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RICHMOND,
VA December 14, 2006 – Virginia
House of Delegates Speaker William J. Howell
(R-Stafford) expressed disappointment today over
Governor Kaine’s announcement of his
transportation funding amendments to the 2006-2008
Biennial Budget. Characterizing the Governor’s
$161 million proposed investment of $475 - $550
million in new state budget revenue revisions as
“way too low,” Speaker Howell reaffirmed House
Republicans’ commitment to devote at least 50%
of those surplus revenues to transportation.
“Tomorrow, the Governor will announce that the
Commonwealth is hundreds of millions of dollars in
the black once again – an estimated $475-$550
million according to House budget experts,”
noted Speaker Howell. “Yet, he will only
dedicate a small fraction of this surplus, $161
million, to transportation. Once again, the
Governor has demonstrated that his commitment to
transportation does not compete with his desire to
increase taxes. It is especially disappointing
that the Governor attempted to characterize the
$339 million already designated by the General
Assembly for transportation as new funding.
“I find it somewhat encouraging, however, that
these proposed gubernatorial budget amendments at
least included some funding for transportation.
When he last sent us budget amendments in June, he
failed to designate a single dollar for
transportation.”
After the General Assembly passed the 2006-2008
Biennial Budget, Governor Kaine submitted
amendments to that budget, designating additional
revenues to several projects, none of which
included transportation. The House rejected the
bulk of those amendments, stating at the time that
surplus revenues should be prioritized toward
transportation.
Delegate Leo C. Wardrup, Jr. (R-Virginia Beach),
Chairman of the House Transportation Committee,
expressed his frustration over the fact that most
of the projects designated by the Governor in
today’s announcement already had been approved
by the House during the General Assembly’s
Regular and Special Sessions this year.
“We could already have started most of these
projects,” remarked Wardrup, “if the Governor
and his allies hadn’t obstructed our efforts to
fund them earlier this year. Now, these projects
are likely to cost more and won’t be finished as
soon. I suppose it’s better late than
never, but this is another missed opportunity and
failure of leadership by this Governor.
“Perhaps I should be encouraged by the
Governor’s decision to openly acknowledge the
dedication of General Fund dollars to
transportation. Because transportation is a
core function of state government, we’ve been
using moneys from the General Fund for this
purpose for decades. The Governor and his allies,
however, have tried to depict the use of these
funds as pitting core services against one
another. It isn’t, and his willingness to
devote $161 million of surplus General Fund
revenues to transportation is at least an
improvement.
“Of course, Governor Kaine’s new position on
General Fund dollars for transportation isn’t
the only reversal by the Governor this week. His
rediscovery of using bonds that he announced
yesterday is encouraging as well. If he would join
the House in supporting bonding packages like the
ones we approved in the Regular and Special
Sessions this year, Virginians would be well on
their way to spending less time in traffic.
Howell made clear that House Republicans would
continue to insist and work with forward-looking
lawmakers so at least 50% of the state’s nearly
$500 million surplus be dedicated to
transportation, which they announced Monday.
Yesterday, a group of Republican Delegates from
Northern Virginia raised the ante even further,
uniting behind a proposal to devote 100% of the
surplus to transportation.
“It appears that the Commonwealth will be
carrying a surplus of between $475 million and
$550 million,” Howell said. “By my math, that
means we should be able to devote at least
a quarter of a billion dollars in addition
revenues to transportation, on top of the $339
million that the House, the Senate and the
Governor all agreed by statute last June to set
aside solely for transportation. The
Governor’s figure of just $161 million is way
too low, and House Republicans are going to be
insisting on a lot more."
Chairman Wardup concluded, “It is time for the
Governor to demonstrate leadership by adopting a
comprehensive approach to transportation, truly
making it the urgent priority he continually
claims it to be. We would welcome him coming
forward with a package that includes land use
reforms to address growth, initiatives to improve
departmental performance at VDOT, a healthier
portion of surplus revenues, and a bonding
initiative to give taxpayers a hedge against the
inflating costs of road building. In the
absence of the Governor coming forward with a
comprehensive transportation package of his own, I
hope that by the time the 2007 Session begins
he’ll support the House Republicans' plan that
will include all of these key components to
improve transportation in Virginia.”
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