Chap has an excellent rundown of 4 proposals before the Senate on his blog. I encourage everyone to go check it out posthaste.
UPDATE: You can also find a copy of Governor Kaine's speech to the General Assembly here. Some eye opening statistics in the speech:
According to the 2007 Annual Urban Mobility Report by the Texas Transportation Institute, in Northern Virginia, 81% of travelers are trapped in congestion during their drive to work ? wasting more than a 2-week vacation each year. In Hampton Roads, congestion costs taxpayers $467 million each year in lost time and fuel costs. And the problem will get worse.
The part of the speech dealing with the Governor's proposed fixes is below the fold.
That's why I proposed a simple 3-part plan 6 weeks ago, a plan that addresses these needs and does so with some of the same revenue sources that you identified and were willing to support just one year ago. It is not perfect--no plan is--but it addresses the basic needs of our citizens and puts us on a path to solve the transportation problem that has festered for over two decades. It is simple, sustainable and statewide.My first step is to fix the maintenance deficit. We can do it by raising the annual vehicle registration fee by $10 and increasing the sales tax on automobiles (in two steps) from 3% to 4%. These increases are modest--our auto title tax would still be significantly below the national average. And, both houses voted for these identical tax and fee increases as part of the now-defunct regional packages in HB 3202.
My second step is to fix the regional packages by imposing a 1% regional sales tax on goods other than food, medicine or automobiles. This is a different approach than the regional packages from last year--it is easier to collect--but it produces essentially the same amount for regional projects in Hampton Roads and Northern Virginia, projects that will be chosen and financed at the local level. Why do I propose regional sales taxes? I have followed discussions by the regional delegations and believe this approach--discussed with approval by Democratic and Republican legislators in both areas--is a good idea. This approach has also been received warmly by local elected officials in the two regions.
The third step builds upon last year's land use and public transit reforms to promote transportation change going forward. The system of the future will not be the same we have had in the past. We must invest more heavily in rail and public transit, carpooling, teleworking and other innovative strategies for enabling people to get where they need to go with less reliance on automobiles. We also need new industries and the infrastructure to attract them to Virginia. Thus, I propose a Transportation Change Fund, with 75% of the revenue going for new transit strategies and 25% dedicated to projects that have a direct tie to economic development of the Commonwealth. This would be funded by a grantors' tax on property sale proceeds--25 cents for each $100 in value. As you will recall, you overwhelmingly voted for a 40 cent grantors' tax as part of the stricken regional packages in HB 3202.