Saturday afternoon the state Senate voted 25-15 to pass a transportation funding reform bill, approved yesterday by the House of Delegates. It will now go to Gov. Bob McDonnell, for whom the two votes are a major victory. McDonnell made transportation reform a top priority in this, his last session as governor.

The bill as passed is a compromise between the elimination of the gas tax McDonnell initially proposed and higher gas taxes.

It eliminates the state’s 17.5 cents-per-gallon gas tax, applies a 3.5 percent wholesale tax to gas and a 6 percent tax to diesel, raises the state sales tax to 5.3 percent and contains additional taxes for Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads.

Senate supporters said it wasn’t “a perfect bill” but that it should help ease congestion and improve the economy in the two economic-engine regions of the state, Northern Virginia and Tidewater.

“This is truly the best we’re going to be able to get,” said Sen. Janet Howell, D-Fairfax. “If we vote for this I think the quality of life for all Virginians will improve and the business climate will improve.”

Other senators, though, said they couldn’t support the bill’s mish-mash of tax rates and its $100 fee on alternative fuel vehicles.

“I’ve read it, all 109 pages two times over, and while I want to vote for it I can’t bring myself to do it,” said Sen. Chap Petersen, D-Fairfax. “I think this bill is overly complicated … in times it’s contradictory. … I don’t agree with having different tax rates in different parts of the commonwealth.”

Sen. Charles Carrico, R-Grayson, said that while he’s one of the more conservative members of the Senate, he would vote for the bill for the same reason Del. Terry Kilgore gave on Friday — to protect Virginia’s rural regions from changes to the state transportation funding formulas that urban lawmakers have been pushing for years.

That, though, is exactly why Sen. Adam Ebbin said he couldn’t vote for it.

Without changing the Commonwealth Transportation Board representation, Ebbin said, “Northern Virginians will continue to be represented with only the voting rights equivalent to one third of our population.”

In the Fredericksburg region, most senators voted against the bill. Sens. Richard Stuart, Bryce Reeves, Tom Garrett and Jill Vogel were all no votes. Sen. Toddy Puller, a Democrat whose Fairfax district has a slice of Stafford, voted yes.

Stuart said his district covers part of Prince William County, which is considered Northern Virginia for purposes of the regional package in the bill. For Northern Virginia, that means the sales tax will go to 6 percent, and taxes on hotel occupancy and home sales also go up.

Stuart said he hadn’t had any constituents ask him to vote for the bill, but many asked him to vote no.

Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli last night sent lawmakers a written opinion — requested by Del. Ben Cline, R-Rockbridge — that a proposed Medicaid commission may not be constitutional. That opinion won’t be posted online until at least Monday.

Lawmakers Saturday morning were trying to figure out how to move forward, because a Senate vote on transportation hinges on that Medicaid language. Several did not seem happy that Cuccinelli had thrown a wrench into works that had seemed set to run smoothly.

“That’s just one lawyer’s opinion,” said one Republican delegate.

House Minority Leader Del. David Toscano, D-Charlottesville, said he doesn’t think Cuccinelli’s opinion is drawn directly to the Medicaid language as it is written in the budget conference report, which wasn’t done as of last night.

But Toscano also said Cuccinelli’s opinion has political roots, as Cuccinelli opposes Medicaid expansion — and the transportation bill — and is running for governor.

“It’s clear that he is trying to scuttle any effort to move forward on Medicaid and in the process scuttle another major transportation bill,” Toscano said this morning. “The letter, politically, has the potential to undo some pretty major work.”

The commission language in question is a compromise between House and Senate budget negotiators. Democrats want to move forward with Medicaid expansion under the federal Affordable Care Act, while many Republicans do not. In their budget proposals, both houses included language that would authorize expansion if a number of conditions were met, including waivers from the federal government. The House language required the General Assembly to vote next year to authorize moving forward with expansion if all the conditions were met; the Senate’s language didn’t require another legislative vote. The compromise, worked out Friday evening, would assign a 12-member commission, appointed by the House and Senate money committees, to move the expansion forward if all the conditions are met.

Cuccinelli’s opinion says that the General Assembly cannot legally “delegate final legislative authority regarding budget or other matters to a committee composed of a subset of the members of the General Assembly.”

Democrats in the Senate had hinged their support for the transportation funding bill on that Medicaid expansion language, which is why the Senate did not vote on the transportation bill yesterday. They were set to vote today after the Medicaid commission deal last night, but Cuccinelli’s opinion imperils that.

A spokesman for Gov. Bob McDonnell, who has been pushing for a transportation bill but opposes Medicaid expansion, said the governor believes the two issues should be kept separate and the Senate should vote on the transportation bill.

