By Douglas Holtz-Eakin
The young drop coverage to avoid higher premiums
Independent voices from the TWT Communities
Civil liberties and privacy advocates in Virginia are incensed over a state study's recommendation to continue research on technology that tracks the specific location of state-issued license plates — a move proponents say would help police and toll operators more readily identify potential scofflaws.
Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell's pledge for big solutions this year to Virginia's perpetual transportation problems has stalled in the House and Senate, with both chambers advancing significantly watered-down versions of his agenda despite Republicans' stronghold on the General Assembly.
An emergency bill to overhaul the makeup of the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, which oversees the Washington region's two airports and the Dulles Metrorail project, failed Thursday to garner the four-fifths vote necessary to clear the Virginia House.
A bill that would bring Virginia law in line with recently-enacted federal legislation changing the makeup of the embattled Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA) advanced in the Virginia House of Delegates Wednesday, over objections that the measure was being rushed.
An analysis by a nonprofit tax-policy institute says that Maryland and Virginia could have collected hundreds of millions of dollars per year since their last gas-tax increases if they had raised the tax regularly to account for inflation.
The government apparatus in Virginia will extract $38.6 billion in taxes, fees and charges from the public this year. As the General Assembly convenes the 2011 regular session today, some lawmakers are suggesting this considerable sum isn't enough. They want more wealth transferred from consumers' pockets into Richmond's coffers.
RICHMOND (AP) — Balancing a state budget thrown out of whack by a softening national economy and tepid revenue collections is the biggest challenge facing legislators at the procedural midpoint of the 2008 General Assembly.
"We're not oblivious to the privacy-rights people," he said. "We're gradually learning how to write legislation so that it protects private information. Virginia's one of those states where we don't rush into things. We're going to make certain it's right. But, definitely, automated reading of license plates is going to have to be [developed] if we're going to continue with the tolling activity that's already in existence."
"The last thing I want to do is have us in the advertising business and discover we're paying for it," quipped Delegate Joe T. May, Loudoun Republican and chairman of the House Transportation Committee.
In Virginia legislature, transit measures not in express lane →
