Home > Political Insider > Archives > 2009 > January > 28 > Entry
DEL.ICIO.USIn the House transportation bill, watch which agency is picked to handle the cash
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
It was no surprise, but the Senate Transportation Committee passed a transportation funding bill on Wednesday that’s headed toward a (relatively) speedy vote on the chamber floor.
The proposed constitutional amendment and enabling legislation — S.R. 44 and S.B. 39 — is sponsored by committee chairman Jeff Mullis (R-Chickamauga).
It passed on a unanimous voice vote, according to my AJC colleague Ariel Hart.
The Senate legislation allows counties that border each other to band together as regions and levy themselves a penny tax to fund local transportation projects.
Sen. Steve Thompson (D-Powder Springs) was one of the few to raise any concerns — over a provision allowing counties to opt out of a 10-county metro Atlanta tax district.
In the other chamber, House Transportation Committee Chairman Vance Smith (R-Pine Mountain) cautioned that rival legislation he’s shaping is changing daily, according to Hart.
Smith is pitching a statewide, one-cent sales tax.
Hart has picked up word that, as currently shaped, the measure will offer to fund a list of projects that would make metro Atlanta mass transit backers blush. That includes the Beltline, the Atlanta multi-modal station, and commuter rail lines including along parts of Cobb County, the northern I-285 area, and Gwinnett County.
Road projects, of course, are also the table — including massive new interchanges on the Atlanta interstates.
But when the House bill is finally unveiled, look for what agency is designated as the proposed recipient of the cash. If it’s not the state Department of Transportation, that will constitute a very large tip-off as to Gov. Sonny Perdue’s reorganization plans.
Come to think of it, that may be another reason why we haven’t yet seen Smith’s bill.
Georgia’s business community has demanded passage this year of a proposed constitutional amendment for a sales tax — of any stripe. Even though it couldn’t be put up for referendum until November 2010. Sort of a good faith demonstration.
Given that, business types should be worried about this confluence of the sales tax and Perdue’s requirement of better “governance” through reorganization.
Shifting authority over policy away from the state Department of Transportation could cut Democrats out of the process. Right now, they control six of 13 Georgia congressional districts, and so six of 13 seats on the DOT board.
But if Democrats are shut out of transportation policy-making, don’t look for them be part of any coalition — two-thirds of each chamber is necessary — supporting a sales tax, whether statewide or regional. And nothing will pass without them.
Comments
By Wms
January 28, 2009 8:48 PM | Link to this
Jim, I’m not connecting the dots on what seems like a logical question related to this triumvirate of power. What is driving this desire to place the power in such limited hands when considering the benefit may be relatively short-lived? Surely, the Republican party recognizes that these three guys have not been arm-in-arm in many decisions. The country as a whole is making a big shift to the other side of the aisle, and Georgia will follow suit in the years to come. So, this seems like a very short-sighted approach. What is to gain in the short term that outweighs the potential loss of decision making over the long haul if the Democrats get their act together in GA sooner rather than later?
By snd
January 29, 2009 12:02 PM | Link to this
Umm, last time I checked there were 6 Democratic house members in Georgia, not 4….Lewis, Barrow, Marshall, Johnson, Scott & Bishop.