“Tweaks” to Virginia’s transportation bills push local governments to pay their fair share for transit

After a whirlwind General Assembly session during which the Virginia legislature reviewed thousands more bills than ever before, Governor Ralph Northam finally had his chance to weigh in. Although the vast majority of amendments proffered were technical in nature, where the Governor did alter bills the changes he sent back to lawmakers were significant — including making sure local governments maintain their transportation funding as the state rolled out huge plans for rail and other public transit.

No change is good change

Northam’s expansive transportation omnibus choc-full of goodies such as a new statewide passenger rail authority and a pilot program for zero-fare transit remained largely unchanged. Tweaks to the bill were mostly technical or added in policy that was agreed upon in debate and negotiations but not reflected in the formally adopted language.

Such items include a slightly lower diesel tax for a year, an affirmation that the new rail authority can enter into interstate compacts, and an acceleration of recordation taxes for localities outside NoVA. The lack of major changes to the governor’s signature transportation legislation was well received by the Capital Region’s business community.

“The comprehensive transportation legislation that Governor Northam worked hand-in-hand with General Assembly leaders to pass this year provides a national example of how to modernize, optimize and improve the performance of our transportation system,” said Joe McAndrew of the Greater Washington Partnership. “From adding additional funding resources for statewide multimodal investments, to increasing funding for Northern Virginia and Richmond metro areas to address their critical transportation investments, this year’s work marks another banner year for Virginia that will generate strong returns for many years.”

Although Virginia continues to spend around three-fourths of its state transportation dollars on new highway and road construction—much to the chagrin of industry think-tanks like Transportation for America, environmentalists too ended the session feeling positively about the bill.

“This transformative legislation includes a record increase in funding for public transportation and rail, which we strongly supported,” said Trip Pollard of the Southern Environmental Law Center. “An even higher share of funding needs to go to these cleaner alternatives, since transportation is the number one source of climate pollution. The governor did not propose such an amendment, but the administration was strongly behind the record increase the bill does contain.”

Regional revisions

Where the governor’s amendments truly show their force was in a suite of regional transportation funding bills affecting the three main metro areas of the Commonwealth’s Urban Crescent: NoVA, Greater Richmond, and Hampton Roads.

After Republicans used millions from the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority (NVTA) in 2018 to plug a hole in the Washington Metropolitan Area Transportation Authority (WMATA) budget, the missing money has been a persistent thorn in NoVA’s side. Some of Northam’s amendments delay till May 2021 regional tax increases meant to restore the funds, but the show of good faith won the Governor fans outside the Beltway.

“Because of the economic impacts of COVID-19, the flow and receipt of the $50 million may be slower than originally anticipated, or that anyone would like,” said Monica Backman—Executive Director of the NVTA. “However, the most important thing is the recognition that the Authority needs the funding restoration to address the region’s critical, multimodal transportation infrastructure needs.”

For the first time ever public transportation in Hampton Roads got its first source of dedicated dollars, but the 757’s new funding stream could have been all for nought without a key amendment from the governor. Northam’s addition of a 100% maintenance of effort requirement means localities will have to hold current transit funding steady. Absent such a clause, advocates feared localities would simply eliminate their regular transportation funding and count on the new regional dollars to offset their cuts.

The fear isn’t unfounded. Despite numerous promises from Central Virginia’s localities that they would continue to boost their transportation funding even if they got a new regional revenue stream, budgets from both the City of Richmond and Henrico County slashed money for the Greater Richmond Transit Company — the region’s only public transportation provider — by half as soon as the Central Virginia Transportation Authority (CVTA) deal was signed. Two key amendments from the administration, however, have helped make this bad deal an easier pill to swallow.

“Adding a requirement that potential regional projects to be funded be prioritized is a common-sense step that should promote more objective and transparent decisions,” said Pollard. Smart growth advocates had requested that all new regional transportation projects be vetted through Virginia’s award-winning SMART SCALE scoring system. “Unfortunately, the Governor’s amendment did not go farther to specify criteria to be used in prioritizing projects, such as safety and environmental quality,” he said.

The unamended version of the CVTA would have allowed localities to cut GRTC’s annual funding by up to 75% by July 2021. Northam’s changing of the maintenance of effort date from this year to July 2019 should at least help stop the bleeding. On this count also transit advocates and environmentalists alike were cheered by the changes the administration championed.

“Requiring localities to maintain at least 50% of their current transit funding significantly reduces the amount they could cut in the bill as passed,” said Pollard. “Localities should maintain 100% of current transit funding — and the amount of regional funds that go to transit should be far higher than the bill provides given the limited system in the Richmond area, but the Governor’s amendment will at least limit the cuts.”

The amendments help move transportation in Virginia forward

With government budgets across the country in crisis and the Commonwealth’s transit in tatters, Virginians can at least take comfort in the fact that their state leadership is working to improve their mobility through both big bills and small tweaks.

“The Governor’s amendments to these major transportation bills were almost all positive,” said Pollard. “He didn’t go as far as we would have liked, especially in ensuring that more of the new funds go to cleaner transportation. But given where the General Assembly stood on these issues, he definitely improved upon what was already a transformative session for transportation in Virginia.”

Northam’s historic 3.7 billion dollar rail deal with CSX last December marked a distinct turning point on transportation policy in the Commonwealth. After being long ignored by state leaders, boosting Virginians’ mobility (both physically and economically) seems to have become a cornerstone of the current administration’s strategy to keep Virginia’s status as a top place to do business.

“Our transportation network is a critical investment in connecting residents to jobs and opportunities, and in light of the COVID-19 virus, our transit systems have been an essential resource for front line workers accessing health care facilities, grocery stores and other critical jobs,” said McAndrew. “As we move into a recovery stage of this pandemic, the state’s transportation system will be central to our strength in moving forward.”