Government Affairs

General Assembly Update

January 20, 2009

2009 VTCA LEGISLATIVE UPDATE

Below is a summary of transportation related bills that have been introduced to date in 2009 Virginia General Assembly. The full text of bills summarized below can be found by entering the bill number on the following web site:  VA Legislative Information System

HB 1579 Transportation funding and administration for Hampton Roads, Northern Virginia, the Richmond Highway Construction District, and the Staunton Highway Construction District.  Provides funds for transportation in Hampton Roads, Northern Virginia, the Richmond Highway Construction District, and the Staunton Highway Construction District by capturing a portion of economic growth attributable to or facilitated by the marine terminal for Hampton Roads, by Dulles International Airport and the Ronald Reagan National Airport for Northern Virginia, by the Port of Richmond for the Richmond Highway Construction District, and by the Inland Port at Front Royal for the Staunton Highway Construction District.

The bill repeals the Hampton Roads Transportation Authority and repeals certain fees and taxes authorized pursuant to Chapter 896 of the Acts of Assembly of 2007 that are within the ambit of the Supreme Court of Virginia’s decision on February 29, 2008, that they are unconstitutional.

Patron: Oder

HB 1590 Income tax; toll payment tax credit. Provides a tax credit against individual income tax for taxpayers making electronic toll collection payments, such as Smart Tag/EZ Pass, during peak hour traffic flow periods in an amount equal to 10 percent of the total amount paid annually for tolls on Virginia highways, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2009.

Patron: Poisson

HB 1628 Contractor performance bonds for locally administered transportation improvement projects. Provides that whenever any county, city, or town undertakes administration of a transportation improvement project and obtains, in connection therewith, contractor performance bonds that include the Virginia Department of Transportation as an additional insured, the amount of such bonds shall be no greater than would have been required had the Department not been included as an additional insured.

Patron: Cole

HB 1633 Offshore drilling; royalties. Apportions any royalties that the Commonwealth might receive from offshore drilling for natural gas and oil among the Transportation Trust Fund, Renewable Electricity Production Grant Fund, the Virginia Coastal Energy Research Consortium, and programs developed by the Secretary of Natural Resources to clean up the Chesapeake Bay.

Patron: Saxman

HB 1645 Urban highway system construction allocations. Provides that not more than two-thirds (instead of the present one-third) of the annual urban system highway funds apportioned to a city or town may be used to reimburse the locality for debt service for bonds or eligible project costs incurred on approved projects included in the Six-Year Improvement Program of the Commonwealth Transportation Board and the city’s or town’s capital improvement program.

Patrons:  Marshall, D.W. and Merricks

HB 1648 Virginia byways. Requires that every agency, instrumentality, and political subdivision of the Commonwealth must give due consideration to what impact or effect any of its plans or projects might have on any road designated a Virginia byway.

Patron:  Ware, R.L.

HB 1661 Motor fuels tax. Converts the rates of taxation on motor fuels from cents per gallon to percentage rates. The percentage rates shall be calculated by the Commissioner of the Division of Motor Vehicles in an amount that will most closely yield the amount of cents per gallon being charged on the applicable motor fuel prior to the effective date of the bill. Thereafter, the percentage rates would not change, but would be applied against the average price per gallon of the fuel, less federal and state taxes, as determined by the Commissioner of the Division of Motor Vehicles over rolling six-month periods, to determine the cents per gallon to be charged.

Patron:  Scott, J.M.

HB 1669 Individual income tax; sharing with localities. Provides that the Commonwealth shall return to cities and counties 50 percent of the growth in income tax collections for each city or county. The amounts returned shall be expended for school construction costs and transportation needs of the cities and counties.

Patron:  Albo and Rust

HB 1677 Contractor performance bonds for locally administered transportation improvement projects. Provides that whenever any county, city, or town undertakes administration of a transportation improvement project and obtains, in connection therewith, contractor performance bonds that include the Virginia Department of Transportation as an additional insured, the amount of such bonds shall be no greater than would have been required had the Department not been included as an additional insured.

Patron: Orrock

HB 1689 Fraudulently assisting illegal aliens; penalty. Provides that any person who knows an individual is an alien in the United States unlawfully and who, with the intent to violate the immigration laws of the United States, fraudulently assists the illegal alien in acquiring or attempting to acquire a benefit, service, status, or privilege to which the illegal alien is not lawfully entitled, is guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor.

