CHAPTER 631

An Act to protect and further the public interest, economy, safety and
convenience by means of the provision of transportation facilittes,
highways and other modes of transportation; to this end to provide
for the creation of transportation districts and the powers and duties
thereof and to declare the need for action in relation thereto and
to certain facilities; to define terms; to provide for the incorpora-
tion and name of transportation districts, transportation commts-
sions, and membership on the foregoing; to provide for the status
of the State Highway Commissioner concerning such districts and
commissions; to provide for the membership, and terms and compen-
sation of members, of transportation commissions; to require certatn
meetings of commissions and how certain action may be taken; to
prohibit conflicts of interest and provide penalties; to prescribe how
monies and accounts shall be kept; to set forth the powers and func-
tions of district commissions; to authorize component counties ana
cities to appropriate funds to such commissions and to set forth other
matters concerning budgets, costs and expenditures; to set forth the
powers and duties of counties and cities embraced within a transporta-
tion district; to provide for jurisdiction and venue in relation te
certain proceedings; to provide for the acquisition of certain rights-
of-way by the State Highway Commissioner; to provide how the
liability of component counties and cities may be fixed; to provide for
cooperation with certain agencies; to fix the non-liabilty of
the State; to provide for certain relevant plans, processes and pro-
cedures, the adoption of transportation plans, and other matters wn
connection therewith; to provide for the enlargement or contraction
of transportation districts and the effect thereof; to set forth the
governmental nature of certain actions and civil labilities tn con-
nection therewith; to provide for the construction of the act; and to
repeal certain acts and portions thereof. HL 816)

Approved March 31, 1964

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:
ARTICLE 1

General Provisions
§ 1. Short Title.— ;
This act may be cited as the “Transportation District Act of 1964”.
§ 2. Declaration.—
The development of transportation systems, composed of transit fa-
es, public highways, and other modes of transport, is necessary for
orderly growth and development of the urban areas of the Com-
wealth, for the safety, comfort, and convenience of its citizens and
the economical utilization of public funds. The provision of the nec-
ry facilities and services cannot be achieved by the unilateral action
1e counties and cities and the attainment thereof requires planning
action on a regional basis, conducted cooperatively and on a con-
ing basis, between representatives of the affected political subdi-
ns and the State Highway Commission. In those urban areas of the
monwealth which are contiguous to other States, and together form
ngle metropolitan area, solutions must be jointly sought with the
ted political subdivisions and highway departments of such other
2s. Such joint action should be conducted in a manner which pre-
as, to the extent the necessity for joint action permits, local autonomy
patterns of growth and development of each participating political
diction. The requisite joint action may best be achieved through
levice of a transportation district, having the powers, functions and
s hereinafter set forth in this chapter. In the provision of improved
xpanded transit facilities, it is the policy of the Commonwealth to
2 use of private enterprise to the extent reasonably practicable.
§ 3. Definitions.—
As used in this chapter, the following words and terms shall have
following meanings, unless the context clearly requires a different

ling:
(a) “District” means a transportation district authorized to be
ed by this chapter;

(b) “Commission” or “District Commission” means the governing
of a district;

(c) “Agency” or “such agency” means an agency authorized by, or
ng from action of, the General Assembly of Virginia to plan for or
ide transportation facilities and service for a metropolitan area
partly located in Virginia; .

(d) “Component governments” means the counties and cities com-
prising a transportation district and the various departments, bureaus
and divisions of such counties and cities.

(e) “Governing bodies” means the boards of supervisors of counties
and councils of cities comprising a transportation district. _ .

(f) “Metropolitan area’? means a standard metropolitan statistical
area as defined in the pamphlet Standard Metropolitan Statistical Areas,
issued by Executive Office of the President, Bureau of the Budget, 1964.

(g) “Person” means an individual, partnership, association, corpo-
ration, or any governmental agency or authority.

(h) “State” includes the District of Columbia. _

(i) “Transportation facilities”, “transit facilities” or “facilities”
mean all those matters and things utilized in rendering transportation
service by means of rail, bus, water or air and any other mode of travel,
including without limitation tracks, rights of way, bridges, tunnels, sub-
ways, rolling stock for rail, motor vehicle, marine and air transportation,
stations, terminals and ports, areas for parking, buildings, structures and
all equipment, fixtures and business activities reasonably required for
the performance of transportation service, but shall not include any such
facilities owned by any person, company, association or corporation, the
major part of whose transportation service extends beyond a transporta-
tion district created hereunder.