“We are reviewing the opinion,” said spokesman Tucker Martin in an email. “Medicaid and transportation are not connected, and are two completely different policy issues. Some may want to tie the two together, the Governor will not. Yesterday, the transportation bill passed the House with strong bipartisan support. Republicans and Democrats came together to vote for better roads and a stronger economy. This is the closest we’ve been to passing a long-term transportation funding plan for Virginians in 27 years. It is time to act to improve transportation in Virginia, and this is that opportunity. We urge the Senate to vote on the transportation bill today.  This is the last day of the session, and the Governor also expects legislators to pass a budget today as well.”

Democrats yesterday had threatened to vote down the transportation bill — which Gov. Bob McDonnell wants to pass — after McDonnell sent lawmakers a letter reiterating his opposition to expanding Medicaid eligibility (something Democrats want to pass).

The federal health care law would have the federal government pay for the expansion of Medicaid eligibility in states — 100 percent at first, then 90 percent of the cost. But Republicans are wary of such promises, doubting the debt-ridden federal government’s ability to make good on the payments, and insisting that the Medicaid system first undergo some major reforms to let states control costs.

The House and Senate budget proposals have different language on Medicaid expansion. Both would require that the feds promise Virginia a variety of waivers before moving forward with the expansion. The House version gave the General Assembly — which doesn’t meet again until next January — the job of authorizing an expansion, while the Senate allowed the governor’s administration to authorize it.

Under the possible compromise, a 12-person commission, appointed by the House and Senate money committees, would be charged with giving the authorization to move forward with expansion if the waivers and concessions Virginia seeks are granted by the  federal government.

As of mid-afternoon Friday, Del. Kirk Cox, R-Colonial Heights, said the Medicaid language compromise wasn’t quite a done deal, because not all of those involved in negotiations had signed off yet.

But if they do, it could help speed up final negotiations on the package of budget amendments that the General Assembly needs to pass before adjourning tomorrow.

The House of Delegates has passed legislation to revamp the way Virginia raises  revenue for transportation, and now the measure awaits a vote in the state Senate.

The bill, expected to raise about $880  million a year statewide within five years, would provide the first major reform of transportation funding since the gas tax was last raised in 1986.

The House vote was 60-40 for the compromise bill, which has been panned by numerous Republican groups — such as anti-taxer Grover Norquist — and backed by Gov. Bob McDonnell and others who say it is long past time Virginia reformed its transportation revenue sources.

The conference agreement on the bill — backed by Gov. Bob McDonnell — would eliminate the state’s current 17.5 cents-per-gallon gas tax and replace it with a 3.5 percent tax on gas at the wholesale level. The tax on diesel would be six percent.

Also in the bill:

Raise statewide sales tax from 5 percent to 5.3 percent

Titling tax on vehicles goes from 3 percent to 4.3 percent.

$100 fee on alternative fuel vehicles

Relies on money from legislation now before Congress that would make it easier for states to collect sales tax revenue from online sales, but if that bill does not pass by 2015, the agreement contains a trigger to raise the gas tax slightly higher.

The agreement still increases the percentage of general fund money dedicated to transportation, but not as much as McDonnell’s original proposal. It also increases the percentage of money dedicated to education, something Democrats pushed for.

The bill contains additional tax increases in Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads. In Northern Virginia the sales tax would go up to 6 percent, and taxes on home purchases and hotel stays would also increase.

Del. Dave Albo, R-Fairfax, told lawmakers that despite what they’re hearing from conservative activist groups, there’s no way the state could generate the $1 billion or so it needs to improve transportation simply  by dipping into the state’s existing revenues.

He ticked off a list of items funded in the budget — K-12 education, higher education, Medicaid spending, public safety and the $950 million-a-year payment for the car tax cut. When all that is paid for, Albo said, only about $750 million a year is left — not enough.

“Mathematics shows us that there is no money,” he said. “It is mathematically impossible to find a billion dollars in the general fund.”

Del. Terry Kilgore, R-Gate City, said he didn’t want to raise taxes. But he said he and other rural lawmakers fear moves by urban and suburban legislators to change the transportation funding formulas or the transportation board makeup, which would benefit the congested areas of the state at the expense of the rural areas.

Rural areas could help protect themselves, he said, by voting for the bill.

Opponents on the Democratic side have said it doesn’t raise enough money or objected to its increase in the sales tax, which hits Virginians who don’t even drive.

Republican opponents say they don’t believe the state should be raising taxes as much as the bill does.

“Now with the economy so weak, it’s a terrible time to be raising taxes,” said Del. Mark Cole, R-Fredericksburg, one of three Fredericksburg-region delegates voting against the bill.

The other two were Del. John Cox, R-Hanover, and Del. Margaret Ransone, R-Kinsale. Speaker Bill Howell, R-Stafford, Del. Bobby Orrock, R-Caroline, and Del. Mark Dudenhefer, R-Stafford, voted for it.

