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Fairfax County leaders are pressing state lawmakers to keep Northern Virginia transit funding alive after legislation authorizing new regional taxes and fees stalled during the 2026 General Assembly session.

County staff told the Board of Supervisors’ Legislative Committee on Feb. 13 that lawmakers were unlikely to act on dedicated transit funding during the session’s remaining month.

Nearly every related bill had been carried over to 2027 as legislators sought more time to examine broader tax reform, according to Noelle Dominguez, coordination and funding division chief for the Fairfax County Department of Transportation.

The remaining proposal, HB 1179 from Del. Kathy Tran, was subsequently left in the House Appropriations Committee after lawmakers took no action before the deadline for bills to cross into the opposite chamber.

Hunter Mill District Supervisor Walter Alcorn, who serves on the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority board, said a longer-term funding solution could still emerge through state budget negotiations.

“It will be a matter of discussion in the budget — those discussions are very much alive,” Alcorn said.

Northern Virginia officials want authority to establish taxes and fees that would cover the region’s portion of DMV Moves, a regional transit improvement plan adopted in November 2025 and endorsed by the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors the following month.

The plan seeks $460 million in dedicated annual funding across Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia. Each jurisdiction would determine how to raise its share.

Although the regional agreement does not bind the General Assembly and the additional funding would not begin until mid-2027, local leaders want action in 2026 to ensure the money will be available on schedule.

Tran’s bill would have imposed additional regional sales taxes in Northern Virginia, along with taxes on rideshare companies, retail deliveries and commercial parking. It also proposed a regional highway-use fee on vehicles statewide that are already subject to the existing fee.

The Virginia Department of Planning and Budget estimated the measures would raise $442.6 million for transit in fiscal 2027 and $492.8 million in fiscal 2028.

Without state authorization for new revenue sources, local governments could be forced to absorb the added transit costs themselves, potentially jeopardizing the broader plan.

Alcorn urged county officials to continue pressing legislators, warning that localities across the region could otherwise face an “extremely painful” financial obligation.

Fairfax County already contributes $65 million annually to subsidize Metro, $47 million for Fairfax Connector service and $7 million for Virginia Railway Express, Dranesville District Supervisor Jimmy Bierman said.

Bierman argued that a broader mix of transit taxes, similar to an approach proposed by a legislative subcommittee in 2025, could reduce pressure on homeowners.

With the 60-day legislative session roughly halfway finished, Mason District Supervisor Andres Jimenez said the window for influencing lawmakers was narrowing.

“Getting word out to our delegates is imperative,” Jimenez said.