ARTICLE 2
Creation of Districts

§ 1. Creation of Districts.—

Any two or more counties or cities, or combinations thereof, may,
in conformance with the procedure set forth herein, or as otherwise may
be provided by Law, constitute a transportation district and shall have
and exercise the powers set forth herein and such additional powers as
may be granted by the General Assembly. A transportation district may
be created by ordinance adopted by the governing body of each partici-
pating county and city, which ordinances shall (1) set forth the name
of the proposed transportation district (which shall include the words
“transportation district”), (2) shall fix the boundaries thereof, (3) shall
name the counties and cities which are in whole or in part to be em-
braced therein, and (4) contain a finding that the orderly growth and
development of the county or city and the comfort, convenience and safety
of its citizens require an improved transportation system, composed of
transit facilities, public highways and other modes of transport, and
that joint action through a transportation district by the counties and
cities which are to compose the proposed transportation district will
facilitate the planning and development of the needed transportation
system. Such ordinances shall be filed with the Secretary of the Com-
monwealth and upon certification by that officer to the governing bodies
of each of the participating counties and cities that the ordinances re-
quired by this chapter have been filed and, upon the basis of the facts
set forth therein, satisfy such requirements, the territory defined in
such ordinances, upon the entry of such certification in the minutes of
the proceedings of the governing bodies of each of the counties and
cities, shall be and constitute a transportation district for all of the
purposes of this chapter, known and designated by the name stated in

the ordinances.
ARTICLE 3
Incorporation; Commission
§ 1. Incorporation of District: Name and Style.—
Each transportation district created pursuant to this chapter, or pur-
suant to an act of the General Assembly, and the inhabitants of its terri-
tory as the same is established and from time to time altered pursuant
to law, is hereby created as a body corporate and politic under the name
and style of, and to be known by, the name of the district with the word
“commission” appended.

§ 2. Creation of Commission to Control Corporation.— _

In and for each transportation district a commission is hereby
created to manage and control the functions, affairs and property of
the corporation and to exercise all of the rights, powers and authority
and perform all of the duties conferred or imposed upon the corporation.

§ 3. Members of Commission.—

Such commission shall consist of such a number of members as the
component governments shall from time to time agree upon, or as may
otherwise be provided by law. The governing body of each participating
county and city shall appoint from among its members the number of
commissioners to which the county or city is entitled. Each such ap-
pointee shall serve at the pleasure of the appointing body; provided, how-
ever, that no such appointee may continue to serve when he is no longer
a member of the appointing body. Each governing body shall inform
the commission of its appointments to and removals from the commis-
sion by delivering to the commission a certified copy of the resolution
making the appointment or causing the removal. The chairman of the
State Highway Commission, or his designee, shall be a member of the
commission, ez officio.

§ 4. Officers of Commission.—

Within thirty days after the appointment of the original members
of the commission, the commission shall meet on the call of any member
and shall elect one of its members as chairman and another as vice chair-
man, each to serve for a term of one year or until his successor is
elected and qualified. The commission shall employ a secretary and
treasurer (who may or may not be a member of the commission) and if
not a member of the commission, fix his compensation and duties. All
officers shall be eligible for reelection. Each member of the commission,
before entering on the performance of his public duties, shall take and
subscribe the oath or affirmation specified in Section 34 of the Consti-
tution of Virginia.

§ 5. Bond of Members of the Commission.—

Each member of the commission shall, before entering upon the dis-
charge of his duties under this chapter, give bond payable to the Com-
monwealth in form approved by the Attorney General, in such penalty
as shall be fixed from time to time by the Governor, with some surety or
guaranty company duly authorized to do business in Virginia and ap-
proved by the Governor, as security, conditioned upon the faithful dis-
charge of his duties. The premium of such bonds shall be paid by the
pomnission and the bonds shall be filed with and preserved by the Comp-

oller.

§ 6. Compensation and Expenses of Commission Members.—

The members of the commission shall receive no salary but shall be
entitled to expenses and the per diem pay allowed members of the
State Highway Commission for each day spent on their official duties.