Unlike many previous years, this year the differences between the House and Senate budgets are not very big. While a small group of lawmakers negotiated the transportation deal over the past few days, staff for the House and Senate money committees have quietly been working on aligning the two budget proposals.

But there’s one big outstanding issue: Medicaid expansion.

The two houses have different budget language regarding the potential expansion. Both would require various waivers and concessions from the federal government before Virginia could move forward with the expansion, but they differ on which branch of government would be authorized to allow the expansion — and when — if those waivers were granted. The Senate’s language would have the state moving more quickly on expansion, a concession to Senate Democrats in the evenly-split chamber. Without Democratic votes in the Senate, no budget can pass.

Today Gov. Bob McDonnell sent the money committee chairmen a letter, warning them that he still opposes the expansion and suggested the waiver language in both budget proposals may not be enough to win his support.

“I am most concerned that some may not fully understand the scope and magnitude of reform I believe is necessary to create the kind of cost-effective Medicaid plan that we can build upon,” McDonnell wrote. “In my view, reform is far more than simply receiving a waiver from the federal government.”

McDonnell said he also wants state-based reforms.

“Please understand that I cannot and will not support consideration of an expansion of Medicaid in Virginia until major reforms are authorized and completed, and until we receive guarantees that the federal government’s promises to the states can be kept without increasing the immoral national debt,” McDonnell wrote.  ”The country is broke, and I will not support policies that make it worse.”

McDonnell’s full letter can be found here: http://www.governor.virginia.gov/utility/docs/20130220144607989.pdf

According to Del. Chris Jones, the agreement would eliminate the state’s current 17.5 cents-per-gallon gas tax and replace it with a 3.5 percent tax on gas at the wholesale level. The tax on diesel would be six percent.

The statewide sales tax would rise from 5 percent to 5.3 percent. The titling tax on vehicles would go from 3 percent to 4.3 percent. The agreement retains the $100 fee on alternative fuel vehicles that Gov. Bob McDonnell had proposed. It counts on money from legislation now before Congress that would make it easier for states to collect sales tax revenue from online sales, but if that bill does not pass by 2015, the agreement contains a trigger to raise the gas tax slightly higher.

The agreement still increases the percentage of general fund money dedicated to transportation, but not as much as McDonnell’s original proposal. It also increases the percentage of money dedicated to education, something Democrats pushed for.

All told the statewide components of the agreement are expected to raise about $870 million a year when fully implemented, Jones said. Lawmakers are also working on two regional components for Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads, hoping to generate about $350 million a year for Northern Virginia roads and $175 to $200 million a year for Hampton Roads.

Jones told reporters this morning that he was “very pleased” to have a deal that he thinks House members can support.

“I feel very confident that we will have a conference report that’s accepted by the House,” Jones said.

He said the lawmakers negotiating on transportation have been in frequent touch with McDonnell, who initiated this year’s push to reform transportation funding and who will have to sign any bill passed by legislators.

The governor, Jones said, “wants to get something done.”

The group met into the evening, finally adjourning to let money-committee staff work out the numbers of the last proposals exchanged by the House and Senate.

The House negotiators had proposed a package of taxes and fees that they said would generate about $870 million a year statewide, plus regional packages for Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads.

That House proposal would replace the cents-per-gallon tax on gas and diesel with a percentage sales tax at the rack. The House also proposed a lower amount of general fund money to transportation than the governor had proposed; a one percent increase in the titling tax; and to return the governor’s $100 alternative-fuel vehicle fee to the bill.

“I think we made tremendous progress in three days. I’m going to hold out hope we’re going to be able to get something tomorrow and meet our deadline,” Del. Chris Jones, R-Suffolk, told the group of negotiators.

“The fact that we’re even here is a dang miracle,” added Del. Dave Albo, R-Fairfax, referring to the number of attempts at transportation funding reform in past years that didn’t get this far.

Albo said the last House proposal meets the primary goal lawmakers started this process with — to create a transportation funding source that grows over time, rather than the current stagnant 17.5 cents-per-gallon gasoline tax that now buys less than half what it did when it was last increased in 1986.

The two sides are trying to bridge two vastly different transportation proposals: the House bill, which is similar to proposals from Gov. Bob McDonnell, and the Senate bill, which is not.

The House bill raises the sales tax and eliminates the gas tax for most drivers, while the Senate bill raises the cents-per-gallon gas tax and applies a sales tax to gas.

The House is reluctant to support larger tax increases, while Senate Democrats want a higher gas tax and are opposed to increase the amount of general fund money going to transportation — something House Republicans insist upon.

Senators also don’t want to eliminate the gas tax entirely, saying that it’s a user fee.

Both sides sounded positive Tuesday evening about the progress of negotiations. They set a Wednesday evening deadline to reach a compromise and were hopeful Tuesday that they could meet it. That would give other lawmakers time to understand it before Saturday’s adjournment.

