Introduction:  A Successful Legislative Session
Moving Forward on Transportation
The Costs of Doing Nothing
The Kaine Transportation Plan
Conclusion:  What You Can Do

Introduction:  A Successful Legislative Session   

Good afternoon.  Thank you for the opportunity to speak today.  It’s a pleasure.

Congratulations to Chairman Marion Myers and the new board members of the Reston Chamber.  The outgoing members have done an outstanding job and I am sure your service will meet their standard.

And I would also like to extend greetings to Senator Janet Howell and Delegate Ken Plum, two good friends and strong leaders who work hard and serve you well in the General Assembly. They played an important part in the success we had in this year’s legislative session.  And I have no doubt they will be an important part in helping us move forward on the unfinished work of this legislature:  transportation.

I am proud of the success that my administration had during its first legislative session.  We moved Virginia forward on a number of issues that are tangible in the everyday lives of working Virginians.

In the area of education, we continued the progress we began during the budget reform of 2004 and increased K-12 education funding by more than a billion dollars.  We took important steps in attracting and retaining the best teachers for our children by raising their pay by four-percent and mandating regular performance evaluations to ensure that our classroom educators are getting the professional development they deserve.

We also made progress on an issue that I consider a key priority:  early childhood education.  We are investing more than $100 million in early childhood programs, including the Virginia Early Childhood programs and efforts aimed at our at-risk four-year-olds.  We will continue this progress over the coming years as my Start Strong Council works to find the best locally driven and designed Pre-K programs that meet local needs and can be expanded to see that every four-year-old in Virginia has access to high-quality Pre-K.

I was pleased to sign into law a measure that will help small businesses better afford health care by uniting through chambers of commerce and other professional organizations and form pools and negotiate better coverage rates.  This is not a panacea.  But it is an important step in reinforcing the American model of accessing health insurance through the workplace.  One out of every seven Virginians is uninsured.  The majority of the uninsured work full time and typically works for a small business.

We also took steps in our continued effort to make Virginia’s tax code fairer for families and business.  We reduced the tax on technology service contracts that saddled our tech firms with a competitive disadvantage with those in other states.  We also created a sales tax holiday for parents purchasing school supplies.  And we successfully pushed a property tax reform measure that ensures home owners receive accurate information about how changes in their property tax assessment will affect their total tax bill.

We have created 2,665 new jobs and $374 million in new investment across Virginia using tools like the Governor’s Opportunity fund and other state incentives.

And we are making progress on transportation.

Moving Forward on Transportation   

After decades of nothing but planning and talking, we are moving forward on a plan that will bring Metrorail to Dulles Airport.

The agreement Virginia has signed with the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority concerning the Dulles Corridor will – compared to all the other plans put forth – provide the best value for Virginia assets, including construction management for the rail project. 

It will ensure that money raised in the corridor through tolling will be tied solely to improving that corridor.  It ensures that the Metrorail system will be expanded from the East Falls Church station through Tysons Corner to the Dulles Airport and finally to Route 772 in Loudon County.  It includes prospects for meaningful private sector participation.  In short, this partnership is a cutting-edge solution that will diversify the options and expand the capacity of a corridor that is vital to the entire Northern Virginia region.

We are also moving forward with unprecedented reforms to land use and transportation planning process.  VDOT will begin providing traffic impact statements for every new rezoning request, so local officials have timely and accurate information from which to make zoning decisions.  We also approved a revenue-sharing measure that allows state and local governments to work more closely on some projects, granting local leaders more decision-making authority and responsibility for project construction.  We are also giving local communities more tools to guide development into more efficient patterns, while protecting property rights with the transfer of development rights.

But as you well know, the legislature’s work on transportation remains unfinished.  The need for a long-term, reliable, stable transportation plan – a need that state leaders universally agreed upon back in January – remains unmet.

The Senate of Virginia has done their part, submitting plans for a long-term solution.  You’ve done your job, talking to your Delegates and Senators, making clear the impact that our transportation challenges are having both on your ability to make a living and your quality of life. 

I have proposed a comprehensive transportation plan based on transportation-specific user fees.  And I traveled across the state, talking to people in nearly two-dozen town hall meetings making clear the challenge and the possible solutions.

We are now waiting for the House of Delegates to do their part, to be as good as their word, and to keep their promise to return to Richmond this year and find a long-term solution to Virginia’s long-standing transportation challenges.