§ 7. Meetings of Commission.—

Regular meetings of the commission shall be held at least once every
month at such time and place as the commission shall from time to time
prescribe. Special meetings of the commission shall be held upon mailed
notice, or actual notice otherwise given, to each member of the commis-
sion upon call of the chairman or any two members of the commission,
at such time and in such place within the district as such notice may
specify, or at such other time and place with or without notice as all of
the members of the commission may expressly approve. All regular and
special meetings of the commission shall be open to the public, but the
public shall not be entitled to any other or different notice than provided
herein. Unless a meeting is called for the purpose of a public hearing,
members of the public shall have no right to be heard or otherwise par-
ticipate in the proceedings of the meeting, except to the extent the
chairman may in specific instances grant such right of participation. All
records of the commission shall be public records.

§ 8. Quorum and Action by Commission.—

A majority of the commission, which majority shall include at least
one commissioner from a majority of the component governments, shall
constitute a quorum. The vote of a majority of the entire members of
the commission shall be necessary to take any action.

§ 9. Conflict of Interests.—

No commissioner, nor any other officer, employee, agent or con-
sultant shall have any interest in any person or company engaged in the
business of providing public transportation in the transportation district
or within the metropolitan area in which the transportation district is
located, or in the manufacture or sale of highway machinery, materials
or equipment or of passenger transportation equipment or facilities. No
member of the commission nor any agent, officer, employee or consultant
thereof, shall contract with the commission or be interested in, either di-
rectly or indirectly, any contract with the commission or in the sale of
any property, either real or personal, to the commission. This section
shall not prevent any such person from granting to the commission for
a nominal consideration, any right of way, easement or lease. Any vio-
lation of this provision shall be a misdemeanor and punished as provided

y law.

§ 10. Funds of Commission.—

(a) All monies of a commission, whether derived from any contract
of the commission or from any other source, shall be collected, received,
held, secured and disbursed in accordance with any contract of the com-
mission relating thereto. The following provisions of this section shall
be applicable to any such monies only if and to the extent they are con-
sistent with such contract or contracts of the commission.

(b) Such monies shall not be required to be paid into the state
treasury or into the treasury or to any officer of any county or city.

(c) All such monies shall be deposited by the commission in a sep-
arate bank account or accounts, appropriately designated, in such banks
or trust companies as may be designated by the commission.

§ 11. Accounts and Records.—

Every commission shall keep and preserve complete and accurate ac-
counts and records of all monies received and disbursed by it and of all of
its business and operations and of all property and funds owned or man-
aged by it or under its control, and shall prepare and transmit to the
Governor and to the governing body of each county and city which is
embraced within the district, annually and at such other times as the
Governor shall require, complete and accurate reports as to the state and
content of such accounts and records, together with such information with
respect thereto as the Governor may require.

ARTICLE 4
Powers and Functions of Commission
§ 1. Powers and Functions of Commission.—

Any other provision of law to the contrary notwithstanding, a com-
mission shall have the following powers and functions:
(a) When the transportation district is located within a metropoli-
tan area and contiguous territory which metropolitan area and con-
tiguous territory are wholly within the Commonwealth of Virginia, the
commission — ;

(1) shall prepare the transportation plan for the transportation
district and shall from time to time revise and amend said plan in ac-
cordance with the planning process and procedures specified in Article
6 of this chapter; ;

(2) may, when such a transportation plan is adopted in the manner
set forth in Article 6 hereof, construct or acquire, by purchase or lease,
the transit facilities specified in such transportation plan.

(3) may enter into agreements or leases with private companies
for the operation of its facilities, but shall not operate any of such facili-
ties unless, upon application, the State Corporation Commission finds that
the Commission has been unable to execute a lease or agreement with any
private company on terms compatible with the public interest and that
the operation of such facilities by the Commission is required by the
public convenience and necessity. Any private company operating such
facilities and the service rendered by such facilities shall be subject to
the jurisdiction of the State Corporation Commission ;

(4) may enter into contracts or agreements with the counties and
cities embraced within the transportation district to provide, or cause
to be provided, transit facilities and service to such counties and cities,
and such contracts or agreements, together with any agreements or
leases for the operation of such facilities, may be utilized by the trans-
portation district to finance the construction and operation of transpor-
tation facilities and such contracts, agreements or leases shall inure to
the benefit of any creditor of the transportation district.