Albo said earlier in the day that he didn’t want to get a deal, then “plop it in caucus and say you have an hour to read and vote.”

But it’s unclear whether the full Senate and House would agree to whatever negotiators agree to in the end.

Jones said he thinks that if lawmakers “continue to make the progress we have made,” he thinks the votes in the full House and Senate will be there to back the compromise.

“We’re in a better position than we were when we started,” said Sen. Janet Howell, D-Fairfax. “Are we far enough to get votes, I don’t know yet.”

The state Senate has rejected a resolution that originally called for a “joint subcommittee to study the feasibility of a monetary unit based on a metallic standard, in keeping with constitutional precepts and our nation’s founding principles, to facilitate commerce in the event of a major breakdown of the Federal Reserve System or disruption of financial services.”

The House had passed the resolution, from Del. Bob Marshall, in the late and punchy hours of crossover two weeks ago.

A Senate committee had amended it to take out the aim that most appealed to late-night comedians. The new language clarified that “nothing in this resolution shall be construed or interpreted as permitting the joint subcommittee to consider or develop the establishment of an alternative currency for Virginia.”

But without that, several senators said, what was the point of passing the resolution at all?

“If we’re not going to authorize this committee to look at creating an alternative form of currency, then why do we even have the committee?” asked Sen. Chap Petersen, D-Fairfax.

Sen. Ryan McDougle, R-Hanover, said some economists had made a persuasive argument to the Rules Committee that it would be worthwhile to look at issues of currency in the event of, say, cyber attacks.

“The discussion was more around what Virginia would do in case there were issues in the monetary system, not — I repeat, not — the creation of a new currency,” McDougle said.

Petersen said since U.S. currency is handled by the federal government, then he felt it could handle any such issues.

“It seems to me that the currency we use is vested with the United States government … I see no need to study this issue because we’re not going to change it,” he said.

Other lawmakers said they’d rather focus on other issues before the General Assembly, like Medicaid expansion, the budget and transportation funding.

“We’ve got a lot of issues that we’re trying to deal with in this legislature, and this is not one of them,” said Sen. John Watkins, R-Powhatan.

On a 42-55 vote, the House rejected Sen. Bryce Reeves’ bill. They had previously rejected a similar House bill.

Reeves’ bill was originally pretty specific, spelling out the distance — three feet — that motor vehicles had to give when passing a bike, moped or animal-drawn vehicle.

By the time a House committee amended it last week, it only said that a vehicle shouldn’t follow another vehicle more closely than was reasonable and prudent.

In a press release, a group of cycling organizations said Reeves’ bill “simply would have added bicycles to the list of vehicles that cannot be tailgated” and criticized the House of Delegates for killing all bicycle-related legislation this year, two years before Richmond is due to host the World Road Cycling Championships.

“The vast majority of other states have these laws, and once again, Virginia is being left behind due to a stagnant, outdated House of Delegates and their backwards view on universal vehicular safety” said Michael Gilbert of RideRichmond.

Currently, if you’ve had a child or adopted one, and then decide it’s time to get a vasectomy or have your tubes tied, there’s no waiting period. But if you’ve never had a child, state law makes you wait thirty days.

Del. Jennifer McClellan’s bill would eliminate the wait for adults over 18 years of age. She has said the state shouldn’t be mandating a waiting period upon a grown adult’s choice based solely on whether that person has had or adopted a child or not.

Most of the House and now Senate agreed; the bill has passed the House and passed the Senate by a 36-3 vote.

But Sen. Dick Black, R-Loudoun, objected.

“We’re talking about allowing 18 year-old children end their ability to have children for their lifetimes, and end it on a whim,” Black said. “To reduce that to an off the cuff decision that is going to affect their lives is really, really a shameful thing to do. I’m really disappointed that the bill was introduced…. Eighteen years old, my goodness. At 18 you don’t have a clue about such things, and to eradicate your ability to have sons and daughters and to do it at that age is just a mistake”

Sen. Ralph Northam, D-Norfolk, a doctor, said sterilization isn’t that casual of a process.

“To say this is done on a whim and off the cuff … this is something that is not taken lightly, and this is something that a person has to go in and see their provider, have a thorough discussion,” Northam said. “It’s not something that someone would just drop into the 7-11 one day and say ‘I think I’m going to have this done’.”

Sen. Tom Garrett, R-Louisa, weighed in on Northam’s side.

“Oftentimes when we discuss in this body questions of life or rights, we talk about what the appropriate role of government is,” Garrett said. “It is not in my opinion the appropriate role of government to tell citizens what they can and cannot do … It is only reasonable that we should allow people to make these decisions themselves in circumstances where a life is not implicated.”

McClellan’s bill will go to the governor.