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Friday, Feb. 20, 2009

LEGISLATIVE NOTEBOOK: Perdue talks transportation

ATLANTA — Gov. Sonny Perdue on Thursday confirmed the details of a plan to essentially replace the Georgia Department of Transportation with another body over which the governor’s office would have more control.

He also all but promised to oppose any of the ongoing legislative efforts to raise more money for transportation unless the plan, or something very much like it, passes.

“I’ve tried to pour money on this problem, and it only went up in smoke,” Perdue said. “And I won’t be supporting any type of revenue enhancement if we are not able to get the governance issue settled.”

The details are basically what state Sen. Tommie Williams, who will carry the bill in the Senate, announced earlier this week. The DOT would still handle road maintenance, but most decisions over what new projects get built would be made by a new appointed body, the State Transportation Authority.

The governor would appoint five members, the lieutenant governor and speaker three each, with no rules requiring a geographic split among the membership. The full House and Senate would have to confirm the lieutenant governor and speaker’s appointees.

The appointees would only be in office while the person who appointed them remains in power, meaning any Perdue appointees would cycle off the board when a new governor takes office following the 2010 elections.

Perdue, with the backing of Speaker of the House Glenn Richardson and Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle, said the new format would take effect July 1, if the state Legislature approves.

Cagle, who presides over the Senate, and Richardson, who runs the House, both said they expected quick action on the matter. Those two, along with the governor, hashed out this legislation behind closed doors for weeks, if not longer.

The DOT board, elected by legislators with a requirement that each Georgia congressional district have a seat at the table, would lose control over billions in transportation dollars under this plan.

Legislators have repeatedly expressed frustration with the board, saying they have trouble getting projects done and information from the department.

“This system will be geared toward maximizing our transportation network as a whole, not divided up into 13 gerrymandered districts that change every 10 years,” Perdue said. “It will instead focus the investment on projects that actually move the needle on congestion and job creation.”

MOVEMENT ON TRAUMA CARE

Legislation that would add an annual $10 fee to car tags to fund trauma care passed a Senate committee Thursday and now sits in the great legislative waiting room: the Senate Rules Committee.

Whether it will move from there onto the Senate’s debate calendar, so the bill can be debated and voted on by the Senate itself, remains to be seen.

“Too early (to tell),” Rules Committee Chairman Don Balfour said Thursday.

It would seem to be an uphill battle, though. Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle has made it clear he doesn’t want any new taxes (except for a transportation penny tax voters would have to approve) coming out of the state Legislature this year, and he presides over the Senate.

State Sen. Cecil Staton, R-Macon, has been at the forefront of the trauma issue for years now and said the fee could raise tens of millions of dollars to subsidize hospital emergency rooms, improve emergency care in rural areas and save lives.

“Ten dollars a car tag,” Staton said. “Three cents a day, and you can have some trauma insurance.”

PARHAM TO JOIN DOT, SPECIAL ELECTION COMING

The Milledgeville area will need to hold a special election after this year’s legislative session to elect a new state representative, because longtime state Rep. Bobby Parham will be joining the Georgia Department of Transportation board.

Parham, a Democrat who has held his legislative seat for some 36 years, was elected to a six-year term on the board Thursday. He will represent the 12th Congressional District and replaces former board member Raybon Anderson.

Parham said he wouldn’t take his new job, thereby resigning his seat in the Legislature, until after the current General Assembly session ends.

BILL TO LIMIT SCHOOL BOARDS MOVES

Gov. Sonny Perdue’s ethics-for-school-board legislation passed a Senate education committee Thursday, moving it one step closer to becoming law.

Among other things, Senate Bill 84 would limit school boards across the state to seven members. That would affect several systems, including Bibb County, which has eight elected board members.

The bill would also codify ethics requirements for school boards and would allow the state to remove board members when systems implode and accreditation is threatened, as happened in Clayton County last year. Local residents would be chosen to replace them.

The governor’s bill moves to the Senate Rules Committee, which sets debate agendas for the full Senate. It could be debated on the Senate floor as soon as next week.

LUCAS: TAX FOOD AGAIN

State Rep. David Lucas, D-Macon, wants the state to charge sales tax on groceries, removing an exemption put into law years ago.

The measure may not have much of a chance to pass. Lucas is part of the minority party, and Republican leaders have said they won’t pass any new taxes this year, save a potential sales tax to fund transportation projects.

Still, Lucas said, “we have got to have some money ... so that we don’t have to lay off teachers.”

While teacher layoffs haven’t been on the table, some local school districts, including Bibb County, have discussed furloughs for educators. Lucas said a sales tax on groceries, which was done away with many years ago, would raise about $1 billion a year.

“Times were good back in those days,” Lucas said. “Now we need money. We need money to take care of folks who are less fortunate.”

Those sales taxes are generally considered regressive — affecting the poor more heavily than other types of taxes.

But Lucas noted that “the wealthiest folks buy plenty of steaks.”

Telegraph staff writer Travis Fain compiled this report.