(b) When the transportation district is located within a metro-
politan area, which includes all or a portion of a State or States con-
tiguous to Virginia, the commission —

(1) shall not prepare a transportation plan nor construct or op-
erate transit facilities, but shall collaborate and cooperate in the man-
ner specified in Article 6 hereof with an agency in the preparation of a
transportation plan for such metropolitan area and the revision and
amendment thereof from time to time;

(2) shall, in the manner specified in Article 6 hereof, in cooperation
with the governing bodies of the component governments embraced within
the transportation district, formulate the tentative policy and decisions
of the transportation district with respect to the planning, design, loca-
tion, construction, operation and financing of transportation facilities;

(3) may, when a transportation plan applicable to such a transporta-
tion district is adopted, enter into contracts or agreements with an agency
to contribute to the capital required for the construction and/or acquisi-
tion of transportation facilities and for meeting expense and obligations
in the operations of such facilities; provided, however, the obligation of
a transportation district under such contracts or agreements shall be
based on, supported by, and limited to the rights of the transportation
district arising from contracts between the transportation district and
its component counties and cities;

(4) may, when a transportation plan applicable to such transportation
district is adopted, enter into contracts or agreements with the counties
and cities embraced within the transportation district to provide or cause
to be provided transportation facilities and service to such counties and
cities, and such contracts or agreements shall inure to the benefit of any
such agency with which the Commission has entered into contracts or
agreements in accordance with paragraph (3) of this subsection (b) to
assure such agency of the performance by the transportation district of
its contractual obligations in connection with the providing by such
agency of transportation facilities and service to the transportation dis-
trict.

(c) Until such time as a commission enters into contracts or agree-
ments with its component governments under the provisions of paragraphs
(a) (4) and (b) (4) and is receiving revenues thereunder, adequate to meet
the administrative expenses of the Commission after paying or making
provision for the payment of the obligations arising under said paragraphs,
the expenses of the Commission shall be borne by the component govern-
ments in the manner herein set forth. The Commission annually shall
submit to the governing bodies of the component counties and cities a
budget of its requirements for the next ensuing year. The expenses of the
Commission shall be allocated among the component governments on the
basis of population as reflected by the latest available population statistics
of the Bureau of the Census; provided, however, upon the request of any
component government, the Commission shall make the allocation upon
estimates of population prepared in a manner approved by the Commis-
sion and by the governing body of the component government making
such request. Such budget shall be limited solely to the administrative
expenses of the Commission and shall not include any funds for con-
struction or acquisition of transportation facilities and/or the performing
of transportation service.

(d) When a transportation plan has been adopted in the manner
provided in Article 6, §2(a) (4) of this chapter, the Commission shall make
a determination of the equitable allocation among the component govern-
ments of the costs incurred by the district in providing the transportation
facilities proposed in such transportation plan and the expenses and obliga-
tions, if any, from the operation thereof to be borne by each county and
city. In making such determinations, the Commission shall take into
consideration the cost of the facilities located within each county and city,
the population of each county and city, the benefits to be derived by each
county and city from the transportation service to be rendered by the
proposed transportation facilities and all other factors which the com-
mission determines to be relevant. Such determination, however, shall not
create a commitment by the counties and cities and such commitments
shall be created only under the contracts or agreements specified in Article
4, §1(a) (4) and (b) (4).

§ 2. Additional Powers and Duties of Commission.—

Without in any manner limiting or restricting the general powers
created by this chapter, the commission shall have power:

(a) To adopt and have a common seal and to alter the same at
pleasure;

(b) To sue and be sued;

(c) To make rules and regulations for the conduct of its business ;

_ (d) To make and enter into all contracts or agreements, as the com-
mission may determine, which are necessary or incidental to the perform-
ance of its duties and to the execution of the powers granted under this
chapter ;

(e) To accept loans and grants of money or materials or property at
any time from the United States of America or the Commonwealth of
Virginia or any agency or instrumentality thereof ;

(f) In the name of the commission, and on its behalf, to acquire, hold
and dispose of its contract or other revenues;

(g) To exercise any power usually possessed by private corporations,
including the right to expend, solely from funds provided under the
authority of this chapter, such funds as may be considered by the com-
mission to be advisable or necessary in the performance of its duties and
functions.

(h) To employ engineers, attorneys, such other professional experts
and consultants and such general and clerical employees as may be deemed
necessary, and to prescribe their powers and duties and fix their compensa-
tion; an

(i) To do and perform any acts and things authorized by this
chapter under, through or by means of its own officers, agents and em-
ployees, or by contracts with any persons; and

(j) To execute any and all instruments and do and perform any and
all acts or things necessary, convenient or desirable for the purposes of the
commission or to carry out the powers expressly given in this chapter.

