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Friday, Mar. 27, 2009

Proposed transportation bill to be unveiled today

ATLANTA — A heavily scaled-back version of one of the most contentious bills of this legislative session will be revealed today as the governor, House and Senate continue their back-and-forth over the control of billions in transportation dollars.

Speaker of the House Glenn Richardson announced the plan Thursday afternoon, but wouldn’t give details. Even state leaders close to negotiations over state transportation planning said they hadn’t seen the new legislation yet.

But, based on Richardson’s brief comments, it would seem to significantly alter Gov. Sonny Perdue’s plan to create a new transportation agency and strip the existing Georgia Department of Transportation, and its controlling board, of most of their money and power.

“We understand that you don’t wish to create a new agency. ...” Richardson told members of the House Transportation Committee. “(The new bill) does not change the DOT Board.”

Richardson, R-Hiram, also said the bill has been cut down from more than 100 pages to about 20 pages. He said it would allow legislators to have “a role” in transportation planning and spending.

But Richardson offered no other details, saying the bill would be available to committee members before their planned meeting at noon today. Then he and his entourage, which included the House speaker pro tempore and the House majority leader, left the committee room without answering questions from the media.

As they made their way to an elevator, Richardson shook hands with Senate Speaker Pro Tempore Tommie Williams. But Williams couldn’t say whether a new deal was in the offing.

“We haven’t even seen (his legislation), so I have no idea,” Williams said.

Williams carried Perdue’s legislation — crafted with input from the speaker as well as Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle — through the state Senate. It passed there March 5, but has struggled to gain the needed support in the House. Members have been concerned about giving up the legislature’s existing power to name the DOT Board in favor of a new agency, which would be appointed by the governor, speaker and lieutenant governor.

The governor’s office said it got a copy of Richardson’s new bill Thursday afternoon, but wouldn’t comment on its contents. Perdue spokesman Bert Brantley described the speaker as “very willing to sit down with us and work through some of the concerns and issues.”

“They didn’t draft it with us, but we’ve been given input. ...” Brantley said. “We’ll dig into the details, but everybody’s working together.”

But the lieutenant governor’s office said it hadn’t seen the legislation as of Thursday evening and that’s not likely to soothe any of the acrimony already simmering between the House and Senate on transportation issues.

They’re not only going back and forth over how to control the $2 billion a year the state already spends on transportation, but billions in new money as well.

Both sides have their own proposals for a penny sales tax to finance new road projects, but so far they haven’t found common ground.

The House prefers a statewide tax to raise $25 billion over 10 years. A list of projects, which already has been drafted, would be submitted to voters, who would have to approve the tax in a statewide referendum.

The Senate is pushing for a penny tax implemented on a smaller scale. Local governments could bond together and hold their own referendums to fund projects they favor.

Various counterproposals have been made between the two bodies, but so far nothing has gotten enough traction to pass both chambers.

There’s one week to go in this year’s legislative session, which is scheduled to end next Friday by midnight. Both the funding issue, and the governor’s governance issue, will likely be hashed by a small group of members from both the House and Senate, if they get hashed out at all this year.

To contact writer Travis Fain, call 361-2702.