Merricks on the transportation issue

By DON MERRICKS
Published: June 22, 2008

On June 7, I attended Gov. Timothy M. Kaine’s town hall meeting at The Institute for Advanced Learning and Research to hear his proposal for curing the transportation woes facing our commonwealth.

Last year, prior to my arrival in the General Assembly, the Comprehensive Transportation and Reform Act of 2007 (House Bill 3202) was passed overwhelmingly. The bill provided significant changes and reforms to transportation issues along with additional funding sources for projects statewide.

House Bill 3202, even though it passed overwhelmingly, was not without controversy. It included abusive drive fees, which the governor changed to exclude out-of-state drivers, thus causing a much deserved uproar and eventual repeal this year. It also included regional taxing authorities for Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads. Again, the governor changed the structure from the original bill, causing this component to be rendered unconstitutional by the Virginia Supreme Court. Even with these setbacks, there are significant aspects of the comprehensive plan that still remain and benefit our commonwealth.

Major reforms were made to VDOT to improve efficiency, modernize delivery and increase effectiveness. For the first time ever, quantifiable performance measures were instituted in the evaluation and selection of construction projects. And again, for the first time, House Bill 3202 linked land-use decisions with their impact on the transportation network. This ended the separation of land use decision-making from the responsibility for road maintenance. Now, local governments are held accountable for land-use decisions that result in congestion.

What “crisis”?

Finally, the largest increase in statewide transportation funding in more than 20 years was provided by House Bill 3202. Using a responsible mix of new and existing revenue streams, the General Assembly leveraged $3 billion in bonds for new construction and addressed our maintenance needs.

Even with these positive changes, we are now — according to our current administration — facing yet another crisis with regards to transportation. It is interesting to note that this was not an issue during the governor’s State of the Commonwealth address in January. No legislation was introduced during the regular session pertaining to this crisis.

Why all of a sudden is there a crisis?

We all know that Virginia is in the midst of an economic slowdown. Our economy is still growing, but not at the pace to which we had become accustomed. We had to make hard budget decisions this past year and will most likely be making more hard decisions next year. Everybody has had to reign in spending — and VDOT should be no exception.

We need to fix the regional components of the bill that will enable Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads to move forward with their projects immediately. A comprehensive audit should be conducted of VDOT and the results reviewed by the General Assembly. I am a co-patron of a bill being drafted requesting a comprehensive, independent audit of VDOT. Once these results are in, additional changes should be considered — but only if the audit deems it necessary.

We also need to ensure that funds set aside for transportation cannot be used for other purposes. I have co-patroned House Joint Resolution 6001 which, if approved by the voters, will be a constitutional amendment requiring a lock-box for the transportation trust fund. Funds dedicated for transportation must not be available for other uses. If money is borrowed from the transportation trust fund, it must be repaid over a reasonable period with interest. This bill addresses those issues.

No time for higher taxes

While I appreciate the governor’s efforts, I question his timing. Virginia families are cutting back their budgets because of escalating utility costs, soaring food prices and gas prices hitting record highs every day. Businesses are doing the same thing. Now is not the time to saddle Virginians with additional fees and taxes.

The two segments of business that are especially feeling a negative economic impact are car sales and real estate sales. Increasing fees at this point on these two industries will negatively impact an already hurting segment of our economy. We need to fix the regional components of House Bill 3202, let the bill work and then analyze the outcome. The special session on transportation needs to see cooler heads prevail — and exercise restraint with the taxpayers’ money.

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