But Kaine offered no guarantee of new revenue sources for the well-documented problems if he wins the job in the November election. Kaine, the Democratic nominee, rolled out a multi-faceted plan that calls for protecting transportation revenue sources from legislative raids, coordinating transportation and land-use planning, making greater use of rail, and cracking down on drunken drivers and teen drivers who use cellphones.
Neither Kaine nor Republican nominee Jerry Kilgore have proposed new taxes for roads, despite pleas for funding from some major business groups and other advocates for a comprehensive, long-range transportation plan. The commissioner of the Virginia Department of Transportation told a key state Senate committee last month that maintenance costs are growing at nearly twice the rate of gas tax revenues and could consume all of Virginia's highway construction funds as early as 2018. Virginia spends more than $4 billion annually on transportation.
Kaine said he would not consider increases in the gas tax or other transportation-related levies until the General Assembly takes steps to safeguard the state's transportation trust fund, which supports road-building, mass transit and port and airport construction.
"I'm not going to talk about new revenue as long as the transportation trust fund has a hole in it," Kaine said in a conference call with reporters. "You don't pour more money into a bucket that has a leak in it."
The General Assembly in 2002 diverted about $300 million in dedicated sales tax revenue from the trust fund to the general fund to help cover a budget shortfall. Since then, several legislators and Kaine have advocated a constitutional amendment prohibiting the practice. Kilgore also has called for an amendment prohibiting raids on the trust fund.
A constitutional amendment must be passed by consecutive legislative sessions separated by an election before voters can consider it in a referendum. The earliest an amendment could be passed by the General Assembly and put on the ballot would be 2009.
Kaine said Thursday that he also will honor a commitment to dedicate proceeds from taxes on auto insurance proceeds to transportation, embracing a practice begun by the General Assembly in 2000 but used sporadically since then. Kaine said the 2000 agreement created a public expectation that the premium tax proceeds would go toward transportation, even though that revenue now goes to the state's general operating fund. The commitment would guarantee $966 million in transportation funding over six years, he said.
Kilgore's campaign accused Kaine of hypocrisy on that point, noting that the Democrat has repeatedly attacked Kilgore for advocating greater use of general fund dollars for transportation.
Kilgore wants to generate additional transportation funds by increasing fines for serious driving violations and habitual offenders. He also has called for the creation of regional transportation authorities that would have the power to issue bonds, hold referendums on tax increases and use other financing methods for road and transit projects.
"We're completely taking a new approach to transportation that's never been done before," said Kilgore spokesman Tim Murtaugh.
Senate leaders also have begun work on a transportation plan, creating a bipartisan commission of legislators and citizens to develop a long-range proposal to put the transportation program on solid financial footing.
State Sen. Russ Potts, R-Winchester, who is waging an independent bid for governor, called the Kaine and Kilgore plans "pure pabulum." Potts said he will outline his own plan after Labor Day, advancing a detailed proposal that will include cost projections and funding strategies.
"I'm extremely disappointed with both candidates for their lack of vision," Potts said. "They exemplify that old saying, 'Say nothing, do nothing, be nothing.'"
Kaine also signaled support for increasing rail capacity to help improve conditions on Interstate 81. And he said he would create rural planning organizations - similar to metropolitan planning organizations - to help regions better coordinate transportation and land-use planning.
"For too long, we've had a system of 134 jurisdictions making land-use decisions without considering their next-door neighbors," Kaine said.
Kaine said he would seek to improve road safety by further increasing penalties on repeat drunken drivers, prohibiting open containers of alcohol in cars, and banning the use of hand-held cellphones by teen drivers. Legislation to enact a cellphone ban for drivers younger than 18 failed in this year's General Assembly session.
