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Governor Kaine Calls Special Session of General Assembly for March 27
– Urges Legislators to Continue Working Toward Long-Term, Statewide Transportation Solution –

RICHMOND – Governor Timothy M. Kaine today ordered a special session of the General Assembly to begin on Monday, March 27, 2006, and urged legislators to use the upcoming two-week break to continue efforts to produce a long-term, statewide, transportation solution that protects funding for education, public safety, health care, and job creation.

“I have traveled to every corner of the Commonwealth since my election last November, talking to Virginians about transportation. Our people sent us here with a very clear message: to step-up and face our statewide transportation challenges by guaranteeing better accountability with their money, to create a better connection between land use planning and transportation, and to find a source of long-term, reliable and dedicated funding for transportation,” Governor Kaine said.

“The Legislature has protected the Transportation Trust Fund this year, and it will remain secure throughout my term through my veto power. I also will continue to work for a permanent solution through a constitutional amendment,” the Governor said. “Together, we have made major strides this session in land use and transportation planning. We must continue to work to find dedicated funding sources for a statewide transportation program that protects public education, public safety, and public health programs.”

Governor Kaine indicated that he would continue to travel the state, talking to Virginians about transportation, and he urged lawmakers to use the two-week break to return to their districts to discuss the issue with local government officials, business leaders, teachers, public safety personnel, health care providers, and other working Virginians.

In addition, Governor Kaine highlighted the bipartisan success of his 2006 legislative agenda, which included major initiatives in education, social services, workforce retraining, transportation and health care. The Governor’s legislative package included successful legislation to:

• create an Economic Crisis Strike Force for Virginia workforce investment;
• put Virginia on a path to increase teacher salaries, linked with greater accountability measures for teacher performance;
• allow health care insurance pools for small business owners;
• strengthen faith-based services within the Virginia Department of Social Services;
• fight methamphetamine use by codifying limits on precursor ingredients;
• create the New College Institute to expand higher education opportunities in Southside;
• better coordinate land use and transportation planning by giving localities the authorization to require traffic impact statements, empowering localities to transfer development rights, and by strengthening local revenue sharing programs in transportation; and
• immediately respond to allegations of price gouging that incite a public panic, implementing a lesson learned from responding to Hurricane Katrina.

“These are meaningful achievements for all Virginians, made possible by the hard work and a spirit of bipartisan cooperation with members of the General Assembly,” Governor Kaine said.

You may also download a copy of Governor Kaine's farewell statement to the General Assembly during its regular session (pdf, 59 k)

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Legislative Achievements in 2006 Session

Economic Crisis Strike Force
HB 1499 (D. Marshall/D. Jones)
SB 535 (Hawkins/Miller)

Create a response mechanism to economic disasters, define what constitutes such disasters, and include an emergency clause. The bills codify the Strike Force, which is activated by the Governor and chaired by the Secretary of Commerce and Trade.

New College Institute
HB 517 (Armstrong)
SB 40 (Reynolds)

Establish the Institute in the Martinsville area as a broker to work with other public and private institutions for providing instruction with the support of the community, the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV), the Virginia Community College System (VCCS), and the Administration.

Teacher Salaries/Accountability
SB 324 (Whipple)

Sets a goal of having sufficient salaries to attract highly qualified teachers. It also requires teachers with continuing contract status to be evaluated regularly.

Faith-Based Community Services within DSS
HB 1213 (Moran)
SB 730 (Herring)

Strengthen faith-based services within the Department of Social Services by giving the agency responsibility for coordinating offers of assistance from faith-based organizations during natural disasters. This legislation implements lessons learned from responding to Hurricane Katrina.

Pooling of Health Insurance
HB 761 (Hamilton)

Authorizes small employers to form associations to obtain group health insurance coverage for their employees. The small employers that are members of such an association shall be deemed to constitute a single entity for purposes of premium rates and issuance and renewal of coverage. This will allow smaller employers to obtain more competitive rates.

Meth Ingredients
SB 146 (Deeds)

Codifies restrictions on precursor ingredients for methamphetamines implemented by emergency order in 2005. These restrictions have helped cut down on methamphetamine production.

Traffic Impact Statements
SB 699 (Houck)

Creates a process for sending comprehensive plans, amendments, and rezoning and subdivision/site plans to VDOT for its review. This allows VDOT to enforce regulations to create a traffic impact analysis when a project requires it. It supports coordination for state and local transportation planning efforts. The legislation also requires localities to prepare and consider a traffic impact analysis prior to approving zoning amendments.

Transfer of Development Rights
SB 373 (Watkins)

Allows localities to provide for the transfer of development rights from a parcel of property located in the locality to another parcel of property located elsewhere in the locality.

Real Property Tax Assessment
SB 731 (Herring)

Provides homeowners with more information for understanding their real property tax assessment notices and for participating in local government meetings on real estate tax changes.

Price Gouging
HB 1094 (Amundson)

Allows the Governor to issue an emergency order to stop immediately price gouging that incites a public panic. This bill implements lessons learned from the gas supply shortage that resulted from Hurricane Katrina.