Government Affairs

General Assembly Update

December 11, 2013

The following transportation bills have been prefiled for the upcoming 2014 General Assembly session:

HB 2 (Stolle):  Allocation of Transportation Funding:  Provides that funding allocations for the Northern Virginia highway construction district and the Hampton Roads highway construction district be made by giving priority to the projects expected to provide the greatest congestion reduction relative to the cost of the project and that funding allocations for the seven other highway construction districts be made by giving priority to either (i) the projects expected to provide the greatest congestion reduction relative to the cost of the project or (ii) the projects that promote economic development and promote commerce and trade. The bill provides for the choice to be made by each locality within the seven highway construction districts and for each highway construction district to determine the majority choice and submit it to the Commonwealth Transportation Board. Allocations by the Board using the priorities in the bill will begin July 1, 2015.

HB 3 (Cline):  2013 Session Omnibus Transportation Bill (HB 2313).  Provides that all provisions of the 2013 Session omnibus transportation bill (HB 2313), which established state taxes and fees and regional taxes and fees in Hampton Roads and Northern Virginia; expire on July 1, 2014. HB 2313 provided for the revenues from such taxes and fees to be used primarily for transportation funding in the Commonwealth.

HB 4 (Surovell):  Annual License Tax on Hybrid Electric Motor Vehicles. Repeals the $64 annual license tax on hybrid electric motor vehicles that was first imposed beginning July 1, 2013. The bill also provides for refunds of the license tax paid on hybrid electric motor vehicles for registration years beginning on or after July 1, 2014.

HB 40 (Robert Marshall):  Motor Fuels Tax Rates. Repeals the provision in the 2013 transportation funding bill (HB 2313) that will increase the motor fuels tax if the United States Congress has not enacted legislation granting the Commonwealth the authority to compel remote sellers to collect state and local retail sales and use tax for sales made in the Commonwealth by January 1, 2015.

HB 68 (Danny Marshall):  Transportation Funding. Changes the dates on which certain scheduled increases in sales and use tax revenue to the Highway Maintenance and Operating Fund would not take place if Congress does not enact a law permitting states to require certain out-of-state retailers to collect and remit state sales and use tax from fiscal years 2016 and 2017. Under current law, scheduled increases for fiscal years 2016 and 2017 would not occur if Congress does not enact such law by January 1, 2015. The bill would halt the increase for only fiscal year 2017 if Congress does not act by January 1, 2016.