ARTICLE 5

Powers and Duties of Counties and Municipalities

§ 1. Contracts and Payment Thereof.— oo

Any county and city embraced within a transportation district is
authorized to enter into contracts or agreements with the commission for
such transportation district, or with an agency, pursuant to which such
transportation district, subject to the limitations herein contained, or
such agency undertakes to provide the transportation facilities speci-
fied in a duly adopted transportation plan, and/or to render transportation
service. Any obligations arising from such contracts are deemed to be for
a public purpose and may be paid for, in the discretion of each county or
city, in whole or in part, by appropriations from general revenues or from
the proceeds of a bond issue or issues; provided, however, that any such
contract must specify the annual maximum obligation of any county or
city for payments to meet the expenses and obligations of the transporta-
tion district or such agency or provide a formula to determine the
payment of any such county or city for such expenses and obligations.
Each county or city desiring to contract with a transportation district or
an agency is authorized to do so provided it complies with the ap-
propriate provisions of law and thereafter is authorized to do every-
thing necessary or proper to carry out and perform every such contract
and to provide for the payment or discharge of any obligation thereunder
by the same means and in the same manner as any other of its obligations.

§ 2. Jurisdiction and Venue.—

Every such contract shall be enforceable by the transportation dis-
trict with whom the contract is made, as provided under the laws of the
Commonwealth of Virginia, and, in the event any such contract is entered
into with an agency or is relied upon in a contract between a commission
and any such agency, such agency also shall have the right to enforce
the contract. Actions on any contract between a transportation district
and a component government shall be brought in any circuit, corporation
or hustings court located within the transportation district having juris-
diction. Jurisdiction in all other matters arising hereunder shall be as
provided by law.

§ 8. Acquisition of Right of Way.—

When the district commission, the State Highway commission and the
governing bodies of the component governments determine that the time
schedule for construction of any interstate highway, as defined in Article
2.1 of Chapter 1, Title 33 of the Code of Virginia (§33—36.1), within the
district makes it necessary to acquire median strips for transit facilities
in such highway prior to the adoption of a transportation plan, each
county and city within the district is authorized to pay to the State
Highway Commission such sums as may be agreed upon among the dis-
trict commission and such counties and cities to provide the State Highway
Commission with the necessary matching funds to acquire the median
strips. Any such acquisition shall be made by and in the name of the
State Highway Commission.

§ 4. Fiscal Matters.—

The governing bodies of counties and cities participating in a trans-
portation district are authorized to appropriate funds for the administra-
tive expenses 1) of the commission of the transportation district, as pro-
vided in Article 4, § 1(c), 2) of an agency and 3) for such other purposes
as may be specified in a law creating a transportation district.

§ 5. Powers Granted Herein are in Addition to all Other Powers.—

The powers conferred by this chapter on counties and cities are in
addition and supplemental to the powers conferred by any other law, and
may be exercised by resolution or ordinance of the governing bodies
thereof, as required by law, without regard to the terms, conditions, re-
quirements, restrictions or other provisions contained in any other law,
general or special, or in any charter.

§ 6. Liabilities of State, Counties and Cities.—

(a) No pecuniary liability of any kind shall be imposed on the State
or upon any county or city constituting any part of any transportation
district because of any act, agreement, contract, tort, malfeasance, mis-
feasance, or nonfeasance, by or on the part of the commission of such
transportation district, or any member of such commission, or its agents,
servants and employees, except as otherwise provided in this chapter with
reference to contracts and agreements between the commission or inter-
state agency and any county or city.

(b) The obligations and any indebtedness of a commission shall not
be in any way a debt or liability of the State, or of any county or city in
whole or in part embraced within the transportation district, and shall not
create or constitute any indebtedness, liability or obligation of the State
or of any such county or city, either legal, moral or otherwise, and nothing
in this chapter contained shall be construed to authorize a commission or
district to incur any indebtedness on behalf of or in any way to obligate the
State or any county or city in whole or in part embraced within the trans-
portation district; provided, however, that any contracts or agreements
between the commission and any county or city provided for in Article 4,
§1(a) (4) and (b) (4) shall inure to the benefit of any creditor of the
transportation district or, when applicable, to an agency as therein

provided.
ARTICLE 6
Planning Process and Procedures

§ 1. Planning process.—

(a) In performing the duties imposed under Article 4, §1(a) and (b),
the Commission shall cooperate with the governing bodies of the counties
and cities embraced within the transportation district and agencies thereof,
with the State Highway Commission, and with an agency of which mem-
bers of the district commission are also members, to the end that the
plans, decisions and policies for transportation shall be consistent with
and shall foster the development and implementation of the general plans
and policies of the counties and cities for their orderly growth and
development.

