Delegate Glen Oder (R-Newport News) has brought back HB6055 – the version that did not include tax increases and, in fact, quite reasonably tied transportation funding for certain regions to the economic activity generated there (to be specific, activity at relevant ports). The new-and-vastly improved HB6055 was an excellent first step towards sensible transportation funding – thus, the Senate Democrats killed it at the first opportunity.
Well, Oder is bringing it back, this time as HB1579 (Daily Press):
Del. G. Glenn Oder wants to link transportation funding to future economic growth at state ports and airports in Northern Virginia, which could be a boon for Hampton Roads‘ weary network of bridges and tunnels.
. . .
Last summer, Oder’s plan surfaced so quickly, many legislators didn’t have much time to digest the idea. Oder said he hoped that a full discussion and debate would generate momentum.
Oder has also expanded the idea past NoVa and HR to include “similar setups around the Inland Port at Front Royal, the port in Richmond and Reagan National Airport” (DP again). This could head off efforts in Richmond to impose a 3202-like tax behemoth on that region.
I was particularly amused by the response from State Senator John Miller (D-NN etc.): “There has been a reluctance in the Senate to dip into the general fund for transportation.” I’d like to know why that is. Transportation is one of the very few things for which government spending has near universal acceptance. Yet the Democrats always manage to make sure partisan, divisive priorities are funded ahead of it – going all the way back to 2002.
That the Democrats have been playing this game of chicken for so long should surprise no one. That the GOP has decided to call their bluff (again) is a pleasant shock.
With this bill (and its companion, HB 1580, which drives a stake through the heart of the Hampton Roads Transportation Authority), the House GOP leadership (which worked through Oder last summer and I assume is working through him again now) is making it clear that the special session was no fluke. Last summer, they showed us they learned their lesson; this winter, they’re applying that lesson and making it clear that they are willing to do the hard work necessary to prevent raising taxes on Virginians.
For that, they deserve our praise, our thanks, and our support.
This is fantastic news for Virginia and the Republican Party. This is where the GOP recovery starts and this is the key issue that can start it!
[...] for the House Republicans’ plans on transportation, they’re pretty much dead. There is no way the Democrats allow any transportation plan that [...]
They’re reluctant to dip into the general fund for transportation, yet they refuse to firewall the transportation trust fund so as to prevent them from dipping into it for other purposes.
[...] Or the last version of HB6055 during the special session (now HB1579 in this session), a highly innovative plan to base transportation funding on economic activity? The only time House Republicans said [...]
[...] The other one that caught my eye was the Oder transportation bill: [...]
[...] week, the House of Delegates passed HB1579, a return of the measure the House Republicans wrote up during last year’s special session to [...]
[...] forward-thinking transportation plan that does not raise taxes, during the special session. They held firm to the ideaduring the regular session, turning the Democrats into the Party of No. Now, they’re coming [...]
[...] would be wrong. In fact, House Republicans presented their own road-funding bill (then HB6055, now HB1579), which would have tied transportation funding to a region’s economic activity, and thus [...]