The Costs of Doing Nothing   

What quickly became clear as I talked with people across Virginia was that the cost of doing nothing is simply too high.

Doing nothing means Virginia’s Six-Year road plan released in 2010 will be limited to maintenance and matching federal dollars on specific projects.

Doing nothing means Virginia will begin losing federal transit funds in the plan that same year, because we can’t offer matching funds. In fact, the Metro matching grant proposed by Congressman Davis could be jeopardized by General Assembly inaction.

Doing nothing means Virginia will begin losing federal highway funds in just five years, because of no matching funds.

Localities already feel that.  In the new Six Year Road Plan, secondary road funding for Fairfax County is 36% less than it was last year.  That threatens important projects like the widening of Route 7 for connection with the Reston Parkway.

And doing nothing means that Virginia will be unable to add new Metro and VRE rail cars.

These reductions are neither hypothetical nor imaginary.  They are real and if we do nothing, they will occur.  The longer we wait, the more challenging – and more expensive – the solution will be.

In fact, the delays in reaching a long-term transportation solution are even causing us to move backwards in some respects.  Contractors who were in the process of offering bids for a third tunnel crossing in Hampton Roads are now backing off from the project out of a concern that Virginia isn’t serious about meeting its transportation needs.  That project is essential not just for daily life in the area, but also for evacuations plans for a region that is no stranger to hurricanes and tropical storms.

The Kaine Transportation Plan   

I believe Virginia’s transportation network needs an additional $1 billion a year to maintain what we have and to build the system we will need to meet the needs of a growing Virginia in the 21st century.  General Assembly leaders from both parties and both chambers agreed with that assessment at the beginning of the year.

The plan I offered during my first week in office meets that need.  It is funded through user fees.  And it includes money not just for roads, but also for key rail and transit needs.  Of particular interest to Reston, my plan includes significant improvements to Metro Rail cars and telecommuting programs.

My transportation plan continues the VDOT reforms that we have making over the last four years, allowing us to improve the agency’s on-time and on-budget figures from 20% and 51% respectively to the current figures of 84% and 86%.  That improvement was felt just recently when the first span of the new Wilson Bridge was opened on time and the smooth transition of moving the flow of traffic onto it.   

And though I have already locked up the Transportation Trust Fund and will protect it from legislative raids through my term, my plan also includes a constitutional amendment to permanently protect the fund.  That’s something the Senate endorsed during the regular session and the House refused to consider.

The financial component of my plan is carefully built on three principles.  First, the investment had to be significant, state-wide, reliable and long-term.  Second, the General Fund – the fund that pays for schools, deputy sheriffs, nursing home care and natural resources – should not be diverted to transportation.  School books should not compete with asphalt for the same dollars.  It’s not the Virginia way.  And third, the money to improve the system should come from those who use it.

With those principles in mind, my plan modestly increased the fees charged on insurance premiums, registration for heavier vehicles, vehicles sales and abusive drivers.  I made clear at the time – and state again today – that I consider those strong options for boosting transportation resources and would be glad to consider different ideas from lawmakers, provided they met those principles.

My plan would increase local highway construction funding by 90%.  It would double the investment we make in mass transit.  And it would address our growing maintenance backlog and keep up with Virginia’s aging roads and bridges.

Virginia now waits for the House of Delegates to earnestly engage in this dialogue; to consider my transportation plan; to pass on the Senate transportation plan, legislation that has sat for two months in the House Finance Committee; or to offer their own statewide comprehensive transportation plan.

Repeatedly through the spring and summer, the House of Delegates has promised to come back and be part of a long-term transportation solution.

We take them at their word.

Conclusion:  What You Can Do   

So what can you do?  What role can you play in helping us find that long-term solution?  I urge you to recommit yourself to making the case to delegates and senators that doing nothing on transportation is unacceptable and so is raiding the General Fund to pay for transportation.

Losing 72 hours of your life this year in as a Northern Virginia commuter is unacceptable. Missing soccer games, school plays and other family activities because of traffic is unacceptable. Seeing companies decide against expanding – or even worse, seeing companies leave the region and the state – because of traffic is unacceptable.

And urge your legislators to be as good as their word, to keep their promise, to return to Richmond and be part of a long-term transportation solution that includes long-term, significant, reliable funding.

Thank you for listening.  Thank you for your help and I urge you to remain involved and be part of the transportation solution we are seeking.

# # # #