So it appears lawmakers have reached an agreement on a $77 billion budget after tenacious negotiations.

However, what the budget contains is not as important to many Virginians as what it does not — a transportation funding plan to replace the fledgling one passed last year. It seems legislators will need to return to Richmond for a special session to craft a compromise.

But will legislators have any more luck than they did in the previous battle to reach compromise last year? Will they be able to avoid the 246-day, taxpayer-funded over time of 2006?

The Washington Post has a good story about how difficult finding a solution might be in the current political environment. The outlook isn’t good. With gubernatorial and delegate elections next year, candidates may be looking out more for their political future than Virginians stuck in traffic.

With last year’s transportation package in shambles, the question now is who will take on the political consequences of raising taxes for transportation projects.

Last year’s compromise relied heavily on taking the political pressure of raising taxes from state legislators. The Hampton Roads and Northern Virginia transportation authorities allowed the state’s most traffic-congested areas to raise regional taxes for regional projects. 

The authorities created an ideal scenario for state legislators and local officials — increase revenue for local projects without voting for tax increases. Only problem? Not constitutional, according to the Virginia Supreme Court.

One proposal circulating is to allow local governments themselves to raise the taxes in these congested regions. Local officials say it’s unfair to make them do the state’s job.

Another proposal is an increase in the gasoline tax — a move shunned by anti-tax Republicans.

Then again, in this economy, passing any tax or fee increase is going to be tough.

While lawmakers figure out a (hopefully constitutional) plan, Virginians will be urgently waiting for a solution — most likely while they’re stuck in traffic.

In an earlier blog, we predicted that 2008 might be the year the legislature’s short-term transportation fix unraveled. Well, it did.

The Virginia Supreme Court ruled today that the regional taxation powers of the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority are unconstitutional because the authority is an unelected body. It looks as if the Hampton Roads Transportation Authority will share the same fate. These authorities would have been able to raise an estimated $400 million and $200 million, respectively, for regional transportation projects.

Lawmakers already starting dismantling the 2007 transportation package this year by striking abusive driver fees, which were supposed to raise about $65 million a year. The Virginia Department of Transportation also recently announced that the slowing economy has lowered estimated revenues over the next six years by $1.1 billion.

The 2007 transportation package is unraveling quickly.

So where do we go from here? Gov. Tim Kaine, Speaker of the House Bill Howell and Attorney General Bob McDonnell have promised to work together to create new laws that work within Virginia’s constitution.

The regional plans paved the way for the compromise package last year - allowing the state’s most traffic-clogged regions to raise money without forcing delegates or senators to vote for raising taxes. But that compromise was reached only after years of bickering that included a 246-day taxpayer-funded session.

Now the economic downturn may make compromise even tougher. There’s less money to go around and increasing taxes while consumers are pinched would be a tough political vote.

A proposal to help the working uninsured could be a fatality of a weakening economy.

Gov. Timothy M. Kaine had proposed spending $7.7 million to help small businesses provide health insurance for poor, uninsured workers.

The budget bill passed by the House Appropriations Committee excluded the program, while the Senate Finance Committee’s version included only $2 million for the program.

Kaine’s proposal would have provided state subsidies for businesses that employed between two and 50 people. Workers who had incomes less than or equal to 200 percent of the federal poverty level (about $41,000 for a family of four) would have been eligible for Kaine’s program.

Under the initiative, the state would pay for up to one-third of employees’ health insurance premiums, while the company and employee would each pay the remaining third.

Lawmakers have had to cut back on spending initiatives in their budgets this year because of a projected $1.4 billion shortfall.

Some of the immigration bills affecting employers have passed one of the General Assembly’s chambers. Now that all bills have “crossover” to the other chamber, here is the status of those bills.

HB90: Allows state regulatory boards to suspend or revoke the license, certificate or registration of a business if it has been convicted of knowingly hiring someone who is not eligible to work in the U.S. Left in Rules Committee.

HB 227: Requires applicants for a contractor’s license to submit a statement promising they will verify employee’s status and not hire an illegal immigrant knowingly. Left in Rules Committee.

HB 926: Allows corporations and LLCs to be dissolved if they are convicted of a pattern of hiring undocumented workers. Corporations would be ineligible for reinstatement for a year. Passed House 98-0 and sent to Senate Committee for Courts of Justice.
HB928: Several measures, including requirement that public bodies and their contractors work with the Department of Homeland Security to participate in federal work authorization program. Requires state agencies offering services to verify the recipient’s immigration status. Left in Rules Committee.

HB 1047: $100 fine each day for a business that employs an undocumented worker. Left in Rules Committee.

HB 1249: Allows employee who is replaced by an ineligible worker grounds to take action against former employer. Left in Rules Committee.

HB 1298: Amended to say that all state contractors must not knowingly hire an illegal immigrant. Passed House of Delegates 96-3. Referred to the Senate Committee for Courts of Justice.

HJ164: Directs the Virginia Commission on Immigration to study how many licensed contractors in the state hire ineligible employees and their effect on the work force and the economy. Left in Rules Committee.

SB90: Prohibits employers from hiring workers before their legal eligibility has been verified. Passed by indefinitely in Senate Courts of Justice Committee.

SB385: Requires applicants for local business licenses to certify they are not employing undocumented workers. Passed by indefinitely in the Courts of Justice Committee.