Plan guts transportation board

The state’s top leaders are quietly planning big changes to the way Georgia spends transportation money.

Gov. Sonny Perdue, Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle and Speaker of the House Glenn Richardson have kept their talks under wraps. But a draft organizational chart obtained by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution suggests the plan could gut the responsibilities of the state Transportation Board, which currently approves project lists and sets policy for the state’s $2 billion annual transportation budget.

The state Transportation Board is elected by the Legislature now, but the process spreads out the power among individual legislators. Each of the 13 board members, who currently approve the state’s project lists, serves a congressional district and is elected by all of the state legislators who represent a part of his or her district.

According to the draft plan, the state would combine the current State Road and Tollway Authority and the Georgia Regional Transportation Authority into a new entity with members appointed by the governor, the lieutenant governor and the speaker of the House. The authority would create long- and short-range statewide transportation plans. It would also write “distribution criteria” for money. The governor would then recommend the road budget and the General Assembly would approve it.

The big guns crafting the plan would not discuss the chart, but they acknowledged they are developing a plan.

“At this point, we are still actively working with the governor and lieutenant governor on this draft proposal and the concept of reforming transportation governance,” said Marshall Guest, Richardson’s spokesman. “Until it has been formally introduced, the speaker is going to refrain from weighing in on the specifics or outcomes of the governance package.”

It’s too early to say what the plan could mean for Georgia commuters, travelers and haulers.

Some transportation-policy experts say it might make road project choices even more political. Others say that it could get politics out of the way of the engineers and road crews, and get projects to ribbon-cutting faster.

One legislator predicted the overhaul of the state’s transportation governance could kill proposals for new transportation funding, leaving officials in the new transportation organization with little or nothing to spend.

Sen. Jeff Mullis (R-Chickamauga), shown the draft of the chart by a reporter, cautioned that it had already changed. House Majority Leader Jerry Keen (R-St. Simons) called it “a starting point of the discussions.”

Mike Meyer, a Georgia Tech professor and former chairman of the Transportation Research Board, said that if the new system relies more on standardized formulas to determine which projects get money, roads could be built faster.

“Once the general assembly sets up the money, the money goes,” he said. Much would depend, Meyer said, on always having a strong, competent staff head —- the “Secretary of Transportation” —- and on how the authority behaved. “If the authority’s just another glorified GDOT board it’s going to be the same thing,” he said.

While Cagle would not discuss the details of the proposal, his spokeswoman, Jaillene Hunter, said that he “has always been clear that we need a strategic, statewide plan for transportation in Georgia. … Clearly, the process and structure currently in place is not working and he has been very encouraged with the ongoing discussions he has had with Governor Perdue and Speaker Richardson.”

The governor, lieutenant governor and speaker, who would appoint the authority, are all now Republicans. That leaves the question of whether Democrats in the General Assembly would vote for new taxes that could come under the influence of such an authority. Sen. Steve Thompson (D-Marietta), who chaired the Senate Transportation Committee when Democrats were in the majority, said he fears the plan could doom current funding proposals. Senate Minority Leader Robert Brown wouldn’t go that far, but he said the two issues could be linked when legislators consider them.

The two transportation funding proposals now under consideration in the Legislature each include a constitutional amendment that would need some Democratic votes to pass.

Thompson also said the reorganization plan may put too much political influence back into the system, focusing power too narrowly.

Mullis said that the entire Legislature would be part of the appropriation.

Perdue’s office wasn’t saying much. “By no means is there is a final plan,” said his spokesman, Chris Schrimpf. “When there is a final plan it will be announced.”

ON AJC.COM

> To see the draft chart, log on to ajc.com/plan