I’ve received an e-mailed copy of Gov. Timothy M. Kaine’s press release (compliments of Barnie Day) outlining the details of his amendments to the GOP transportation package. It’s not live on the Governor’s Web page yet, so I’ll post it on the Bacon’s Rebellion website and link to it for your reading pleasure.
I haven’t had a chance to dissect the Governor’s amendments yet, but I’ll return with comments when I can.
…OK, I’m back. Here’s my insta-analysis before I have to run off to an interview and Little League.
First of all, I’m confused. Kaine seemingly has back-tracked on two of the Democrats’ key rhetorical themes of the past few months. If I am missing something obvious, would someone please point it out to me?
Question One: Gov. Kaine has excoriated Republicans for wanting to finance transportation projects with General Fund revenues, including one half of the ongoing budget surplus. Transportation, he said, should not have to compete with other needs such as schools, health care and law enforcement, and he didn’t think the surplus, which can increase or contract dramatically, was a stable, ongoing source of revenue. So, now he proposes to increase reliance on the budget surplus, tapping two-thirds of the surplus? The inconsistency is so jarring that I must be missing something critical. If someone can enlighten me, please post a comment.
Question Two: Waving credit cards mockingly in the air earlier this year, Democratic legislators lambasted the Republican plan for “mortgaging our children’s future,” “putting state debts on the credit card,” and all manner of fiscal irresponsibility. Now comes Gov. Kaine, proposing to jack up transportation debt from the $2.5 billion the GOP legislators proposed to $3 billion. Again, a jaw-slapping inconsistency. Am I missing something?
So much for Return on Investment Analysis. Gov. Kaine never made a big point of this, so I can’t accuse him of inconsistency. I just don’t agree. He proposes increasing the percentage of bonds going to transit capital from 15.7 percent to 20 percent, and he wants to dedicate two cents of existing recordation taxes to transit funding. I’ve got nothing against transit — I just think it should compete on a level playing field with roads. All projects should be ranked on a Return on Investment basis. Anything that arbitrarily increases or restricts funding for a major transportation category is a sure-fire recipe for making sure that higher Return on Investment projects get overlooked.
Land use and traffic flow. There are shreds of good news. The Governor has signed side legislation (not part of the infamous HB 3202) that will accomplish a number of worthy goals:
- Subdivision roads. SB 1181 strengthens standards for accepting subdivision streets into the state system by increasing connectivity standards for roads and subdivisions, enhancing the overall capacity and efficiency of the transportation network.
- Corridor management. HB 2228/SB 1312 promotes traffic flow and interconnectivity on the state’s road system, ensuring that new and existing roadways are not degraded by the creation of too many and poorly spaced intersections, turn lanes, median breaks, and other impediments.
- Incident management. HB 2163/SB 1144 allows VDOT vehicles to participate in clearing cars and restoring traffic flow after an accident, improving clearance time.
The press release provides only a cursory summary of very detailed legislation, so the significance of many of the Governor’s amendments is not immediately evident. I await more details.
The Governor’s press release is now online. Here it is.
