Virginia lawmakers moved Tuesday to withhold $150 million in funding for Dulles Rail if the authority in charge of the project forces contractors to use a union-friendly labor agreement.
Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling used his tie-breaking vote in the Senate for the first time Tuesday to side with Republicans in favor of a bill that would prohibit the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority and other state-funded entities from requiring that contractors use union-friendly project labor agreements.
MWAA, whose leaders said at their most recent meeting that they would prefer to hire union-friendly contractors for the $2.8 billion second phase of the rail line, may have to choose between $150 million in state funding and the mandatory agreement if the governor signs the bill into law, as he has promised to do.
A similar bill also passed the House of Delegates Tuesday.
"All this bill does is have free and open competition for everybody," said Del. Barbara Comstock, R- McLean and one of the bill's sponsors. "The taxpayers and our citizens will get the best deal."
Democrats opposed the bill, arguing it was unnecessarily hostile in a state that is already right-to-work.
Tuesday's labor bill wasn't the only one that could shape the future of the Dulles Rail project.
Del. Tom Rust, R-Herndon, is joining three Democrats to sponsor a budget amendment that would provide $500 million in state funding for the second phase of the rail line -- far more than the $150 million Gov. Bob McDonnell had promised. The money would offset the amount that Dulles Toll Road users would have to pay toward the rail project. For Rust, it's a regional issue.
"The rationale is quite simple. In the governor's budget, his proposal is almost $900 million to reduce tolls in [other parts of the state] and only $150 million to reduce the construction costs of [Dulles Rail]," he said. "We're just asking to be treated equally."
The House of Delegates split earlier this month along party lines when Del. Joe May, R-Leesburg, tried to pass an emergency initiative allowing McDonnell to appoint two new members to the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, the board overseeing the construction of the Dulles rail project. Democrats said they wanted more time to consider the bill.
Now, a non-emergency measure that would allow the new members to be appointed in July is likely to pass the House of Delegates with some Democratic support, officials said.
Examiner staff writer Steve Contorno contributed to this report.
