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Stop
and START
The
Senate transportation task force, START, has
explored some interesting ideas but it is still
struggling to find consensus on a legislative
package for 2006.
By
Bob Burke
With
just a few weeks before a new governor takes
office and the General Assembly opens, a special
Senate committee working on transportation-related
legislation is still figuring out what it wants to
do.
At
their fourth meeting yesterday in Richmond,
members of the Statewide Transportation
Analysis and Recommendation Task Force (START) ran
through a long list of ideas but it wasn’t
apparent which ones will emerge as legislation. In
fact, that process now moves behind the scenes:
the group’s staff members are going to draft a
package of legislation over the next few weeks and
give panel members a last chance to comment before
going public with the proposals.
Whatever
the group comes up with will have a tough time
getting through the General Assembly. With
transportation funding issues expected to dominate
the coming legislative session there’s little
agreement so far among key parties. Gov.-elect
Timothy Kaine has said he won’t back tax
increases for transportation unless lawmakers
agree to not use existing transportation funds for
other purposes. Members of the House of Delegates
have flatly ruled out any tax increases.
It’s
widely expected the START group will propose some
kind of funding increase and probably some policy
changes on land use. “It’s going to end up
being what we can all live with,” said Mark
Rubin, a mediator with the McCammon Group in
Richmond, who led the panel’s discussion.
Whatever
comes out may not have the momentum that its
leaders would like. The state senators on the
START panel seemed unable to agree on some key
points.
Sen.
Charles Hawkins, R-Pittsylvania, has pushed panel
members to produce innovative ideas but Sen.
Martin Williams, R-Newport News, urged them to
focus on funding and remember the political
realities of the House’s opposition on some key
issues. “I do believe that the Senate should
legislate on its own, but I do believe we should
stay within the realm of what’s possible,” he
said.
Sen.
Edd Houck, D-Spotsylvania, rejected that approach.
“If we’re going to base this on what the House
is going to do, we might as well pack up and go
home,” he said. “Because we know they’re not
going to do anything.”
Responded
Williams: “I’m just trying to be
realistic. I want to come home with something.”
The
group agreed that the state needs a long-term
funding source dedicated to transportation,
whether it comes from tolls or raising any of a
handful of state taxes, such as the motor vehicle
titling tax. One option, to implement a statewide
sales tax on gasoline, would have raised $334
million in 2004, according to staff figures.
The
panel has shown fairly broad support for linking
local land-use decisions with the state’s
transportation planning. That’s a hot issue that
Kaine used effectively in Northern Virginia’s
crowded suburbs during the campaign, but the panel
struggled with specifics. A proposal to force
localities to add zoning and transportation plans
to their comprehensive plans seemed too
complicated and Hawkins suggested a legislative
study first. “We’re trying to bite off more
than we’re able to chew, I’m afraid,” he
said.
The
panel also talked about reorganizing the Virginia
Department of Transportation and the Commonwealth
Transportation Board. Members of the CTB are
appointed by the governor but the START group
might propose letting the General Assembly appoint
some board members to strengthen its connection
with the legislature.
“This
may end up in a study as well, because this is a
major departure from what we’ve been doing,”
Hawkins said.
Panel
members also talked about requiring developers to
interconnect street networks between subdivisions
so that traffic from a new project isn’t all
forced on to a single connector road.
That
was a little too much detail for Sen. William
Mims, R-Fairfax. “What is the state’s interest
in a subdivision cul de sac?” he asked. The big
issue is, “We have to focus on how we can pay
for a transportation system when we have 10
million people.”
Bacon's
Rebellion News Service
December
13, 2005
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