Government Affairs

General Assembly Update

February 2, 2012

HOUSE REPUBLICANS KILL TRANSPORTATION FUNDING MEASURES

Voting as a block, the Republicans on the House Finance Subcommittee #2 voted to kill three transportation funding measures:  HB 422 (Watts, D-Annandale) would have raised a variety of taxes that would have provided significant long-term sustainable funding for transportation; HB 802 (May, R-Leesburg) created the pump toll and would have raised over $150 million a year for maintenance; and, HB 393 (Howell, A., D-Norfolk) would have increased the gas tax 10 cents a gallon. The Subcommittee is chaired by Delegate Hugo (R-Fairfax). It is the same Subcommittee that voted to kill Delegate Putney’s bill that would have allowed a referendum to raise the sales tax one cent with the proceeds going to transportation, education and mental health. Republican members that voted against the bills included: Hugo (Chairman), Ware, R.L., Byron, Anderson, Garrett, and, Bell, Richard P.

HB 1241 (Purkey, R-Va. Beach) that would require the indexing of the gas tax has yet to be voted on by the Subcommittee.  VTCA worked with the patron to have this bill introduced.

Several transportation funding bills have yet to be heard in the Senate, including SB 631 (Watkins, R-Chesterfield) which would index the gas tax.  VTCA worked with Senator Watkins to introduce this bill.

COMPROMISE POSSIBLE ON MECHANICS LIEN BILL

HB 1265 (Purkey R-VA. Beach) provides that a mechanics’ lien claimant must send to the property owner written notice of his intent to file a memorandum of lien and a copy of the memorandum at least 60 days before filing the memorandum with the clerk of the court. The clerk shall not accept or record any memorandum of lien that is filed prior to the expiration of the 60-day period or that is not accompanied by a copy of the notice sent to the property owner.

While this bill does not affect transportation projects, VTCA recognizes that it could significantly impact our members that do commercial and vertical construction or supply materials to those projects.  We oppose the bill and met yesterday with the patron to see if we could reduce the scope of the bill.  The patron expressed a willingness to work with us to do so. We will keep you posted.

BILLS VTCA IS ENGAGED WITH ON BEHALF OF ITS MEMBERS

High Priority Bills

Monitored Bills