Toscano Report from the General Assembly - February 17, 2006
As the week unfolds, there is more and more talk of gridlock on Transportation and special sessions. The Governor, Senate, and House Republican leadership have three competing plans and it is not clear that a consensus will emerge.
As I have indicated in earlier e-newsletters, I support the philosophy underpinning the Governor’s plan, which is based on:
- Creating a dedicated source of revenue that can solve our long-term transportation problems.
- Protecting the Transportation Trust Fund and insulating the general fund from “raids” on it for roads; otherwise, transportation will be competing with schools, public safety, and mental health.
- Linking transportation to local decision making and land use decisions. We cannot pave our way out of our problems, and must do a better job planning how we grow in the future.
- Continuing the reforms at VDOT to generate savings that can be used for road maintenance and mass transit.
I have come to realize, during these weeks in Richmond, that there are tremendous problems facing Northern Virginia and the Tidewater area face in this respect. Charlottesville and Albemarle are unique. Although many of us believe that we have serious transportation problems, they are mild in comparison to Tidewater and Northern Virginia. And if we fail to solve these problems, much of the economic vitality of the state, and the monies we need for core services, could be affected.
The House Republican plan acknowledges the principle that “we cannot pave our way out of the problem,” but it doesn’t come close to meeting the first goal of the Governor’s proposal, which is to create a sustainable revenue source over time. The House Republican plan is merely a short term fix that relies on rolling over monies from the surplus and gimmicks, such as increasing the penalties for people who commit traffic offenses. The House plan does not raise anywhere near the kind of money that will be needed to address our long term problems.
Independent of the financing issues, I supported several bills passed by the House and designed to improve land-use planning. One will require comprehensive plans to be submitted to VDOT for review and comment on the transportation impacts of said plans. Another allows counties to utilize the cash proffer system for the purpose of transportation revenue sharing projects. (The Governor’s budget increased the amount of money available to localities for smaller projects where the state would match certain local monies.) Finally, two other bills will require capital improvements plans in comprehensive plans to include road and transportation improvements. One bill that was rejected would have permitted counties to reject rezonings in the event that the transportation impacts were not adequately addressed. This is an issue that is of serious concern to Albemarle, but the bill was defeated in a subcommittee.
Other big news of the week includes the passage of an eminent domain bill very different from what emerged from the House Courts of Justice committee. In my view, this new bill is a great example of how politics can overcome the legislative process. The eminent domain bill that was originally before the House was the product of six months of discussion with stakeholders such as the Farm Bureau, the Virginia Municipal League, the Virginia Association of Counties, and the Virginia Association of Realtors. All of these groups worked with numerous attorneys, including the Attorney General’s office, in crafting a bill that would clarify eminent domain law in the Commonwealth. In the Courts of Justice Committee, we had almost six hours of hearings and debate on this bill before it got to the Floor. When it arrived on the floor, the bill was amended to compromise any ability of a government entity to condemn property for public use. The amendment would likely mean litigation any time that a public entity condemned land for public use, whether to build a road or a school. I believe that we have not seen the last of this bill, as I think the Senate version will be similar to what we worked on in Courts of Justice and it will be before us again.
For those of you who have written to me about the “Clean Smokestacks” bill, a compromised version emerged from the House. It does not go as far as many of us would like, but it does represent a step in the right direction, designed to clean up mercury emissions and other emissions from Virginia power plants. I will keep you informed about the status of this legislation as it emerges from the Senate.
Finally, February 14 was “Crossover” Day, the last day for each body in The General Assembly to act on its respective bills. Upon the passage of Those bills, they “crossover” to the other body.
I have four bills passed by the House which are alive in the Senate:
- The nursing education bill
- Charlottesville Charter Bill that would permit the city more flexibility in creating affordable housing
- An Albemarle County bill giving more flexibility in how they handle grievance procedures and
- An energy bill that will allow consumers more flexibility in the use of renewable resources for electrical generation.
Two of these bills are called special legislation, which means that they require a two-thirds majority vote in each house. Passage of these bills has been a challenge, given that I am a freshman in the minority party; these bills required considerable support from the other side of the aisle in the House to get passed. We will work hard to receive comparable support in the Senate.
And as always, I look forward to hearing from you with your ideas and concerns. Please feel free to pass this along to others who might be interested and encourage them sign up for our newsletter, if they want to be kept informed on a regular basis.
