A Virginia Senate Finance Committee voted nine to six yesterday to change HB 3202, known as the Comprehensive Transportation Finance and Reform Act of 2007, in order to address concerns about funding for transportation. The bill will now be funded by taxes rather than the general fund.
The original bill called for transportation to be paid for, in part, by the general fund, which, according to Sen. Creigh Deeds, D-Albemarle, primarily derives from income tax revenues.
In the past, Deeds said, the general fund was not allocated for transportation, but instead reserved for education, health care and public safety.
Deeds noted he is in favor of the Finance Committee's changes to the bill, adding that he believes higher education will suffer in the long run if transportation is funded with money from the general fund.
"They put [the bill] in a form that I will probably support because they took the general fund money out of it," Deeds said. He noted he doesn't think the bill will completely solve transportation funding issues.
"We need to think outside of the box," Deeds said, to find a "new sustainable source of transportation money."
In a press release, House of Delegates Speaker William J. Howell, R-Stafford, said he objects to the Senate committee's substitution because it includes new taxes that had been previously rejected by the House.
"Not only is this position intentionally obstructionist to efforts to enact a compromise this year, it directly contradicts decades of legislative support for using these revenues for transportation, which is a core service of government," Howell said.
The President's Council, composed of presidents of Virginia state colleges and universities, recently sent a letter to the General Assembly expressing concerns about the original version of the bill.
According to Colette Sheehy, University vice president for management and budget, the letter asked whether transportation and public colleges could both be adequately financed with the general fund "given all of the capital needs of higher education," Sheehy said.
Sheehy also said she did not have enough information to comment about the changes made since the letter was sent to the General Assembly.
Howell said in a press release he hopes to find a resolution by the end of the year to "Virginia's transportation challenge."
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