If the goal of repealing abusive driver legislation is to protect Virginia drivers from burdensome fees, why does the House of Delegates bill also hurt law-abiding car buyers?

The Virginia House of Delegates voted Tuesday to repeal the despised abusive driver fees in a 95 to 2 vote. Yet attached to the bill is a provision that car buyers in Hampton Roads and Northern Virginia would have to pay car sales taxes at the DMV or possibly use a longer online or telephone system.

The move would make it impossible for car buyers to finance the new 1 percent sales tax from the regional transportation authorities. That can mean a hefty upfront bill. Currently, auto dealers can finance the state’s 3 percent sales tax along with the price of the car.

Auto dealers don’t want the additional work of handling the new tax and don’t want consumers to confuse the 1 percent increase with the car’s price.

Perhaps money helped auto dealers’ cause. In 2007, the Virginia Auto and Truck Dealers Association gave $460,362 to state candidates, according to the Virginia Public Access Project.

The bill does not include suggestions on how to make up for the $65 million the fees were supposed to bring in for transportation.

The Senate Finance Committee unanimously passed a bill to repeal the driver fees. Although the bill did not include the provision to require car buyers to pay the new sales tax at the DMV, The Washington Post reported Senate leadership supports the idea.

Gov. Tim Kaine supports a repeal of the fees, but does not support the sales tax provision of the bill. 

The 85-year-old National Theater in Richmond will reopen as a concert hall next month after being closed for 25 years. But one of its owners says restoration of the theater would not have happened if the state didn’t offer historic rehabilitation tax credits. “Without tax credits, it still would be vacant and cold,” said A. William Reid of RIC Capital Ventures.
The building was still a bit chilly last night when the Virginia Department of Historic Resources and APVA Virginia Preservation held a reception celebrating the results of 10 years of tax credits. The event drew more than 400 people including Gov. Timothy M. Kaine, Speaker of the House William J. Howell and House Minority Leader Ward L. Armstrong.
Also on hand was Michael Pratt, director of the VCU Center for Public Policy, which conducted a study of the effects of state tax credits. He offered a few highlights from the survey.
• 93 percent of respondents said the state tax credits were essential to their decision to rehab historic property.
• 65.5 percent said they would not have undertaken their projects without the tax credits.
• Since the tax credits went into effect in 1997, they have resulted in an economic impact of $1.6 billion in the past 10 years, creating 10,769 jobs and generating $46 million in state tax revenue.
In the case of the National Theater, tax incentives encouraged Reid’s group to buy the building for $1.6 million in 2006 from the Historic Richmond Foundation and spend $15 million restoring it to its original appearance.
The theater opened in 1923 as a venue for vaudeville acts and later served as a music hall and movie theater. It closed in 1983 and was scheduled to be demolished when the Historic Richmond Foundation bought it in 1984.
“Orson Wells appeared on this stage,” Reid said. “In a few months, Willie Nelson will do the same.”

The 85-year-old National Theater in Richmond will reopen as a concert hall next month after being closed for 25 years. But one of its owners says restoration of the theater would not have happened if the state didn’t offer historic rehabilitation tax credits. “Without tax credits, it still would be vacant and cold,” said A. William Reid of RIC Capital Ventures.
The building was still a bit chilly last night when the Virginia Department of Historic Resources and APVA Virginia Preservation held a reception celebrating the results of 10 years of tax credits. The event drew more than 400 people including Gov. Timothy M. Kaine, Speaker of the House William J. Howell and House Minority Leader Ward L. Armstrong.
Also on hand was Michael Pratt, director of the VCU Center for Public Policy, which conducted a study of the effects of state tax credits. He offered a few highlights from the survey.
• 93 percent of respondents said the state tax credits were essential to their decision to rehab historic property.
• 65.5 percent said they would not have undertaken their projects without the tax credits.
• Since the tax credits went into effect in 1997, they have resulted in an economic impact of $1.6 billion in the past 10 years, creating 10,769 jobs and generating $46 million in state tax revenue.
In the case of the National Theater, tax incentives encouraged Reid’s group to buy the building for $1.6 million in 2006 from the Historic Richmond Foundation and spend $15 million restoring it to its original appearance.
The theater opened in 1923 as a venue for vaudeville acts and later served as a music hall and movie theater. It closed in 1983 and was scheduled to be demolished when the Historic Richmond Foundation bought it in 1984.
“Orson Wells appeared on this stage,” Reid said. “In a few months, Willie Nelson will do the same.”

The 85-year-old National Theater in Richmond will reopen as a concert hall next month after being closed for 25 years. But one of its owners says restoration of the theater would not have happened if the state didn’t offer historic rehabilitation tax credits. “Without tax credits, it still would be vacant and cold,” said A. William Reid of RIC Capital Ventures.
The building was still a bit chilly last night when the Virginia Department of Historic Resources and APVA Virginia Preservation held a reception celebrating the results of 10 years of tax credits. The event drew more than 400 people including Gov. Timothy M. Kaine, Speaker of the House William J. Howell and House Minority Leader Ward L. Armstrong.
Also on hand was Michael Pratt, director of the VCU Center for Public Policy, which conducted a study of the effects of state tax credits. He offered a few highlights from the survey.
• 93 percent of respondents said the state tax credits were essential to their decision to rehab historic property.
• 65.5 percent said they would not have undertaken their projects without the tax credits.
• Since the tax credits went into effect in 1997, they have resulted in an economic impact of $1.6 billion in the past 10 years, creating 10,769 jobs and generating $46 million in state tax revenue.
In the case of the National Theater, tax incentives encouraged Reid’s group to buy the building for $1.6 million in 2006 from the Historic Richmond Foundation and spend $15 million restoring it to its original appearance.
The theater opened in 1923 as a venue for vaudeville acts and later served as a music hall and movie theater. It closed in 1983 and was scheduled to be demolished when the Historic Richmond Foundation bought it in 1984.
“Orson Wells appeared on this stage,” Reid said. “In a few months, Willie Nelson will do the same.”

Sen. Ken Cuccinelli, R-Fairfax, has shown just how passionate the debate over illegal immigration has become — and how far proposals can go.

Cuccinelli has proposed changing the U.S. Constitution’s 14th amendment to allow U.S.-born children to become citizens only if at least one of their parents is a citizen. Currently any U.S. -born child automatically becomes a citizen regardless of his or her parents’ immigration status.

The Potomac News reported that Cuccinelli will file a Senate Joint Resolution that petitions U.S. Congress to change the 14th Amendment.

You can see the resolution here.

Cuccinelli outlined his proposal during a press conference Monday with Save the Old Dominion, a group that includes many anti-illegal immigration groups around Virginia.