Governor Tim Kaine will propose his transportation plan in a press conference at noon today. The Daily Press has AP writer Bob Lewis’ report on last night’s conference calls with Senate and House Democrats. The Virginian Pilot also has an article on the topic.
According to my sources, the Governor’s plan takes a three-pronged approach to solving the problems facing the Commonwealth.
Safety first. Maintenance of the roads is eating up the transportation funds. Each year, the transportation trust fund (TTF) is being tapped in order to pay for the shortage of funds available for construction. The Governor proposes to cure the deficit by:
- Increasing the auto titling tax by 1%
- Increasing the annual auto registration by $10
- Allocating 1% of the current auto titling tax (currently going into the TTF).
Combined, these items should generate approximately $440 million for maintenance.
Regional. Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads have needs that are not being met. In order to pay for the projects in these two areas, the Governor proposes a 1% regional sales tax, excluding food and drugs. The regional sales tax is expected to generate $300 million for NoVA and $168 million for HR. These amounts are expected to grow to $450 million and $228 million, respectively, by 2014.
Transportation change. Tackling the issue of transit, the Governor proposes a 25-cent grantor’s tax. These funds will be put into the TTF (replacing the auto titling tax being removed above) but will be allocated with a heavy focus (60%-65%) on transit. It is expected that this will initially generate $142 million.
The Governor will be taking his plan on the road over the next few weeks leading up to the General Assembly special session, which is scheduled to begin June 23. Already announced are town hall meetings in Woodbridge Tuesday and on the Peninsula Thursday. Additional town hall meetings will be announced later.
UPDATE: Forgot to mention that Sunday’s Pilot had two articles on transportation worth reading. The first was by House Democratic Caucus Chair Brian Moran and it discussed a sales tax proposal. The second was by HRCCE Chairman Jim Oliver and it talks about the need for dialogue on the subject. (Note: view the links in IE. They don’t play nice with FF.)
VIVIAN J. PAIGE | All Politics is Local 
It’s got nothing to do with it, other than someone in Kaine’s office thought that people who were already kicking around a few hundred thousand dollars probably wouldn’t find another few bucks all that offensive, in the scheme of things.
And there’s already a way to tax the interstates, Gene – it’s called the gas tax. And you don’t even need to pay some private company millions a year to organize and collect it for you.
“The House GOP caucus had ample opportunity to roll out a plan of their own, but they failed to do so. Governor Kaine stepped forward into that leadership void….”
Gov. Kaine will not be standing for re-election, either. That makes it a bit easier.