Senate Finance Committee at 9 a.m. is where the action is

Folks looking to track the transportation action in Richmond ought to turn their eyes to Tuesday morning's 9 a.m. meeting of the Senate Finance Committee.

This panel holds the purse strings and they are going to be the first lawmakers to vote on any plans during this special session on transportation. The committee met on Monday, but just to have various proposals outlined before them. On Tuesday, Chairman Sen. Charles Colgan, D-Manassas, told members to expect to vote.

Colgan is pitching a plan that would link the state's 17.5-cent gas tax to the consumer price index over 10 years, which he says would raise the gas tax to the neighborhood of 30 cents a gallon. It's certainly a tough sell with drivers paying $4 a gallon for gasoline, but Colgan also uses the bill to phase out the sales tax on groceries, which means out-of-staters help pay and Virginians get a bit of break.

The panel also heard from Sen. Ken Stolle, R-Virginia Beach, who is backing an aggressive statewide tolling plan and Sen. Frank Wagner, R-Virginia Beach, who wants to do more off shore exploration for natural gas. Sen. Ken Cuccinelli, R-Fairfax, is backing a plan that cuts half a penny on the existing sales tax and moves it to transportation - not a popular idea with Democrats. 

Look for Senate Majority Leader Richard "Dick" Saslaw, D-Fairfax, to guide the discussion.   

It's going to be interesting to see what happens tomorrow at Finance, if you want to see who sits on the committee or check out all the bills click here.