develop short-term and long-range goals with sustainable funding and oversight. Once this is determined, there needs to be a group of bi-partisan, level-headed people to develop a plan that will address the issues.

You, the well-deserving citizens of the 16th District, should see from the recent circus of events in Richmond that there are two distinctly differing philosophies regarding how to fund our commonwealth’s needs.

My fellow Republicans and I feel that growth coupled with sound financial management will produce sufficient revenue without increasing taxes and fees. When growth slows, as is now occurring in our commonwealth, we need to slow our expenditures. Our Democratic friends believe the answer to transportation funding is increased revenue in a severe economic downturn, which translates into increased taxes and fees. This was highly evident in the votes taken by the Democrat-led Senate committees.

While I am not particularly proud of how we got there, I am proud to have been a part of protecting your hard-earned dollars during a time we are all struggling to put gas in our cars and food on our tables.

• Merricks represents most of Pittsylvania County, part of eastern Henry County and most of Martinsville in the Virginia House of Delegates.