Steve Burns
WMAL.com
WASHINGTON – (WMAL) Virginia Congresswoman Barbara Comstock’s long-awaited bill to reform Metro is out, and it’s likely to draw scrutiny from many different angles. The legislation drastically increases money from the federal government given to Metro, but only if the contributing jurisdictions – Maryland, localities in Virginia, and the District – get on board with major changes to Metro’s governance and labor practices.
“It’s really the biggest reform to Metro since its inception,” Comstock told WMAL. “In exchange for some considerable reforms, there are substantial reforms that meet the levels of funding that the General Manager, Paul Wiedefeld, has said are needed.”
Chief among those reforms is jettisoning Metro’s current 16-member Board of Directors, and replacing it with a leaner five-member Reform Board.
“We’ve given broad latitude to the control board, working with (the Department of Transportation), to identify other reforms that would save money,” Comstock said.
The change comes on top of a similar recommendation from former U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, who prepared a report at Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe’s request endorsing the idea of a reform board. Comstock’s board composition, however, differs in its makeup from LaHood’s idea.
LaHood’s board plan calls for Maryland, the District, Virginia, and the federal government to each appoint one member, then all four would agree on the fifth member. Comstock’s legislation calls for the fifth member to be chosen out of a pool of candidates submitted by the federal government.
“The federal government is putting substantial resources in here long-term,” Comstock said.
Her bill would increase federal funding from $75 million to $225 million per year, contingent upon Maryland, Virginia, and the District also each increasing funding by $25 million, totaling $75 million per year.
Comstock painted her bill as a “consensus document,” drafted in consultation with the region’s business community. However, the bill might start seeing scrutiny among the region’s Democrats based on the labor changes Comstock calls for. The five-person board would have the power to void or change existing union contracts. The bill also includes transitioning union pensions to a 401k plan, something Comstock called a common business practice, and limiting overtime.
“Given this is a budget crisis Metro is in, we want to be able to control costs, but we want to be able to make sure we are respecting and professionalizing the work force,” she said.
LaHood’s report, set to be officially released Tuesday, found Metro’s labor costs are not out of line with other major transit systems. In addition, two Maryland Congressmen, Jamie Raskin and Anthony Brown, both Democrats, recently introduced a bill to give Metro’s unionized workforce increased protections.
The changes could also require reopening Metro’s founding document, known as the compact. Any changes to the compact require consensus among lawmakers in Maryland, Virginia and the District, a process many believe would take years to accomplish. Some, including LaHood, Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe, and D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, believe the reform board can be established without reopening the compact, if the current board voluntarily steps aside.
In simpler terms, Comstock said her bill is about making Metro more efficient, and thus, helping the trains run safely and on time.
“We’ve provided these resources as an incentive, obviously,” she said. “The region can decide if they would like to go in this direction in order to get substantial federal resources.”
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