RICHMOND ? The Senate Finance Committee voted unanimously this morning to approve a bill that would appeal the unpopular "abusive driver"? fees passed by the General Assembly last year.

The action comes a day after the House of Delegates voted 95-2 in support of a similar repeal bill.

"This is the stake driven in this bad boy's heart, so I think we're making progress,"? said Sen. Edd Houck, D-Spotsylvania County, who is the lead sponsor on the repeal bill.

The General Assembly and Gov. Tim Kaine approved the fees, which apply to offenses such as reckless driving and drunk driving, in 2007 as part of a transportation funding plan. But Virginians were outraged at severity of the penalties, which can run as high as $3,000 for a felony offense, as well as the fact that they applied only to drivers with Virginia licenses.

They also brought in much less money than the $65 million annually that had been projected. Through their first six months, only $13 million had been assessed, and only a little more than $4 million collected. Still, a six-year plan by the Virginia Department of Transportation included more than $380 million in estimated revenue coming from the fees.

The Senate committee, however, put off the question of how to fill the projected budget gap left by repeal. It considered three repeal bills that each proposed an increase in the gas tax, but they were conformed to Houck's basic, repeal bill with no gas tax increase.
That doesn't necessarily mean the Senate Finance Committee will ultimately reject a gas tax. It does mean, however, that the committee will likely put off what Sen. Emmett Hanger, R-Augusta County, referred to as "heavy lifting"? until its budget is unveiled in mid-February.

The committee also declined today to include a provision in the repeal bill that would offer refunds for people who have already been assessed the fees since they took effect in July.

There was brief discussion of attaching an "emergency clause"? that would make the bill effective once the governor signs it, instead of waiting until July 1, when most new laws take effect. That was a major point of contention when Republicans and Democrats discussed the repeal last week in the Senate Courts of Justice Committee.

Houck said he doesn't oppose the clause, but says it's a "tactical question,"? since it requires support of four-fifths of each chamber to pass. For now, he said, he wants to hold off on attaching that clause.