With just a few days left of this year’s regular session of the General Assembly, two big issues are still up in the air. First and foremost is the state’s $78-billion biennial budget, which we are crafting in the face of a $2-billion revenue shortfall. The good news is that the budget proposals from the Governor, the Senate, and the House are not all that far apart, and I am optimistic that the final budget will include a serious investment in mental health funding, some expansion a of pre-kindergarten (albeit more modest than I would prefer), and steps to reign in growing college tuition.
The main sticking point on the budget is the House Republican plan to restructure the way we fund public education in future years so that the General Assembly would ignore the actual cost to localities of hiring enough teachers and staff. In heated floor debate over the past week, House Republicans keep trying to change the subject by noting that their proposed budget increases education funding this year and next. While that is true, it completely misses the point: Regardless of whether the state share of education funding this year and next, the new funding system they propose would cut hundreds of millions of dollars from public education for all of the following years. Communities that want to maintain their staffing and quality levels would be forced to come up with the difference on their own by raising real estate taxes. Since the Senate, the Governor, and House Democrats are united in opposition to this shortsighted proposal, I am hopeful that we will be able to remove it from the final budget. Rest assured that I will not vote for a policy change that would gut public education and turn it into an unfunded mandate that will drive up real estate taxes.
Transportation funding has lurched back to the top of the General Assembly’s agenda thanks to last week’s ruling by the Virginia Supreme Court that the bulk of the plan passed last year is actually unconstitutional. The Virginia Constitution holds that only a duly elected body can impose taxes, but the now-invalid plan allowed regional transportation authorities in Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads to impose a hodge-podge of taxes and fees. This was a pre-election attempt by House and Senate Republicans (who controlled both bodies at the time; now Democrats control the Senate) to claim some progress on transportation funding without having to vote to raise taxes themselves.
There are three potential paths out of this mess: 1) Re-open the entire transportation funding discussion and attempt to do it right this time. 2) Amend last year’s plan to allow local governments to raise the same taxes and fees previously imposed by the regional transportation authorities. 3) Vote as a General Assembly to impose the same taxes and fees previously imposed by the regional transportation authorities.
I would prefer that we take this new opportunity to do it right and make the necessary difficult decisions to raise the $1 billion per year in transportation funding needed for Northern Virginia. Unfortunately, that first option is probably a non-starter because it would re-open the conversation about a gas tax increase, which is anathema to the anti-tax conservative Republicans who control the House of Delegates. Local governments strongly oppose the second option where Richmond pushes the tax decisions on them and correctly argue that the General Assembly would be abdicating its responsibility to make tough choices on taxes. The third option would force anti-tax House Republicans on the record either raising taxes or opposing transportation investment, which is something they would rather avoid. Whatever happens, I will be pushing for a pragmatic solution that brings in the money we need to invest in public transit and roads for our region.
As the General Assembly session winds down, please remember that I am here to serve you all year long. I hope you will continue to share your thoughts, ideas, and feedback at DelDEnglin@house.state.va.us or 703-549-3203.
