CAWP Legislative News 10-10

Transportation Funding Discussed

Governor Rendell continued to encourage the Legislature to take up the issue of transportation funding during post budget July. At a hearing on July 21st before the Senate Transportation committee, the Governor cited numerous transportation projects in the home districts of committee members that could be addressed if additional funding was available. Rendell called for a special session of the General Assembly earlier this year to specifically address transportation funding needs, but the Legislature has little appetite for any revenue enhancement (read: tax or fee increases) during this election year. Rendell indicated he would sign a bill to increase the gas tax along with registrations fees and also recommended enactment of an increase to the oil company excess profit tax.

Additionally, Rendell suggested that he might “flex” some of the highway funds to mass transit. The Governor did this several years ago, much to the chagrin of many rural legislators, most of whom were Republican. That veiled threat along with Rendell’s past refusal to take the lead on rounding up gas tax votes does not lay a good foundation for this issue to get resolved. Another problem is the Senate’s refusal to hold a lame duck session (post election votes in November). The notion of legislators voting for anything remotely like a tax increase right before elections is hard to imagine.

Still, there is a clear recognition that something needs to be done to properly address infrastructure needs in general and transportation needs in particular. One help, though relatively minor, would be passage of a public-private partnership bill (P3) that would allow for private developers to share in some of the costs for certain projects. Legislation to accomplish that is being actively discussed and may very well be enacted before the current legislative session ends on November 30th of this year.