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On the Roads, Again

State legislators will return to Richmond tomorrow to again try to iron out a transportation fix that will appease the majority.

But it's up in the air what, if anything, can be accomplished.

The return follows a brief break legislators had after starting their second special session after their regular session ended in March.

Last month, a House of Delegates' committee, made up of a Republican majority, killed the governor's proposal to address roads statewide as well as congestion in Hampton Roads and Northern Virginia.

During the first day of the second special session, House Republicans harshly criticized Gov. Timothy M. Kaine , his proposal, as well as the fact that legislators were returning to start from scratch on plans rather than already having an agreement in place.

Kaine's plan had proposed raising the annual vehicle registration fee by $10 and increasing the sales tax on cars from 3 percent to 4 percent; imposing a 1 percent regional sales tax on goods other than food, medicine or cars in Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads for projects in those areas; and creating a Transportation Change Fund.

Members in both the House and the Senate dickered about whether the transportation plan should take up the needs of the whole state or just the heavy congestion problems Hampton Roads and Northern Virginia. The Virginia Supreme Court dealt a blow to transportation earlier this year when it ruled that regional, un-elected governing bodies do not have the authority to tax residents.

Though the Democrat-controlled Senate approved a plan including a 1-cent gas tax increase, the measure will likely die in the House where members see any tax increase, but especially a gas tax increase, as a bad idea.