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1996 SESSION

963515753
SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 110
Offered January 22, 1996
Establishing the Joint Subcommittee Studying Financing of Major Transportation Projects.
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Patron-- Walker
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Referred to the Committee on Rules
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WHEREAS, it has long been the goal of the General Assembly that transportation needs be assessed objectively and scientifically, both for the present and into the future; and

WHEREAS, it is a similarly well-established policy that prudent provision be made well in advance for funding these needs; and

WHEREAS, because of their very substantial impact, both on transportation system users and on the financial mechanisms established to meet transportation system construction needs, there is a particular need to foresee the need for and provide means to finance large-scale transportation construction projects; and

WHEREAS, funding such large-scale construction projects through the existing resource allocation structures and mechanisms could result in funding inequities and systemic disequilibrium; and

WHEREAS, it is thus very desirable that needs for such major transportation construction be identified as early as possible and that careful consideration be given to the desirability and feasibility of providing a specialized financing mechanism to ensure adequate revenues to cover the large costs of these major projects; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED by the Senate, the House of Delegates concurring, That there be hereby established the Joint Subcommittee Studying Financing of Major Transportation Projects. The Subcommittee shall consist of 21 members appointed as follows: the President pro tempore of the Senate; two members of the Senate Committee on Finance to be appointed by the Co-Chairmen of the Senate Committee on Finance; two members of the Senate Committee on Transportation and two citizens of the Commonwealth, to be appointed by the Senate Committee on Privileges and Elections; the Speaker of the House of Delegates; and two members of the House Committee on Appropriations, two members of the House Committee on Finance, two members of the House Committee on Roads and Internal Navigation and two citizens of the Commonwealth, to be appointed by the Speaker of the House of Delegates. The Secretary of Transportation, the Commonwealth Transportation Commissioner, the Director of the Department of Rail and Public Transportation, the Director of the Department of Aviation, and the Executive Director of the Virginia Port Authority shall serve as nonvoting members.

The Joint Subcommittee shall (i) identify those major transportation system construction projects whose construction will be required over the next 25 years, (ii) determine the amount of additional transportation revenue required over that period to cover these costs, and (iii) propose appropriate means of raising and allocating needed revenues.

The direct costs of this study shall not exceed $ 13,000.

The Senate Finance Committee Staff and House Appropriations Committee staff shall provide staff support for the study. The Secretary of Transportation, with the assistance of agencies under his direction, is requested to provide such technical assistance as the Subcommittee may require. All agencies of the Commonwealth are requested to provide assistance to the Subcommittee upon its request.

The Joint Subcommittee shall complete its work in time to submit its findings and recommendations to the Governor and the 1998 Session of the General Assembly as provided in the procedures of the Division of Legislative Automated Systems for processing legislative documents.

Implementation of this resolution is subject to subsequent approval and certification by the Joint Rules Committee. The Committee may withhold expenditures or delay the period for the conduct of the study.