Joe May Reopens Rail To Dulles

Del. Joe May is revisiting the question of rail to Dulles from the beginning, thanks to an amendment to the state budget he authored.

An amendment to the proposed House of Delegates 2008 budget, which passed the House Appropriations Committee Sunday, directs Secretary of Transportation Pierce Homer to "resolicit competitive proposals" for the rail project. According to amendment author Del. Joe May (R-Loudoun), reworking the stalled project would get it moving again.

"What I was trying to do here was just get us started again. ... We seem to have bogged down; we're just exchanging letters," May said. - The Fairfax Times

Loudoun (and Fairfax) should not get too excited, however. The budget as it exists today is merely a policy proposal, since the House of Delegates, Senate and Governor all have different ideas about the final state of the budget. Thus, the ultimate budget that will be passed will not contain all of the items currently in the House of Delegates version.

Nonetheless, competitive bidding is a very good idea for any large-scale public project. Now, if only Del. May would introduce similar budget language mandating underground lines. After all, Dulles Rail will not affect his constituents for at least a decade, but the coming Dominion power lines are an issue today.

(With a tip-o-the-hat to RaisingKaine.)

[update] And just in case you thought the House of Delegates budget was a serious proposal for binding legislation in Virginia, and not a policy proposal document the House has slipped a stem-cell research ban into their version of the budget. If Dulles rail and stem-cell research provisions could be added at the last minute, why not underground lines?

Maybe it just isn't a priority for our Delegate.