Legislature still split on road bills

Prospects for a new sales tax to pay for roads, bridges, rail and other transportation improvements have hit a barrier as the legislative session nears an end.

The Senate on Monday passed its version of an optional transportation sales tax —- for the second time.

The Senate and House disagree on how to set up a new 1 percent sales tax for transportation.

The Senate supports a regional tax, where groups of counties —- including the Atlanta area —- could band together to tax themselves for local projects, thus giving more local control over transportation dollars. The House supports a statewide tax because roads do not end at the county line.

The Senate on Monday approved a gutted version of the House transportation measure. The substance of House Resolution 206 had been had replaced with the Senate’s original vision for a regional sales tax.

Because the Senate has not budged from its position, the two chambers would have to agree on a compromise in the last five days of the session, or the prospect of a transportation tax would die for now.

Either proposal would have to go before voters next year for approval before taking effect.

“It’s time to fish or cut bait,” Cagle said at a news conference Monday after the Senate passed its version of the taxing bill. The House should simply accept the Senate version, Cagle said.

An hour later, House Transportation Committee Chairman Rep. Vance Smith Jr. (R-Pine Mountain) said that the House would insist on its own version.

The issue will go to a conference committee to hash out a possible compromise, Smith said. The conferees could be appointed as soon as Wednesday, he said.

A proposal for a transportation improvement tax met a similar fate last year, dying on the last day of the legislative session.

This year, in addition to a transportation tax, Gov. Sonny Perdue wants to remake the entire Department of Transportation. The Senate and House disagree on the details of that proposal, too. On Monday the House Transportation Committee heard Senate Bill 200, the Senate’s version of the DOT reorganization, for the first time, but did not vote on it.

The proposed reorganization of the DOT would allow the state’s top leaders to appoint members of a new DOT board, thus giving them more control over Georgia’s multibillion-dollar transportation budget.

Cagle insisted that the reorganization of the DOT and the proposed 1 percent sales tax are two different issues and that one is not a bargaining chip for the other.

Previously, Perdue had said the DOT reorganization was necessary before he could support a transportation tax.