Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 4, 1992 TAG: 9203040191
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BONNIE V. WINSTON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Short
The bill, which went into the committee at $556.8 million, came out on a 12-3 vote at $585.6 million, largely because of additions and changes in Hampton Roads projects.
Several lawmakers had expressed concerns Monday that the bill would fail under the weight of added projects and voter worries about the state's debt load. Sen. Richard Saslaw, D-Springfield, the bill's chief sponsor, shrugged off those fears, however.
`It's just chicken feed,` he said.
House Majority Leader Richard Cranwell, D-Vinton, said some projects may be stripped from the package when it is considered by the House Finance Committee today. He did not elaborate.
Del. Franklin Hall, D-Richmond, unsuccessfully sought to limit the 2-cent-per-gallon gasoline tax increase that accompanies the package and would provide the money to pay the debt. An amendment he offered, which failed when no one would second it, would have applied the tax only in those jurisdictions that approve the bond package in a November referendum.
Hampton Roads legislators added $5 million for improvements to two streest. They also changed the bill to assign a higher priority to the expenditure of $15.5 million for initial planning for a third harbor tunnel on Interstate 64 between Norfolk and Hampton and $8 million for the planned Southeastern Expressway in Chesapeake and Virginia Beach.
Keywords:
GENERAL ASSEMBLY
by CNB