On Monday, Governor Warner’s staff released to the House Appropriations Committee Virginia’s base budget for 2006-2008 biennium, and in doing so, announced that he would be cutting $290 million in transportation dollars, and $50 million designated for Chesapeake Bay clean up (environmental, water quality funding). These cuts will negatively affect Virginia’s transportation funding and efforts to protect the environment, thus un-doing the good work done by bipartisan members of last years General Assembly session.

It's almost every day that I talk about the need to lock-up the Transportation Trust Fund. Well, here's a great example why. Governor Warner is attempting to raid it again!

The Warner plan would remove the annual deposit of the insurance premium revenue from the Transportation Trust Fund.

The Virginia Transportation Act of 2000 gives one-third of the insurance premium revenue to the Priority Transportation Fund creating $107.6 million for transportation in the 2005 session. Last year, the General Assembly placed the insurance premium money into the Transportation Trust Fund and acknowledged that this would be an ongoing contribution. Governor Warner’s new proposal will remove this annual contribution to the Transportation Trust Fund.

Last year, the General Assembly successfully enacted the largest increase in transportation funding in more than a decade -- nearly $850 million initiated. These new Warner budget cuts, if left uncorrected, will result in a reduction of over $1.0 billion in the six-year transportation plan (the plan that outlines new transportation construction projects). This would severely slow down new road construction in Northern Virginia.

Additionally, the Warner plan removes the general funds debt service payment pledged to retire the $317 million FRAN debt.

The removal of the FRAN (Federal Reimbursement Anticipation Notes) fund is inconsistent with the language in the amendments made in 2005 to the 2004-2006 budget which stated, “It is the intent of the General Assembly that general fund appropriation to the Priority Transportation Fund shall include the amounts required to offset the debt service payment requirements on the Transportation Trust Fund attributable to the $317,000,000 of the Federal Reimbursement Anticipation Notes until such debt has been retired.” These FRANs cannot be retired prior to their maturity and general funds will be required until 1013 for debt service.

In plain English, this means that if general funds are not available to pay debt service, then transportation revenues will be used to pay the FRANs debt service which will reduce the number of future road projects.

The Warner plan would eliminate necessary water-quality/environmental funding.

Warner's 2006-08 base budget removes $50.0 million to reduce the nutrients discharged by wastewater treatment plants located in the Chesapeake Bay watershed.

As originally proposed by the House of Delegates, $500 million over a period of 10 years would have been deposited to the Water Quality Improvement Fund (WQIF) to address the nutrients discharged by the 120 wastewater treatment plants listed as “significant dischargers.” The legislation approved by the 2005 General Assembly established a policy requiring the Commonwealth to provide the financial support necessary to support these grants, to plainly, clean up the most important environmental asset in Virginia: the Chesapeake and its tributaries.

I am extremely disappointed that the Warner Administration would try and undo the hard work of the General Assembly. Please contact Governor Warner and urge him not to cut important transportation and environmental funding out of the 2006-2008 budget.