Local lawmakers weigh in on funding transportation initiatives
The following is the second part of a three-part series on Gov. Tom Corbett’s legislative priorities.
HARRISBURG — The state Legislature is gearing up for a showdown over a major spending bill that could pump up to $2.5 billion into Pennsylvania’s ailing transportation infrastructure.
Gov. Tom Corbett has made passing a bill to repair and upgrade the state’s aging roads, bridges and mass transit systems one of his “Big 3” priorities this session, along with overhauling public pension systems and getting the state out of alcohol sales.
“I’ve tried to leave an impression, as has the governor, that he wants a bill on his desk,” state Department of Transportation Secretary Barry Schoch said. “And they have to do the work within caucus, both the Democratic and Republican parties, as to what can pass.”
Pennsylvania’s transportation needs have outstripped its funding by more than $3.5 billion, and the price tag of unmet transportation needs is on track to grow to $7.2 billion by 2020, a commission convened by Corbett projected in an August 2011 report. Throughout the state, business groups, engineering firms, highway construction companies, mass transit agencies and labor unions are urging lawmakers to advance a transportation bill.
But in Fayette County, some business leaders and local lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are voicing concerns over the tax increases and rise in fees proposed to patch the funding gap.
“We do have bridges in decline, and our roadways definitely need improvement,” said Muriel Nuttall, executive director of the Fayette Chamber of Commerce. “We need business and commerce here in Fayette — there’s no doubt about that — but we have to look at the big picture and make sure that we can bring business in, and that those businesses can hire employees that can afford to get to work. We have a great number of working poor and what’s going to happen to them?”
Transportation is the first of the “Big 3” that the General Assembly is set to tackle this fall. House Majority Leader Mike Turzai said he would put a transportation bill up for vote this week, though several sources say the vote will likely be pushed back while the governor and House leaders work on a deal.
“It definitely has life now that it didn’t have three weeks ago,” Dave Thomas, an aide to House Speaker Sam Smith, R-Jefferson, told the Associated Press last week. “There’s still a long way to go getting it across the finish line.”
The House will likely consider a pared-down version of the $2.5 billion spending plan that cleared the Senate with bipartisan support in June, with just three Democrats and two Republicans opposed. About $1.9 billion of that plan would go toward highways and bridges, with another $510 million set aside for mass transit.
“The Senate acted. The House has a responsibility to act,” said Rep. Jim Christiana, R-Beaver. “We need to invest in it, and all four leaders and caucuses should be in a room figuring out a plan.”
The House debate centers around just how much funding the General Assembly should be injecting and which types of revenue sources will garner enough support.
“I agree that there is a great need for a comprehensive — roads, bridges and mass transit — transportation plan,” said Rep. Deberah Kula, D-North Union Township. “I do not believe, however, that the revenues for that plan should be collected by increasing the gas tax or driver’s fees. There are other funding solutions out there that are far less hurtful to everyday Pennsylvanians.”
Negotiators are also debating how much to put into mass transit and whether to change the state’s prevailing wage law on public construction projects.
“I’ve heard a lot of the negotiation is around the actual spending number, and then prevailing wages issues,” Rep. Mike Reese, R-Mount Pleasant, said. “They’re trying to find votes based on not only an increase at the pump, but also wage reform … I don’t know if they’ll get there or not.”
Most House Democrats favor the Senate’s $2.5 billion plan, while fiscal conservatives in the House have balked at tax increases and called for a lower spending amount.
“We’re not doing our jobs up here if we just put Band-Aids on a situation that’s needed correcting for the last 20 years,” said Rep. Tim Mahoney, D-South Union Township. “We need to fully fund transportation.”
Reese said he intends to vote down any legislation resembling the Senate transportation bill until he’s satisfied that all current transportation expenditures are necessary and any redundant functions get consolidated or eliminated.
“I look at this as something that the taxpayers of Pennsylvania simply cannot afford. I think people are struggling, the economy is struggling,” Reese said. “I believe we need to invest in our infrastructure, but there has not been, in my opinion, over the last few years any significant efforts to restructure the spending habits of our transportation system.”
Rep. Pam Snyder, D-Jefferson, said she believes many of the proposed revenue sources are reasonable.
“You can’t have good roads and bridges at no cost,” Snyder said. “We have some of the lowest fees in the country in regard to our registration fees and the renewal of our driver’s licenses and things like that.”
But Snyder also said she’s still “thinking hard” about the fuel tax proposal and needs to see the latest version of the bill before deciding whether she’ll support it.
Corbett had initially pitched a $1.8 billion plan. House Republicans considered a $2 billion bill that stalled before lawmakers broke for summer break.
Like Corbett’s plan, the latest Senate bill relies heavily on lifting the cap on the wholesale fuel tax, which will likely be passed down to consumers.
“To say there is a cap on the gas taxes now is one thing, and to adjust that gas tax another thing, but to remove it really leaves an open-ended window,” Nuttall said. “We pay some of the highest gas taxes in the United States, and taking that cap off could push us to the top.”
The plan also includes various other fee increases, including a $100 increase on moving violations and increases in vehicle registration and driver’s license fees that have remained flat since the 1990s. The $2.5 billion Senate plan would amount to an overall bill of about $100 more per resident annually, the governor’s Transportation Funding Advisory Commission found.
Bill Blaney, owner of Blaney Farms Inc. in Perryopolis, said he’s worried about the heavy burden that fuel tax increases and vehicle plating fee increases would have on his 19-truck fleet, which transports about 4,000 loads annually.
“The bill as it passed the Senate is really going to be a huge burden for commercial trucking,” Blaney said.
The state’s backlog in bridge repairs is also affecting Blaney’s business. Most recently, he has been faced with re-routing trucks that had been carrying recycled metal over Elizabeth Bridge on Route 51, which crosses the Monongahela River between Elizabeth and West Elizabeth.
That bridge is one of roughly 1,000 “structurally deficient” bridges in Pennsylvania facing new or increased weight restrictions amid legislative inaction. Some bridges are being reduced from 40 tons to 32 tons, which could block most cement trucks, dump trucks and tractor-trailers from crossing. Bridges reduced to 24 tons could prohibit loaded fire engines.
Pennsylvania leads the nation in the number of bridges deemed structurally deficient, at nearly 4,500.
“Our ability to keep up and keep investing our bridges is going to drop,” Schoch said. “Next year, without additional funding, we’ll be fortunate to do 250 bridges. If we don’t do 300 a year, we’re losing ground.”
Schoch said Corbett would sign any bill that would generate at least as much as his own $1.8 billion proposal. Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi has said this could be the last major transportation funding bill for a decade or more, and he wants it to be a complete package.
If the current push fails, transportation may be dead for the current legislative session, which has more than a year to go.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.