Patron:  Tata

HB 1752 Weight limits for gravel trucks. Repeals the July 1, 2009, sunset on the statute granting trucks hauling gravel, sand, or crushed stone no more than 50 miles from origin to destination in counties that impose a severance tax on coal and gases the same weight limits prescribed for coal trucks. The bill also allows the same overweight permits for trucks hauling coal and coal byproducts to electricity-generation facilities as trucks hauling coal to a loading dock or railroad.

Patron: Carrico

HB 1759 Bonds for transportation projects. Authorizes the Commonwealth Transportation Board to issue bonds in an aggregate amount not to exceed $4.81 billion for specific transportation projects throughout the Commonwealth. The bonds will be paid for by the revenues collected for each project through tolls and other fares or fees.

Patron: Marshall, R.G.

HB 1823 Recordation taxes; basis. Changes the basis on which recordation taxes are calculated on the transfer of real estate to (i) the stated consideration for the real estate, or (ii) when the consideration is nominal or when the sale is through foreclosure or other similar sale, the appraised value of the property. Under current law the basis is the consideration for the real estate or the value of the real estate, whichever is greater.

Patron: Albo

HB 1839 Commercial real estate tax in Northern Virginia used for local projects and construct new roads.  Provides that half of the current special tax on commercial real property in Northern Virginia be used for local projects pursuant to existing law, and half be used to construct new roads or construct new transit, provided that the projects are approved by the most recent long-range plan of the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority. The bill accomplishes this by halving the rate of the special tax under current law (from $0.25 to $0.125) and providing for an additional tax for the new construction of roads and transit at the same rate.

Patron:  Albo

HB 1846 Motor fuels tax; converts rates to percentage that shall be calculated by DMV Commissioner. Eliminates the current seventeen and one-half cents per gallon motor fuels tax and replaces it with a 5% sales and use tax, while retaining the collection of the replacement tax at the rack or terminal (wholesale level) where the current cents per gallon tax is collected.

Patron: Lingamfelter

HB 1848 Performance audit of transportation. Provides for the Auditor of Public Accounts to administer an operational and programmatic performance audit focusing on the agencies within the Transportation Secretariat. The audit will be conducted by a private management consulting firm with a final report to be completed by December 31, 2009. The goal of the audit is to determine an objective and independent cost savings assessment of the Commonwealth’s organizational structure and efficiency of the Commonwealth’s transportation programs to provide information to the Governor and the General Assembly on ways to reduce duplication of effort and implement cost savings measures and programmatic efficiencies in the operation of state transportation programs. Any monetary savings realized from implementation of recommendations of the performance audit will be applied to the Highway Maintenance and Operating Fund. The costs of conducting the audit will be paid from existing appropriations to agencies within the Transportation Secretariat and are not to exceed $4 million.

Patron: Lingamfelter

HB 2019 Transportation corridors. Allows the Commonwealth Transportation Board to establish transportation corridors in connection with the establishment of the Statewide Transportation Plan.

Patrons:  Rust and Albo

HB 2066 Public-Private Transportation Act of 1995. Establishes provisions that apply when a state agency acting as a responsible public entity considers a proposal for a transportation facility. The agency is required to conduct an initial review of competing proposals and present its recommendations to the Commonwealth Transportation Commissioner within 60 days after the required publication period. Following the Commonwealth Transportation Commissioner’s acceptance of the proposal, the agency shall, within 60 days, return to the private entity with a request for a detailed submission, and the private entity shall complete and resubmit the submission within 120 days. A resubmitted proposal shall be acted upon by the agency within 90 days, and negotiations on an agreement shall begin within 30 days thereafter. The procedures apply only to proposals submitted on or after January 1, 2008. The measure also requires the Department of Transportation to (i) complete the detailed phase review and select a private entity with which it will execute an interim or comprehensive agreement for the construction of the Downtown Tunnel/Midtown Tunnel/MLK Extension project no later than January 1, 2010, and (ii) solicit proposals for the improvement of the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel no later than January 1, 2010.

