According to the Associated Press, the legislature will reconvene on June 23 to discuss a transportation funding package. As noted by the AP, partisan and regional disagreements are enormous impediments to a compromise.
The Supreme Court of Virginia ruled today that the regional transportation plan for Northern Virginia violates the state constitution.
The constitution bars the imposition of taxes by non-elected bodies such as the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority, Justice S. Bernard Goodwyn wrote for a unanimous court. It doesn’t matter that the all but two of the members of the authority are elected officials – representatives of the Northern Virginia localities, two members of the House of Delegates, a member of the Senate and two citizens appointed by the governor.
The designation of the seven taxes and fees and their rates by the General Assembly doesn’t save the proposal either because the authority still has the power to refuse to impose them, Goodwyn said.
The taxes and fees would have provided the revenue for $130 million in bonds designated for transportation projects in the area. They were part of a transportation plan that sharply divided the legislature in 2006 and 2007.
Goodwyn was appointed last year by Gov. Timothy M. Kaine and elected to a 12-year term as a justice earlier this month. Marshall v. Northern Virginia Transportation Authority is his first opinion for the court.
Attorneys for opponents of regional transportation authorities told the Supreme Court of Virginia today that the General Assembly cannot delegate the power to impose taxes to non-elected bodies.
William G. Broaddus, responding for the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority, countered that no delegation is involved because the legislature specified the type of taxes and fees and their amount as a major part of a transportation bill adopted last year. Broaddus conceded, however, that the authority ultimately decides whether to impose those taxes and fees.
Arguing for the opponents, Wesley G. Russell Jr. emphasized that sanitary districts are the only non-elected bodies with taxing powers. That exception proves the rule because members of the sanitary district’s governing body must also be members of the local government, Russell said.
In their questioning, however, members of the court seemed to be concerned about a ruling that would affect the power of what Broaddus described as “literally hundreds of authorities,” such as industrial development and housing and redevelopment authorities, to finance projects through bonds and other means.
The court granted expedited review of the legality of the regional transportation plan and heard arguments barely six months after the legislation took effect and little more than four months after Arlington Circuit Judge Benjamin N.A. Kendrick rejected challenges to it. The court is expected to decide the case on March 2.
The cases are Marshall v. Northern Virginia Transportation Authority, Record No. 071959 and Loudoun County Board of Supervisors v. NVTA, 071979.
The Supreme Court of Virginia has granted expedited review and will hear arguments Jan. 8 on the constitutionality of regional transportation the General Assembly adopted for Northern Virginia.
That means the court will hear two related cases, Marshall v. Northern Virginia Transportation Authority, Record No. 071959 and Board of Supervisors of Loudoun County v. Northern Virginia Transportation Authority, Record No. 01979, barely four months after Arlington County Circuit Judge Benjamin N.A. Kendrick rejected the challenges.
The opponents contend, among other things, that the Virginia Constitution bars an unelected body such as the authority from imposing the taxes proposed to finance the revenue bonds specified for transportation improvements.
The Supreme Court session beginning Jan. 7 has several other cases of note, including the death penalty of a man convicted of killing a Norfolk policeman in October 2005, whether foundations at the state’s teaching hospitals have charitable immunity, and whether submission of scientific reports from the Virginia Department of Forensic Science without testimony from a technician violates the Confrontation Clause of the U.S. Constitution.
Arlington Circuit Judge Benjamin N.A. Kendrick yesterday upheld the new law allowing for the establishment of regional transportation authorities that can issue bonds and impose taxes.
This 2007 General Assembly, as part of a comprehensive transportation package, authorized the creation of authorities in Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads.
Richmond lawyer Patrick McSweeney and the challengers he represents call the plan taxation without representation. McSweeny said he will seek to take the matter to the Supreme Court of Virginia.
The Washington Post has the story.
A group of anti-tax conservative activists filed a lawsuit yesterday in Richmond Circuit Court, challenging the state’s new scheme of “abusive driver” fees and the transportation plan passed by the 2007 General Assembly, reports The Associated Press. The 25-page, 13-count lawsuit was filed by Richmond lawyer Patrick McSweeney.
Plaintiffs in the suit include Del. Robert G. Marshall of Prince William County, former Del. Dick Black and a Warren County woman who could be assessed the “civil remedial fees.” She was cited July 24 for driving 66 mph in a 45-mph zone.
Defendants include Gov. Tim Kaine, Attorney General Bob McDonnell and House Speaker Bill Howell. McDonnell’s office will defend the law.