(b) It shall be the duty and responsibility of each member of the
commission to serve as the liaison between the commission and the body by
which he was appointed and those members of the commission who are
also members of an agency shall provide liaison between the district
commission and such agency, to the end that the district commission, its
component governments, the State Highway Commission, and any such
agency, shall be continuously, comprehensively, and mutually advised of
plans, policies, and actions requiring consideration in the planning fo)
transportation and in the development of planned transportation facilities.

(c) In order to assure that planning, policy and decision-making are
consistent with the development plans for the orderly growth of the
counties and cities and coordinated with the plans and programs of the
State Highway Commission and are based on comprehensive data with
respect to current and prospective local conditions, including, without
limitation, land use, economic and population factors, the objectives for
future urban development and future travel demands generated by such
considerations, the Commission is authorized to:

(1) Create, subject to their appointment, technica] committees from
the personnel of the agencies of the counties and cities and from the State
Highway Commission concerned with planning, collection and analysis of
data relevant to decision-making in the transportation planning process.
Appointments to such technical committees, however, are to be made by
the governing bodies of the counties and cities and by the State Highway
Commission, as the case may be; or

(2) In the event the transportation district is located within an area
which has an organized planning process created in conformance with the
provisions of 23 U.S.C. 134, the Commission is authorized to utilize the
technical committees created for such planning process.

(d) The Commission, on behalf of the counties and cities embraced
within the transportation district, but only upon their direction, is author-
ized to enter into the written agreements specified in 23 U.S.C. 134 to
assure conformance with the requirements of that law for continuous,
comprehensive transportation planning.

§ 2. Procedures.—

(a) In order to provide procedures to assure that the planning process
specified in §1 of this Article 6 is effectively and efficiently utilized, the
commission shall conform to the following procedures and may prescribe
such additional procedures as it shall deem advisable.

(1) Meetings of the commission shall be held at intervals at least as
frequently as once a month and more often in the discretion of the com-
mission, as the proper performance of its duties requires.

(2) At such meetings the commission shall receive and consider
reports from—

i. Its members, who are also members of an agency, as to the
status and progress of the work of such agency, and if the commission
deems that such reports are of concern to them, shall fully inform its
component governments, committees, and the State Highway Commission
with respect thereto, as a means of developing the informed views requisite
for sound policy-making; and

ii. Its members, technical and other committees, members of the
governing bodies of the component governments and consultants, present-
ing and analyzing studies and data on matters affecting the making of
policies and decisions on a transportation plan and the implementation

ereof.

(3) The objective of the procedures herein specified is to develop
agreement, based on the best available information, among the district
commission, the governing bodies of the component governments, the
State Highway Commission and an interstate agency with respect to the
various factors which affect the making of policies and decisions relating
to a transportation plan and the implementation thereof. In the event
any material disagreements occur in the planning process with respect
to objectives and goals, the evaluation of basic data or the selection of
criteria and standards to be applied in the planning process, the com-
mission shall exert its best efforts to bring about agreement and under-
standing on such matters. The commission, in its discretion, may hold
hearings in an effort to resolve any such basic controversies. .

(4) Before a transportation plan is adopted, altered, revised or
amended by the commission or by an agency on which it is repre-
sented, the commission shall transmit such proposed plan, alteration,
revision or amendment to the governing bodies of the component govern-
ments, to the State Highway Commission, and to its technical committees
and information with respect thereto shall be released to the public. A
copy of the proposed transportation plan, amendment or revision, shall be
kept at the office of the Commission and shall be available for public
inspection. Upon thirty days notice, published once a week for two
successive weeks in one or more newspapers of general circulation within
the transportation district, a public hearing shall be held with respect to
the proposed plan, alteration, revision or amendment. The thirty days
notice period shall begin to run on the first day the notice appears in any
such newspaper. The commission shall consider the evidence submitted
and statements and comments made at such hearings and, if objections
in writing to the whole or any part of said plan are made by the governing
body of any component government, or by the State Highway Commission,
or if the commission considers any written objection made by any other
person, group or organization to be sufficiently significant, the commission
shall reconsider the plan, alteration, revision or amendment. If upon re-
consideration, the commission shall look with favor upon the objection,
then the commission shall make appropriate changes to the proposed plan,
alteration, revision or amendment, and may adopt same without the need
for further hearing. If upon reconsideration, the commission does not look
with favor upon the objection, the commission may nevertheless adopt the
plan, alteration, revision or amendment. No facilities shall be located in
and no service rendered, however, within any county or city which does not
execute an appropriate agreement with the commission or with an inter-
state agency as provided in Article 5, §1; but in such case, the commission
shall consider and determine whether the absence of such an agreement so
materially and adversely affects the feasibility of the transportation plan
as to require its modification or abandonment.

