Transportation matters to Georgia, its citizens and our future. Our roads, ports, railroads, airports and public transit systems are among some of our greatest strengths as a state. Our economic success has long been tied to our ability to move people and goods across Georgia and around the world.

That’s why the members of the General Assembly worked so hard to find a comprehensive solution to our critical transportation funding needs during this legislative session. That’s why House Bill 170, the Transportation Funding Act of 2015, matters.

I was proud to work with members on both sides of the aisle as well with local officials, experts and concerned citizens from across the state to develop our plan and continually refine it until its final passage last week. The final version of HB 170 passed both the House and Senate with more than two-thirds of the members of each chamber voting for it, including a majority of both parties. That is proof that, though the work wasn’t easy, it was worth it because we produced a plan that is the product of compromise and trust.

In a debate of this importance, there are always going to be a few who are so busy looking for conspiracies that they are blind to the fact that not every vote is easy and not every good policy can be summarized in one sentence. They chose to just say “no” to everything and took the easy way out.

I am, however, thankful for all those members of the General Assembly who had the courage to face a tough vote and chose sound policy over sensational rhetoric. I am grateful to those who came together to work constructively on this legislation and offered suggestions and improvements along the way. I also thank Gov. Nathan Deal for his support and his pledge to sign HB 170 into law.

HB 170 will put Georgians to work repairing bridges and repaving roads. It will ensure we continue to grow our public transit systems to meet the needs of our citizens. It will help keep transportation one of the reasons that Georgia is the best state in the nation for business.

In our discussions between the House and Senate on the final version of this bill, we tried to balance our desire to keep the excise taxes on gasoline and diesel fuel as low as possible with the critical need for billions more dollars in transportation funding each year.

The final version of HB 170 contains an excise tax that is lower than the state needed but includes a hotel/motel fee and heavy-truck impact fee to help make up the difference.

The members of the Senate originally discussed a $5 per day rental car fee to make up for the revenue lost to a lower excise tax. However, since half of the cars rented in this state are rented by Georgians, we wanted to find a way to shift more of that burden to those visiting from outside Georgia so that they, too, had to pay some of the costs of Georgia’s transportation network. Shifting that fee to a $5 per night fee on hotel and motel rooms, excluding extended stays, means that 85 percent of the revenue from this fee will come from those who live out-of-state.

The heavy truck fee which will be charged on commercial-sized trucks and tractor trailers is meant to ensure those heavy vehicles which cause more wear and tear to our roads pay a greater share of the maintenance cost. That fee of $50 or $100 a year, based on gross vehicle weight, will ensure equity in paying the costs of road maintenance.

The revenue that comes from both of these fees will be spent on transportation purposes, which include everything from roads and bridges to buses and public transit. If that revenue is not spent on transportation, we will no longer charge those fees. This enforces the promise that this revenue will go directly toward making Georgia’s transportation network better.

That is really what all of this has been about – finding sensible and fair ways to make our transportation network better and keep Georgia moving forward.