Virginia Transportation Woes
by Lewis DerkinsJune 30th, 2008, 6:45 pm
It appears that the Virginia legislature has effectively killed Governor Tim Kaine’s transportation plan. For those unfamiliar with the current debacle, Virginia has serious transportation funding problems – or so the state claims. Last year, the state instituted a harsh traffic fine structure designed to “raise $65 million a year [as] part of an effort to improve the state’s roads without raising taxes.”
The problem is that this was extremely harsh on working and middle class people – who understandably hated the proposed increase and nearly revolted to get it repealed, which eventually happened this year.
What exactly made the legislature and the governor think that citizens would be OK with fines that could cost upwards of $3000 for speeding and didn’t apply to out-of-state drivers remains a mystery.
What isn’t a mystery is that the hunger for new money into bloated state coffers continued, and so Governor Kaine and his merry band of misfits attempted to pass the transportation tax another way – through the back door.
As outrage to the proposed fines started to heat up in late June and early July of 2007, Governor Kaine and his minions sensed that they would have to repeal the fines, so they looked to the NVTA, or Northern Virginia Transportation Authority. They basically had the NVTA try to raise the money through a bunch of fees and backdoor fines. Fortunately for Virginians, the Virginia Supreme Court struck down these fines as unconstitutional since they were not levied by a legislative body.
After this little sideshow failed, Governor Kaine called a special session of the General Assembly to address the transportation issues. Thus far, the special session has not gone well with representatives bickering across party lines.
The Governor’s basic argument is that Virginians are willing to pay the tax for better transportation.
As I have addressed in this blog previously – the answer to that is, “no we are not.”
Both parties share the blame for the mess they’ve created, but Republicans in the House have:
called for an independent audit of the Virginia Department of Transportation, saying they want to make sure the agency is spending money efficiently.
Amen.
Before we raise any taxes, we ought to be looking very carefully at how we’re spending the money we currently have. And I would go so far as to say that a review of VDOT doesn’t really lift the rock up high enough for us to see all of the little bugs crawling underneath.
Virginia maintains a directory of all of the state organizations that maintain a website. Go to this list and ask yourself how many of these organizations we really need?
Notice, I said need, not want. The problem with want is that there are too many competing demands and there simply isn’t enough money to do everything we want, even if our taxes were at 80%.
Fiscal responsibility doesn’t start with a “reasonable” or “moderate” plan to raise revenues. First tell me that there is absolutely nothing that we can do without, and then I’ll consider it, but when I look at the state rolls and I see “Motorcycle Virginia,” or a “Virginia-Israel Advisory Board,” I have to ask myself if my elected officials are really being good stewards of my tax dollar.
Remember, I work for it, they don’t.
If we want people to motorcycle in Virginia, make sure the roads work. If we want Israeli businesses to locate here, provide them with good infrastructure and don’t tax the hell out of them. Why are these organizations, or countless others on this list, getting funding if our roads are falling apart. Again, want versus need.
How many of those things will cause the state to come to a grinding halt if they stopped tomorrow? The answer is - very few, but the VDOT is one of them.
It’s time for us to examine what we’re spending our money on before we spend any more. This needs to happen now. It needs to be thorough – across all branches of state government and in all of the dark bureaucratic corners and cubicles. And it needs to be brutal – if we don’t need it, get rid of it.
Posted in Government Workers, Politics, Spending, Tax Increases, Traffic Congestion |
I got no freakin’ problem with jackholes going 20+ mph over posted speed limits getting gigged for a grand or two.
That’s what this “abusive driver fee”, targetted, Lewis.
Not the 5-10mph highway speeder, but those obnoxious, self-centered scofflaws that put us ALL (cyclists, pedestrians AND motorists) at mortal risk.
Though I will agree that it should have also applied to out-of-staters.
Paul C,
I think we can all agree that speeding tickets have their place in our society. For instance, I once received a $350 ticket for driving 81 mph in a 65 mph zone on the Mass Pike. $350 is a lot of money, and it definitely hurt me at the time. Let’s say your average meal costs $7. That’s 50 meals, over 2 weeks worth of food. It was enough of a penalty to cause considerable financial discomfort to me without taking a massive chunk out of my net worth, and was therefore a reasonable punishment. I’ve never driven more that 10 mph over the speed limit on highways since I received that ticket.
$3,000 for driving 20 mph over the speed limit is outlandish.
The amount is completely unmanageable for many Americans. If your average meal costs $7, that means that you could buy 428 meals for $3,000, or over 20 weeks worth of food. That’s approaching half a year’s worth of nourishment for many Americans. A person who makes $10/hour earns $20,800 per year before taxes if he works 40 hours a week for 52 weeks. $3,000 is 14.4% of his yearly gross income, and a much larger percentage of his net income.
And for what? For driving 20 mph over the speed limit? For driving 75 mph in a 55 mph zone, where traffic actually moves along at about 65-70 mph?
Not to mention that the $3,000 price tag wasn’t conceived to reduce speeding and increase safety. It was designed to make up for the Virginia state government’s inability to manage its budget. This whole thing is an exercise in the government desperately trying to dig itself out of a financial hole.
Paul C. –
I think you’re dead wrong on this one. Those $3000+ tickets weren’t just for speeders, they also applied to “failing to stop entering a highway,” “speeding in excess of 80 mph” (routine in DC area traffic – actually dangerous not to go this fast) or “fail to give proper signal”. They also applied to vague things like “drive two vehicles abreast,” “improper control,” “view obstructed,” “drive too fast for conditions”, or, my favorite, “generally”.
Those are just a sample of the 35 violations that could result in those fines (FYI there are also tons of fines that can result in $2000 and $1000+ tickets), and though many are very subjective, the law was written as “shall issue”, not “may issue”. This leaves a lot of discretion in the hands of a police officer – remember they can ticket you for more than one offense - and resulted in some heinous charges - including stories like a pregnant woman fined $1150 for speeding to get to the hospital while having labor pains, (this same article mentions an immigrant having trouble paying bills like Judd references), and an 81 year old woman on a fixed income facing a $1000 fee.
If the state had been doing this for safety, they would have had more of a leg to stand on, but to pass a bill this Draconian to raise revenues when they are hemorrhaging money they already have is ridiculous.
Lewis,
Before you go praising the Republicans for their good work on this issue let me remind you that:
a) A republican, David Albo, is the one who introduced this legislation and
b) The bills passed by 2/3rds in the house and 21 - 18 in the Senate last year when Republicans controlled both chambers.
Lots of Republicans supported this crap too. It’s only when the voters revolted did they start talking about ‘ensuring Virginia’s DOT’ was being managed properly.
http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?ses=071&typ=bil&val=hb3202
Link to legislation and vote.
Dark,
Lewis wrote:
“Both parties share the blame for the mess they’ve created, but Republicans in the House have: ‘called for an independent audit of the Virginia Department of Transportation, saying they want to make sure the agency is spending money efficiently.’ Amen.”
If the Republicans initially supported this legislation, and then changed their tune due to voter anger, that’s great. That’s what legislators should be doing - listening to their constituents.
Good point Judd and I don’t deny that they’ve changed their tune and now have the right view. I will point out that many Dems were opposed to this from the beginning as opposed to having to change just in response to constituent concerns.
I am also all for auditing the VDoT in order to ensure the agency is spending money effectively. I also believe, however, that this is a cynical ploy by Republicans to finally and belatedly find ‘religion’ on govt responsibility after response to their plan (for punitive speeding fines) was overwhelmingly negative.