Associated Press

Del. Scott Lingamfelter (left), R-Prince William County, speaks to the finance committee as Del. Brian Moran (center), D-Alexandria, and House Minority Leader Ward Armstrong, D-Henry County, listen Tuesday.

RICHMOND -- The General Assembly's special session on transportation moved at a sluggish pace Tuesday, with no signs that a politically divided legislature might reach a compromise on road and transit funding.

The Democrat-controlled Senate took preliminary steps to advance bills that would increase the gasoline tax and other levies to offset a highway maintenance funding shortfall and pump money into mass transit programs. Committees in the Republican-run House of Delegates moved ahead with legislation that included a bill requiring an independent audit of the state's transportation agency, but took no action on a funding package proposed by Gov. Tim Kaine.

"We've taken a number of bills that we thought we could address and worked on them," said House Majority Leader Morgan Griffith, R-Salem, of Tuesday's House committee action.

House GOP leaders have indicated they will not act on Kaine's package (House Bill 6026) until the Senate passes a transportation funding plan. Republican lawmakers have complained because Kaine's measure was introduced only in the House. The bill would increase the vehicle sales tax, the grantor's tax on home sales and vehicle registration fees.

The Senate Finance Committee will vote today on two Democratic bills that would raise statewide taxes for roads and transit and regional taxes for needs in Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads.

A subcommittee endorsed a bill (Senate Bill 6009) Tuesday from Senate Majority Leader Richard Saslaw, D-Fairfax County, that would increase the state's 17.5 cents-per-gallon gasoline tax by a penny a year over the next six years, and also increase the retail sales tax and the sales tax on vehicles. The panel also supported a proposal (SB 6010) by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Charles Colgan, D-Manassas, that would increase the gas tax by about 1.6 cents per gallon over 10 years, increase the sales tax on vehicles and reduce the sales tax on groceries.

The subcommittee showed little support for a bill (SB 6015) from Sen. John Edwards, D-Roanoke, that would apply a 5 percent tax to the wholesale price of gasoline.

With the House and Senate at odds over transportation funding, some Western Virginia lawmakers have raised concerns about efforts to steer more road-building funds to Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads and away from other areas of the state. Kaine last week said of such proposals: "I don't think that's helpful to Virginia."

In the House, Del. Ward Armstrong, D-Henry County, voiced frustration that Kaine's bill is being held up in a session that is costing about $20,000 a day.

"It would seem to me that the quicker we get about the business of dealing with some of these bills --including the bill the governor sent down -- the better off the taxpayers will be," said Armstrong, who is sponsoring Kaine's bill.