Issue Position: Transportation

Issue Position

Congress must provide the long-term predictability that states need to undertake major construction projects. The short-term extensions to the highway transportation law have been necessary to keep current projects running. However, comprehensive transportation legislation is needed.

The safety of our nation's highways and bridges must be improved. Among other things, a finalized transportation plan must encourage private investment through public-private partnerships so that we can use the least amount of taxpayer dollars and accelerate the construction of priority projects.

Believes states need to be provided more flexibility and regulatory certainty to determine their own unique infrastructure priorities, including highways, bridges, tunnels, economic development sites, recreational trials, and walking and bicycling paths.

I am troubled by the roughly 10,000 preventable deaths each year in the U.S. caused by alcohol-related driving incidents. As a former practicing attorney, I have witnessed firsthand the devastation caused by alcohol-related driving incidents, and I support law enforcement efforts that prevent, apprehend, and penalize those responsible.

Actions

Introduced H.R. 2947, the Commonsense Permitting for Job Creation Act, with Rep. Robert Hurt and Senators Tim Kaine and Mark Warner to prevent the Army Corps of Engineers from blocking permits for industrial parks and other economic development sites that do not yet have an identified end user. The Corps was blocking a permit for the Commonwealth Crossing Business Centre in Henry County, which is a proposed development to attract in new industry and create jobs. By working together, we were able to convince the Army Corps to finally grant this permit so Henry County can begin the work of developing the sites and attracting new businesses into Southside and Southwest Virginia.

Voted to support H.R. 4348, MAP-21, to authorize spending on federal highway, transit, and other surface transportation programs through September 30, 2014. The legislation expedites the approval of transportation projects by streamlining the environmental review process. The bill also eliminates or consolidates current programs and gives states the necessary flexibility to use federal funding to best meet their own transportation needs. Also supported H.R. 5021, the Highway and Transportation Funding Act of 2014, to prevent a shortfall in highway funding, ensure its solvency, and make sure road projects can continue until May 31, 2015.

Voted to support H.R. 1765, the Reducing Flight Delays Act, to end the avoidable flight delays that were associated with President Obama and the Federal Aviation Administration's failure to utilize flexibility that existed to implement budget cuts from the Budget Control Act.

Cosponsored H.R. 2414, the Black Box Privacy Protection Act, which would clarify that a vehicle's owner also owns the event data recorder's (EDR) data and that the information may not be accessed without the owner's permission or without having obtained a valid, properly-issued search warrant. It also would require manufacturers to provide consumers with the capabilities to control the EDR's recording function, in other words, you could turn it off. I want to ensure that the American people have more control over their own information -- be it phone records or the information collected by a vehicle's EDR.

Contacted the Virginia Department of Transportation and members of the Commonwealth Transportation Board to express my support for the Henry County Alternative route, which is the proposed alternative alignment to the I-73 Adopted Location Corridor (ALC). This alternate route will provide critical benefits, bring significant cost and time savings, and help spur economic growth in the City of Martinsville, Henry County, and throughout Southside.

Opposes certain NAFTA long-haul trucking provisions. For instance, foreign truck drivers have less incentive to pay traffic fines they receive on U.S. highways. A comprehensive record of a foreign truck driver's safety violations can be difficult to obtain. Finally, unfamiliarity with local terrain (like our hills and mountains) can lead to more accidents and increased frustration.

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