Senate GOP leaders use budget to court Democrats on transportation

The move is in response to Democrats who have complained that less than 3 percent of Department of Transportation contacts go to African-American firms. That’s a sore point for a party with heavy black support that is now being asked to back legislation to raise up to $1 billion a year, mostly for road projects.

Before the transportation vote, however, the Senate will vote on a state spending plan that includes several provisions Republican leaders added to answer those complaints. Those additions, while helping to win Democratic support, may wind up alienating some Republicans who cringe at the hint of what they might consider affirmative action efforts.

The Senate budget includes $3 million in scholarship money to recruit and train minority students in engineering at private Mercer University and Morehouse College. Senate Republican leaders included $5 million to provide credit help for “disadvantaged small business contracting or attempting to contract with the DOT.” And they wrote language into the budget telling the DOT to use one of its staffers to assist “emerging minority contractors.”

Senate Appropriations Chairman Jack Hill, R-Reidsville, said chamber leaders were sensitive to complaints that minority contractors were getting shut out of road business.

“I don’t want anybody to be seen as excluding anybody,” Hill said.

Still, Democrats were noncommittal Thursday about supporting the transportation bill.

“A myriad of options are under discussion by both parties for the duration of the session,” said Senate Minority Leader Steve Henson, D-Tucker. “Certainly, some of the issues will center around opportunity inclusion and fairness.”

But adding the money to the budget could turn off some Republicans who supported the transportation bill.

“That’s pure affirmative action,” said Rep. Earl Ehrhart, R-Powder Spring, who voted for the House version of the bill. “That’s not something we need to do. We need to base our hiring decisions in the state of Georgia on the ability to deliver on time, cost and quality. Not on the race or gender or the color of your skin. It’s purely a quota.”

Senate Transportation Chairman Tommie Williams, R-Lyons, said he wasn’t consulted about the budget add-ons.

The handling of the transportation bill, and the Senate Republicans’ move to win Democratic votes, is an example of the new political dynamics at the Capitol, where GOP leaders can’t come close to counting on the lock-step support of their caucus.

The House version of the transportation bill would raise taxes so the state can put $1 billion more annually into transportation. It won approval earlier this month despite opposition from many anti-tax Republicans but support from Democrats.

A majority of House Republicans also supported it, but six of 13 deputy whips in the majority caucus — those members who are tasked by leadership to keep their fellow Republicans in line — voted against the bill.

After it passed, more Democratic-sponsored bills were brought up for votes and approved. Meanwhile, some legislation strongly opposed by the Democratic caucus stalled.

The Senate version is much different than the House bill, but it too would raise fees.

Trading taxpayer money in the budget — a college building or social service program in a lawmaker’s hometown — for a key vote isn’t new. Such horse-trading happens every year.

But Senate Republicans were answering a specific question raised by Democrats: Why vote for more transportation money when road-building contracts only go to white-owned and -run businesses?

The engineering scholarships, for instance, are designed to prepare more minority students to become engineers with hopes of increasing the pool of qualified contractors.

“All of us understand that our state is not training enough kids with the engineering skills necessary for us to compete in the 21st century global economy, and our targeted programs ensure we produce more engineers from all backgrounds and ways of life,” said Ben Fry, a spokesman for Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle, the Senate’s president.

The Republican leaders of both chambers have also come out in support of more transit funding, something Democrats have long sought. Both the House and Senate versions of next year's budget include $100 million in borrowing for transit projects.

But some of the attempts to win Democratic votes are bound to annoy some Republicans.

Ehrhart said he would oppose spending designed specifically to increase contracts for minority businesses. If it remains in the budget, Ehrhart said, he’d vote against the transportation bill when it comes back to the House for final approval.

“There is no reason to have that if our basic qualifications are colorblind and equal for everybody,” said Ehrhart, a longtime critic of affirmative action programs. “That is the kind of thing that could get the state of Georgia sued.”