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AJC.com > Legislature > Blog > Archives > 2009 > March > 03 > Entry
DEL.ICIO.USUPDATED: House approves first transportation bill; two more to go
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The House has approved legislation creating a statewide 1-cent sales tax to fund transportation projects, the first bill in a series of measures dealing with roads and bridges lawmakers will consider today.
HB 277 required a simple majority to pass. The bill, adopted 149-18, creates a transportation trust fund, and a requisite oversight committee to manage the new money.
The bill also creates a wish-list of projects that features road construction and improvement, passenger and high-speed rail and smaller, more local projects. But not even the bill’s sponsors argue that the sales tax will raise enough money to fund all the projects.
Before the vote, the House adopted a pair of amendments proposed by House Minority Leader DuBose Porter (D-Dublin) that would have the effect of making the Department of Transportation the designated recipient of federal highway funds. The second amendment gave House and Senate Democrats each an appointment to the trust fund oversight committee.
The outcome sets up a showdown with the Senate, which has adopted its own transportation funding plan. The Senate chose a regional approach, allowing regions to vote to add a new sales tax. Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle has called the House plan a huge tax increase.
If a lot of this sounds familiar, it should. That’s because last year the House approved a similar funding plan (although that was a regional approach the House wanted, while the Senate wanted a county-by-county approach), but it died in the waning days of the session.
UPDATE: The second one is down now, too, as the House voted 151-15 to approve HR 206, constitutional amendment that actually levies the 1-cent sales tax. the vote was never in doubt, after all. But it sure is interesting to note that Senate Majority Leader Chip Rogers (R-Woodstock) was standing in the back of the chamber when teh vote took place.
HR 206 also included a Democratic-proposed amendment, one that captures $180 million in sales tax from the sale of motor fuels and takes it from the general funds and puts it toward transportation.
While the vote was anti-climatic, it is one of the House leadership’s top priorities.
UPDATE: Chaos has descended on the House. SB 39, which gives MARTA greater flexibility in spending its revenues, was on the track toward passage.
But then Rep. Jill Chambers (R-Atlanta) proposed an amendment preventing the system from investing its money in speculative stock market or real estate development deals. Chambers, who chairs a MARTA oversight committee, was concerned over past investments.
Her amendment passed, but then several lawmakers began to realize her amendment could prevent MARTA from building new stations, expanding rail lines or investing in park-and-ride lots.
Chambers’ amendment was reconsidered and confusion set in. Finally, lawmakers agreed to table the bill and come back to it some other time. But House Speaker Glenn Richardson (R-Hiram) said it won’t be today.
UPDATE: OK, we’re back on the Yo-Yo and we’re back on SB 39. Don’t ask how or why. We just are.
Chambers pulled her offending amendment and replaced it with a substitute that makes clear she only wants to prevent MARTA from risking public funds on the stock market or speculative real estate deals. It allows the system to build stations or parking lots, etc.
Her amendment was approved and now we’re on to more amendments.
Permalink | Comments (2) | Post your comment | Categories: Legislature
Comments
By Gracie
March 4, 2009 9:07 AM | Link to this
What is it about government agencies that want to increase taxes in an economic downturn such as what is and has been going on for over a year now? The stock market is in the toilet, people are being downsized, housing market is in the worst time, food has gotten to be very expensive, and the world is spinning in the opposite direction.
Government agencies (both local and federal) have no desire to slash high payrolls, save money from stupid wasteful spending, and provide enormous amount of “pork” being created for the “friends” of political associates.
At the rate this country is going, we will be in debt for the next hundred years, and/or be own by another country altogether.
By F15
March 4, 2009 10:15 AM | Link to this
“At the rate this country is going, we will be in debt for the next hundred years, and/or be own by another country altogether. “
We are already owned and operated by Israel, so what difference does it make?