Patron:  Hamilton

HB 2075 Overweight/oversize vehicle permits. Provides that violation of terms and conditions of any overweight or oversize vehicle permit does not void such permit unless such violation involves (i) knowingly crossing a restricted structure, (ii) creating a safety hazard, (iii) the lack of a required escort, (iv) complete deviation from a prescribed route, (v) a violation of a curfew by more than 30 minutes, (vi) noncompliance with axle spacing requirements by more than two inches, or (vii) having fewer than the required number of axles.

Patron: Scott, E.T.

HB 2076 Tolls. Prohibits imposition and collection of tolls for use of (i) Interstate Route 64 between the Virginia Route 143 (Jefferson Avenue) interchange in the City of Newport News and the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel and (ii) Interstate Route 664 between Interstate Route 64 and the Monitor-Merrimac Memorial Bridge-Tunnel.

Patron:  Oder

HB 2079 Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel; unsolicited proposals. Directs the Virginia Department of Transportation to accept unsolicited proposals to add capacity to the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel.

Patron:  Oder

HB 2099 George Washington Toll Road Authority. Creates a toll road authority encompassing the City of Fredericksburg and the County of Spotsylvania for the purposes of alleviating highway congestion, promoting highway safety, expanding highway construction, increasing the utility and benefits and extending the services of public highways, including bridges, tunnels and other highway facilities, both free and toll, and otherwise contributing to the welfare of the Commonwealth and the George Washington Region.

Patron:  Orrock

HB 2117 HOT lanes. Prohibits the designation of HOT lanes on any portion of I-95 between the Potomac River and the City of Fredericksburg.

Patron:  Nichols

HB 2121 Public Procurement Act; verification of legal presence. Requires all public contractors and their subcontractors to register and participate in a federal Electronic Work Verification Program or similar electronic verification of work authorization program to determine that their employees and individual independent contractors are legally eligible for employment in the United States. Contractors and subcontractors are required to verify the employment status of their employees and independent contractors, and are prohibited from employing or contracting with an individual who is determined not to be legally eligible for employment in the United States as determined through the verification of the individual’s status. Contractors who do not register and participate in the registration program are ineligible for prequalification. The measure becomes effective on July 1, 2010.

Patron:  Nichols

HB 2130 Transportation funding. Allocates 10 percent of the annual growth in general fund revenues to highway construction.

Patron:  Miller, J.H.

HB 2158 Charlottesville-Albemarle Regional Transit Authority. Establishes a local transit authority in the Charlottesville-Albemarle area. The Authority shall prepare a regional transit plan for all or portions of those areas located within the City of Charlottesville and all or such portions of the Counties of Albemarle, Fluvanna, Greene, Louisa, and Nelson as their governing bodies desire to have covered, to include, but not necessarily be limited to, transit improvements of regional significance.

Patrons:  Toscano and Landes; Senator: Deeds

HB 2161 Local sales and use tax; additional authorized in City of Charlottesville and Albemarle County. Permits the City of Charlottesville and Albemarle County to impose an additional sales and use tax at a rate not exceeding one percent, provided that all revenue generated from the additional tax is used solely for transit or other transportation projects.

Patron: Toscano

HB 2185 Weight limits for gravel trucks. Extends for two more years the July 1, 2009, sunset on the statute granting trucks hauling gravel, sand, or crushed stone no more than 50 miles from origin to destination in counties that impose a severance tax on coal and gases, the same weight limits prescribed for coal trucks.

Patron:  Phillips

HB 2194 Motor fuels tax; rate increase used for transportation purposes. Increases the motor fuels tax by $0.10 per gallon, minus $0.01 for each $0.20 that the average price of gasoline exceeds $3.00. The tax will be indexed every two years beginning July 1, 2010, by an amount equal to the percentage change in the U.S. Department of Labor’s Producer Price Index for Highway and Street Construction. The revenue generated is used for transportation purposes as required by existing law, and allocates primary system highway construction funds among the nine highway construction districts on the basis of the ratio of vehicle miles traveled on primary highways divided by the lane miles of primary highways in each highway construction district, weighted 90 percent, and a need factor, weighted 10 percent.

Patrons:  Watts; Senator: Ticer

HB 2202 Greenhouse gas emissions; mandatory reporting. Requires that the State Air Pollution Control Board adopt regulations requiring the reporting of greenhouse gas emissions from stationary sources that consume carbon-emitting feedstocks. The regulations would apply only to those sources that emit more than a de minimis amount of greenhouse gas and that are already required to report emissions of other air pollutants. Beginning in 2010, the Virginia Department of Transportation is required to provide the Department of Environmental Quality with data necessary to maintain a greenhouse gas emissions inventory for roads throughout the Commonwealth.

