By Ashley Speagle
Correspondent
ATLANTA -- Some state lawmakers on Thursday questioned the constitutionality of a bill setting up regional planning and funding for transportation projects.
PDF: House Bill 1218 PDF: Constitutionality of transportation bill
"We're going to tax regionally, but the state's still going to dictate how this is spent," said Rep. Barry Loudermilk, R-Cassville. "How much water is this going to carry in court?"
The Transportation Investment Act, House Bill 1218, would create 12 regions whose residents would vote in 2012 whether to adopt a 1 percent sales tax for transportation projects in each region.
Gov. Sonny Perdue and House and Senate leaders said they support the bill -- the first time in years that state leaders agreed on a plan to fund needed transportation projects for a growing state.
Members of the House Special Subcommittee on Transportation are debating and amending measures in the bill that support regional funding. A key question that came up in the subcommittee Thursday was whether the state legally could hold and distribute sales tax raised in specific regions.
"Monies can't be earmarked to particular spending," Rep. Loudermilk said. "How, without this being a constitutional amendment, can we specify or earmark this money to go to transportation?"
"The other bills of this sort that I've seen are all constitutional amendments and this is not," said Rep. Pat Gardner, D-Atlanta.
The sponsor and the governor's advisers said they already have revised the bill's language to address many of the issues brought up, including this one.
"The Constitution gives the legislature the authority to tax and set up laws related to taxation," said Jannine Miller, Gov. Perdue's policy adviser on transportation.
Another objection came from Rep. David Lucas, D-Macon, who said the original bill set up a transportation planning director as a "czar" over projects.
Proposed changes to HB 1218, the Transportation Investment Act of 2010:* Ensure that the list of transportation projects shows the benefits of each project to citizens.* Require at least two town hall meetings for citizen input to regional roundtables.* Clarify that transportation projects include buses and rail, in addition to road construction.* Include a definition for local legislation.* Create a five-member legislative oversight committee for each region, which would also review whether the benefits of each project were attained.Source: House Special Subcommittee on Transportation
Ms. Miller also said the planning director's role was clarified so that he or she would oversee, not dictate, the list of transportation projects.
The sponsor also took out of the bill provisions for a citizen panel to review communities' complaints on transportation projects, but Ms. Miller said the panel may be added again in the hearing process.
Legislators on the subcommittee proposed adding a five-member legislative oversight committee for each region.
"This oversight committee would basically have broad oversight over the expenditures and the projects that are going on in each region," Rep. Loudermilk said.
However, some legislators said extra pay for oversight committee members could be a large expense to consider during a struggling economy.
The subcommittee is tentatively scheduled to review the bill and proposed changes again Monday.
Ashley Speagle covers the Georgia Legislature. Contact her at speagle.ashley@gmail.com.