House Speaker William J. Howell predicted yesterday that Gov. Timothy M. Kaine’s amendments to the General Assembly’s transportation/land use package would encounter little opposition when the Senate and House reconvene Monday. Republican lawmakers approve of the Governor’s changes for the most part, he told the Fredericksburg Rotary Club yesterday. Chelyen Davis has the story for the Free Lance-Star.
Also, because Kaine packaged his amendments as a substitute bill, rather than as line-item changes, lawmakers won’t have an opportunity to tinker with it, Howell said. “You can’t go in and really look at each of the different amendments, it’s up or down, basically.”
So, the likelihood that the Transportation Abomination will become law is now approaching 99 percent. Virginians will pay a hodge-podge of higher taxes, fees and penalties with only the most tangential relationship to how far they drive, when they drive, or the strain they put on Virginia’s transportation system. There is absolutely no incentive for anyone to modify their driving habits in any way — no reason to carpool, ride the bus, telecommute, move closer to work, what have you. The bill does provide additional sums for mass transit, but there’s no methodology for determining if dollars would be spent to greater effect that way than by making other types of improvements.
On the positive side, the creation of Urban Development Areas and related transportation districts will encourage local governments to think very differently about the relationship between land use and planning. Fast-growth jurisdictions across Virginia may be forced to re-write their comprehensive plans. Meanwhile, the new local option to impose impact fees could shift the transportation debate from the state to the local level. It will take months, maybe years, for the implications of this legislation to work its way through the system.