Patron: Vanderhye

HB 2206 Budget Bill; Governor to include funding for transportation. Requires the Governor to include in his Budget Bill funding for transportation in the biennium in an amount equal to at least 10 percent of the amount by which the projected general fund revenues for the biennium exceed the general fund revenues of the immediately previous biennium.

Patron:  Frederick

HB 2217 Board for Architects, Professional Engineers, Land Surveyors, Certified Interior Designers and Landscape Architects; required insurance for certain licensees. Provides that the Board shall, by regulation, require each architect or professional engineer to maintain an errors and omissions policy that is acceptable to the Board and to provide a certification or attestation that such policy is in effect as a prerequisite to license issuance or renewal.

Patron:  Jones (by request)

HB 2250 Severance tax. Adds sand, marl, and gravel to the list of items on which localities may impose the severance tax.

Patron:  Barlow

HB 2319 Overload and overweight permits; revises fees. Revises (increases) the fees for vehicle overload and overweight permits to conform to recommendations of the Virginia Transportation Research Council.

Patron:  Marshall, R.G.

HB 2479 Real property tax rate for transportation. Reduces the rate of the additional real property tax that may be imposed on commercial property by localities embraced by the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority from $0.25 per $100 to $0.125 per $100.

Patron:  Hugo

HJ 620 Constitutional amendment; Transportation Fund, Highway Maintenance and Operating Fund, etc. Requires the General Assembly to maintain permanent and separate Transportation Funds to include the Commonwealth Transportation Fund, Transportation Trust Fund, Highway Maintenance and Operating Fund, and other funds established by general law for transportation. All revenues dedicated to Transportation Funds on January 1, 2009, by general law, other than a general appropriation law, shall be deposited to the Transportation Funds, unless the General Assembly by general law, other than a general appropriation law, alters the revenues dedicated to the Funds. The amendment limits the use of Fund moneys to transportation and related purposes. The General Assembly may borrow from the Funds for other purposes only by a vote of two-thirds plus one of the members voting in each house, and the loan must be repaid with reasonable interest within four years.

Patron:  Oder

HJ 626 Motor fuel tax; joint subcommittee to study replacement with mileage-based fee. Establishes a joint subcommittee to study the desirability and feasibility of replacing the state motor fuel tax with a mileage-based fee predicated on vehicle-miles traveled in Virginia.

Patron:  Poisson

HJ 687 Study; tolling of highways; report. Requires the Joint Commission on Transportation Accountability to develop a plan to toll certain highways.

Patrons:  Rust and Albo

HJ 720 Constitutional amendment (first resolution); Transportation Funds. Requires the General Assembly to maintain permanent and separate Transportation Funds to include the Commonwealth Transportation Fund, Transportation Trust Fund, and Highway Maintenance and Operating Fund. All revenues dedicated to Transportation Funds on January 1, 2010, by general law, other than a general appropriation law, shall be deposited to the Transportation Funds, unless the General Assembly by general law, other than a general appropriation law, alters the revenues dedicated to the Funds. The amendment limits the use of Funds moneys to transportation and related purposes. The General Assembly may borrow from the Funds for other purposes only by a vote of two-thirds plus one of the members voting in each house, and the loan or reduction must be repaid with reasonable interest within four years.

Patron: Marshall, R.G.

SB 834 Public Procurement Act; procurement of architectural & professional engineering service for project. Provides that a contract for architectural or professional engineering services relating to construction projects negotiated by a local public body for multiple projects may be renewable for up to four additional one-year terms at the option of the public body. Under current law such contracts are renewable for up to two additional one-year terms.

Patron:  Locke

SB 900 Contractor performance bonds; pertaining to locally administered transportation projects. Provides that whenever any county, city, or town undertakes administration of a transportation improvement project and obtains, in connection therewith, contractor performance bonds that include the Virginia Department of Transportation as an additional insured, the amount of such bonds shall be no greater than would have been required had the Department not been included as an additional insured.

