State transportation money still elusive

ATLANTA — The push to find new funding for state transportation projects, now in its third year, is on the rocks again as rural leaders grapple with Gov. Sonny Perdue.

Perdue is backing a plan that would allow for new penny sales taxes to pay for projects in 12 regions across the state. Counties would be bound together, come up with a list of projects, then hold a regional referendum to ask voters whether they’re willing to pay for those projects with an extra penny tax.

That plan, contained in House Bill 1218, likely will be voted out of a House subcommittee Monday, moving the whole process forward. But on Thursday that subcommittee made a key change that Perdue has promised will lead to a veto for the whole bill.

If the governor vetoes his own bill, the House and Senate will be hard-pressed to come up with two-thirds majorities to pass the legislation over the governor’s objections, particularly since Democrats have questioned the measure’s constitutionality.

At issue is whether any one county, or in this case one region, should be able to opt out of the tax vote. Perdue has said neither should be allowed, given the need for a statewide and regional approach to transportation planning.

But the subcommittee is set to approve a bill Monday that would allow regions not to hold a vote at all. Local government backers, particularly in rural areas, say an opt-out is needed to keep more populated areas from dominating the referendums and forcing a tax on people who don’t want it.

Under the governor’s proposal, if a roundtable of local leaders in a region couldn’t decide on a list of projects to put before voters in a regional referendum, the state’s transportation planning director would step in and finalize the list before a mandatory vote.

That’s led to concerns that the planning director, who is appointed by the governor, would have too much power. On Thursday, the subcommittee decided to change the bill so that, if regional leaders can’t agree, no vote is held, House Transportation Committee Chairman Jay Roberts, R-Ocilla, said.

“The planning director no longer steps in and says ‘Here’s the list,’ ” Roberts said.

That’s a non-starter for Perdue. “The governor said it’s DOA if it gets to his desk with that in there,” said state Rep. Jim Cole, a Forsyth Republican who is carrying the bill for the governor as his floor leader in the House.

If this effort falls apart and competing proposals don’t quickly gain momentum, this will be the third year legislators have failed to find new funding for transportation despite widespread agreement that it’s needed.

Roberts said there’s a long way to go and called the bill “still a work in progress.” A lot of changes can be made as the bill continues its way to the floor of the House of Representatives. It must also work its way through the state Senate.

Several other changes have been made to the bill since it was introduced, including an increase in how long the regional penny taxes could be charged. That’s gone from eight years to 10 at the request of mass-transit proponents who said the longer timetable is needed to fund those types of projects.

Also, the State Road and Tollway Authority would no longer oversee the flow of money. Instead, the Georgia Department of Transportation, which has its own controlling board, would be the fiscal agent.