McDonnell pleased with session; eyes roads, higher education

Mar 16, 2010 — Richmond Times-Dispatch

Tyler Whitley and Olympia Meola

Mar. 16, 2010 (McClatchy-Tribune Regional News delivered by Newstex) -- Gov. Bob McDonnell is claiming an 80 percent success rate in his first legislative session. With the budget crisis resolved he'll now turn to other substantial challenges facing his administration.

The new Republican chief executive said the General Assembly session fulfilled his top priorities -- balancing the budget without a tax increase, job-creation initiatives and reforms in education.

But as he dismissed the legislators Sunday, McDonnell repeated that he is not through with them yet. If he can find a consensus beforehand, McDonnell said he will call the legislators back to Richmond later this year to address transportation.

Segments of his transportation-funding plan were approved by the General Assembly this session, including raising the speed limit on stretches of some state roads to 70 miles per hour and diverting part of future proceeds from offshore drilling to transportation.

He's also indicated that he could call a special session on restructuring state government.

Pushing ahead on another of his campaign pledges, McDonnell plans to issue an executive order in the next two weeks to create a Governor's Commission on Higher Education Innovation. The panel will develop recommendations and timetables to implement his higher education agenda -- including the goal for state colleges and universities to grant 100,000 additional associates and bachelors degrees over the next 15 years.

As McDonnell bid farewell to lawmakers over the weekend, he said he may propose selling $500 million in transportation bonds before the year is up. Those bonds would come from a $3 billion bond issue that was adopted by the 2007 General Assembly. The bonds have never been sold because there were insufficient revenues to back them up.

The largest battle during the governor's first legislative session was over the budget. While no taxes were raised, the General Assembly authorized about $95 million in fee increases, over the objections of the Republican Party's anti-tax faction. And the budget was balanced using about $620 million in funding from the Virginia Retirement System.

Ben Marchi, director of the anti-tax Americans for Prosperity, said "it's regrettable" that fees had to be increased in a time of economic uncertainty, but he is pleased that the fee increases were tied to state services.

"I am thrilled that the budget has been returned to 2006 levels," Marchi said.

McDonnell's job creation initiatives, relying on tax credits to lure industry, totaled about $46 million. McDonnell had sought more than $50 million.

His marquee education reforms passed, albeit significantly weakened, including an effort to make it easier to open more public charter schools. In McDonnell's original proposal, the gubernatorially appointed Virginia Board of Education was authorized to overrule a local elected school board on granting a charter. Push back from education groups spurred a compromise that strengthened the state board's role but kept final say with local boards.

Early in the session, McDonnell was criticized for taking a hands-off approach to the budget -- legislators said they wanted some guidance -- but that criticism hushed when McDonnell proposed severe budget cuts. He personally lobbied on the budget and for his education proposals, even giving each lawmaker his cell phone number.

Dan Palazzolo, political scientist at the University of Richmond, noted that McDonnell did not address the state's most pressing problem -- transportation.

With the preoccupation over the budget, "I'm not sure he could have tackled transportation," Palazzolo said.

Overall, Palazzolo said McDonnell's low-key style appears to have served him well.

"He managed to get a budget without a tax increase, that's an accomplishment," he said.

Newstex ID: KRTB-0177-42922539