Patron:  McDougle

SB 1041 Fuels taxes; annually adjusted. Adjusts fuels taxes each year on April 1 by the percentage increase in the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (sales volume weighted), Total Fleet (the CAFE) for the immediately preceding calendar year over the CAFE for calendar year 2008. The first adjustment would occur on April 1, 2010.

Patron:  Hanger

SB 1048 Temporary vehicle registrations; overload and overweight permits; fees. Revises (increases) the fees for temporary vehicle registrations and vehicle overload and overweight permits.

Patron:  Miller, Y.B.

SB 1101 Racing Commission; authorizes wagering on historical horse racing. Authorizes wagering on historical horse racing. The bill also allocates the proceeds from such racing with 37 percent of the proceeds distributed to the Commonwealth Transportation Trust Fund.

Patron:  Herring

SB 1145 Greenhouse gas emissions; mandatory reporting. Requires that the State Air Pollution Control Board adopt regulations requiring the reporting of greenhouse gas emissions from stationary sources that consume carbon-emitting feedstocks. The regulations would apply only to those sources that emit more than a de minimis amount of greenhouse gas and that are already required to report emissions of other air pollutants. To the extent possible, reporting requirements will incorporate standards and protocols developed by other widely recognized and verified greenhouse gas inventory programs. Beginning in 2010, the Virginia Department of Transportation is required to provide the Department of Environmental Quality with data necessary to maintain a greenhouse gas emissions inventory for roads throughout the Commonwealth. The Board is also authorized to establish a voluntary program allowing persons to register voluntary reductions in direct or indirect emissions of greenhouse gases. The voluntary program may include the reporting of reductions in emissions from motor vehicle fleets owned by persons otherwise required to report emissions from stationary sources.

Patron: Whipple

SB 1203 Virginia Public Procurement Act; prequalification for certain transportation contracts. Provides that any contractor who has prequalified and provided the required bid bond for a transportation-related project will not be required to undergo additional scoring or rating of his qualifications.

Patron:  Puckett

SB 1283 Fuels taxes; change in tax basis. Replaces $0.05 per gallon of the current fuels tax on gasoline, gasohol, and diesel fuel with a cents-per-gallon tax equal to five percent of the statewide average wholesale price of a gallon of self-serve unleaded regular gasoline. The change to the fuels tax rate would only occur if the statewide weekly average wholesale price of a gallon of self-serve unleaded regular gasoline falls below $0.99 per gallon.

Patron:  Newman

SB 1397 Virginia Racing Commission; simulcast horse racing; allocations. Authorizes wagering on historical horse racing. The bill also and allocates the proceeds from such racing with fifty percent of the proceeds will be distributed to the Commonwealth Transportation Trust Fund and the remaining fifty percent distributed to other entities.

Patron: Norment

SJ 323 Constitutional amendment (first resolution); Transportation Funds. Requires the General Assembly to maintain permanent and separate Transportation Funds to include the Commonwealth Transportation Fund, Transportation Trust Fund, Highway Maintenance and Operating Fund, Priority Transportation Fund, and other funds dedicated to transportation by general law. All revenues dedicated to Transportation Funds on January 1, 2009, by general law, other than a general appropriation law, shall be deposited to the Transportation Funds, unless the General Assembly by general law, other than a general appropriation law, alters the revenues dedicated to the Funds. The amendment limits the use of Fund moneys to transportation and related purposes.

Patron:  Martin

SJ 361 Constitutional amendment (first resolution); Transportation Funds. Requires the General Assembly to maintain permanent and separate Transportation Funds to include the Commonwealth Transportation Fund, Transportation Trust Fund, Highway Maintenance and Operating Fund, and Priority Transportation Fund. All revenues dedicated to Transportation Funds on January 1, 2010, by general law, other than a general appropriation law, shall be deposited to the Transportation Funds, unless the General Assembly by general law, other than a general appropriation law, alters the revenues dedicated to the Funds. The amendment limits the use of Funds moneys to transportation and related purposes. The General Assembly may borrow from the Funds for other purposes only by a vote of two-thirds plus one of the members voting in each house, and the loan or reduction must be repaid with reasonable interest within the three years. The amendment also limits the use of general and other non-transportation funds for transportation purposes except for certain debt service payments and, additionally, in an amount not to exceed $80 million in any fiscal year.

Patron:  Norment