ARTICLE 7
Enlargement of Transportation Districts
§ 1. Procedure for Enlargement.—

The territory embraced within a transportation district may be en-
larged to include any additional county, or part thereof, or city located
within the same metropolitan area in which the transportation district is
located or in any area of Virginia contiguous thereto, upon such terms and
conditions, consistent with the provisions of this chapter, as may be agreed
upon by the commission and such additional county or city and in conform-
ance with the following procedures. The governing body of the county or
city shall adopt an ordinance specifying the area to be enlarged, containing
the finding specified in Article 2, § 1, of this chapter and a statement that a
contract or agreement between the county and city and the commission,
specifying the terms and conditions of admittance to the transportation
district has been executed. The ordinance, to which shall be attached a
certified copy of said contract, shall be filed with the Secretary of the
Commonwealth and upon certification by that officer, to the commission
and to the governing bodies of each of the component counties and cities
that the ordinance required by this section has been filed and that the terms
thereof conform to the requirements of this section, such additional
county, or part thereof, or city, upon the entry of such certification in the
minutes of the proceedings of the governing body of such county or city,
shall become a component government of the transportation district and
the county, or portion thereof specified, or city shall be embraced within
the territory of the transportation district.

ARTICLE 8
Withdrawal from Transportation District

§ 1. By Governing Bodies.— a

A county or city may withdraw from the transportation district by
resolution or ordinance, as may be appropriate, adopted by a majority vote
of the governing body thereof. The withdrawal of any county or municipal-
ity shall not be effective until the resolution or ordinance 0 withdrawal is
filed with the commission of the transportation district and with the
Secretary of the Commonwealth.

§ 2. Financial Obligations.— —

The withdrawal from the transportation district of any county or city
shall not relieve such county or city from any obligation or commitment
made or incurred while a member of the district.

ARTICLE 9
Governmental Function

§ 1. Findings and Tax Exemption.—

It is hereby found, determined, and declared that the creation of any
transportation district hereunder and the carrying out of the corporate
purposes of any such transportation district is in all respects for the
benefit of the people of this State and is a public purpose and that the
transportation district and the commission will be performing an essential
governmental function in the exercise of the powers conferred by this
chapter. Accordingly, the transportation district shall not be required to
pay taxes or assessments upon any of the property acquired by it or under
its jurisdiction, control, possession or supervision or upon its activities
in the operation and maintenance of any transportation facilities or upon
any revenues thereform and the property and the income derived there-
from shall be exempt from all state, municipal and local taxation.

§ 2. Liability for Torts.—

Every district shall be liable for its torts and those of its officers,
employees and agents committed in the conduct of any proprietary function
but shall not be liable for any torts occurring in the performance of a
governmental function.

ARTICLE 10
Miscellaneous Provisions

§ 1. Act Liberally Construed.—

This chapter, being necessary for the welfare of the State and its
inhabitants, shall be liberally construed to effect the purposes thereof.

§ 2. Section 45: Severability.—

If any part or parts, section, subsection, sentence, clause or phrase
of this act or the application thereof to any person or circumstance, is for
any reason declared unconstitutional, such decision shall not affect the
validity of the remaining portions of this act which shall remain in force
as if such act had been passed with the unconstitutional part or parts,
section, subsection, sentence, clause, phrase or such applications thereto
eliminated; and the General Assembly hereby declares that it would have
passed this act if such unconstitutional part or parts, section, subsection,
sentence, clause or phrase had not been included herein or if such applica-
tion had not been made.

2. All acts and parts of acts, general, special, private and local, ineon-
sistent with the provisions of this act, are hereby repealed to the extent
of such inconsistency.