Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, March 3, 1992 TAG: 9203030326
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BONNIE V. WINSTON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium
Shortly before the bill passed, it was amended by Sen. Madison Marye, D-Shawsville, to substitute $28 million for the proposed Roanoke-Blacksburg highway - the so-called "smart road" - with the same amount for a new bypass of U.S. 460 between Christiansburg and Blacksburg.
The package, which relies on a 2-cent increase in the gasoline tax to pay off the debt, would be put to voters in November. But the plan, sponsored by Sen. Richard Saslaw, D-Fairfax, faces more immediate hurdles in the House of Delegates and the governor's office.
Gov. Douglas Wilder has said he would consider a tax measure to finance road needs if it had strong bipartisan support, but it was not clear whether the 23-17 vote in the Senate would satisfy that condition. Of the 23 senators supporting the bond bill, 12 were Democrats and 11 Republicans.
There also was no clear indication of what the House will do. At least one of the House's money committees is to consider the bill today; delegates earlier passed a highway borrowing plan, only to see it die in the Senate.
Monday's vote in the Senate came after a full day of focus on the measure, which was not introduced until Friday. The General Assembly session ends Saturday.
In a morning meeting of the Senate Finance Committee, and later on the Senate floor, the size of the package grew almost by the minute. What started as a $485 million road-building plan on Friday was a $523 million package by the time the committee approved it, 9-6.
When the full Senate finished with it Monday night, the total had grown to $556.8 million and some senators suggested opponents were trying to overload it. The expansion will lead to "death by pseudo-kindness," predicted Sen. Joseph Gartlan, D-Fairfax; he said voters may balk at so much debt.
Several lawmakers accused Saslaw of adding projects to gain support from senators eager to take something home from a tight-money legislative session.
"True, I've made some deals," Saslaw countered. "But what I did, I did for the good of the people of the commonwealth."
His colleagues roared with laughter.
At one point, Sen. Russell Potts, R-Winchester, suggested that a rescue squad be called to revive the Capitol Square statue of the late Sen. Harry F. Byrd Sr., who championed the state's pay-as-you-go philosophy.
"I hope your pencils are broken and there is no film in the cameras," Potts said, turning to reporters, "because this was not our finest hour."
More than $114 million worth of amendments were offered during the floor debate; most were defeated.
The push for a transportation bond package came mostly from senators representing Northern Virginia, where road needs are most critical.
Gartlan and others said that voters in that populous region may reject Wilder's $613 million borrowing program for colleges, mental hospitals and parks if transportation needs are not also addressed.
Senate Majority Leader Hunter Andrews of Hampton said voters may dump the transportation bonds as well as Wilder's package when they note that the combined total will increase the state's debt by more than $1 billion.
"The magnitude of $1.2 billion in bonds in Virginia" is too much. "And we're asking voters for a tax increase, too," he said.
In his only victory of the day, Andrews persuaded the Finance Committee to amend the bill to require that the gas tax increase be spelled out to voters in the referendum question.
At 17.5 cents per gallon, Virginia's gas tax is the lowest in the region, Andrews said. The 2-cent boost would take effect Jan. 1 if approved in November.
Andrews also noted that an amendment might be offered to the state's 1992-94 budget calling for $40 million collected annually from local recordation fees to be used to pay off transportation bonds. Such a proposal would not take effect until 1994.
***CORRECTION***
Published correction ran on March 4, 1992\ Correction
The bond proposal that passed Monday in the General Assembly included funding for the U.S. 460 bypass between Christiansburg and Blacksburg but not for the "smart road." Because of a copy editor's error, a headline on the story indicated that both were funded.
Keywords:
GENERAL ASSEMBLY
Memo: Correction