An emergency law to allow Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell's two new picks to take their seats on the board of the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority was tabled in the General Assembly last week.
The law would make Virginia law comperable to recently enacted federal legislation that gives Virginia two new seats on the board. Virginia leaders in the past complained that the MWAA board was unresponsive to local concerns about the ballooning cost of the Dulles Rail project, which MWAA oversees.
MWAA leaders opposed the federal rule and issued a legal opinion saying that Virginia and the District of Columbia would also have to change their laws before they would allow the new board members to vote.
So McDonnell decided to play ball.
The new Virginia law, introduced by Del. Joe May, R-Leesburg, at the request of McDonnell, would need 80 percent approval from both the House of Delegates and the Senate if it is to go into effect immediately.
But it met with delay this week in the House of Delegates.
“My friends on the other side of the aisle had some questions regarding it, but I think we’re getting it resolved," May said.
He said some delegates were puzzled about why the bill had to be passed immediately.
“I think it was really 'What’s the big hurry? Let’s talk about this a little bit,'" May said.
May said he expects the emergency bill to clear the House of Delegates in the upcoming week. Even if it doesn't, May said, Republicans, who hold the majority, will be able to pass it as a non-emergency bill so that it goes into effect in July.
