6th UPDATE

Transportation Sales Tax Clears House

6th Update at 5:20 p.m. adds vote analysis, comment from Georgia Chamber. New material highlighted.
5th Update at 4:15 p.m. adds Cagle quotes.
4th Update at 3:26 p.m. adds additional background.
3rd Update at 2:58 p.m. adds House action.
2nd Update at 11:02 a.m. adds Grover Norquist weighing-in in opposition to tax.
1st Update at 10:44 a.m. in two places with lawmaker's take on the meeting.

By Dick Pettys
InsiderAdvantage Georgia

(3/27/08) In a closely-watched vote that morphed into a renewed fight between Gov. Sonny Perdue and House Speaker Glenn Richardson, the House voted 136-35 for a proposed constitutional amendment that would give local governments power to ask their voters to approve a sales tax of up to 1 percent for transportation needs.

The vote followed several hours of debate, competing letters to the floor from the governor in opposition to the tax and business groups supporting it, and a warning from the anti-tax lobbying group headed by Grover Norquist that Republicans who voted for the measure and who had previously signed an anti-tax pledge would be violating their oaths.

Perdue had already said he saw the tax as one that held little benefit for rural Georgians and which he would fight this year if lawmakers insisted on putting it on the November ballot as a constitutional amendment.

Richardson exhorted the House to action, saying, "We've been stiffled for too long with doing nothing and we've sat and talked and talked about it."

There were distinct overtones in Thursday's debate of the fight last October when Richardson was backing state Rep. Vance Smith, the House Transportation Chairman, for DOT commissioner against Perdue's choice, Gena Abraham. Abraham won by one vote.

That fight carried over into the current session when Richardson fought to unseat DOT Board Chairman Mike Evans, an Abraham supporter. He lost that fight to Perdue, as well.

But he prevailed on Thursday, passing a constitutional amendment which Perdue opposed but, as governor, is powerless to veto.

Richardson made a brief reference during his floor speech to the fight last October, heaping praise on Smith who, as transportation chairman, carried the ball in the House on the sales tax increase for transportation.

"He could have gotten down after what happened this year and quit, but he just got more determined to do something," Richardson said.

The measure, if approved by voters in November, would allow the state's multi-county planning commissioners to propose transportation projects to fill local needs and then ask voters to approve the new tax.

Backers of the legislation apparently won some converts by successfully pushing through floor amendments which allow counties to opt-out before the vote if they don't like the proposed projects, which exempt airlines, railroads and off-road vehicles from the new tax and which takes the 4th penny sales tax on gasoline sales out of the general treasury and earmarks it - like the other three pennies - for DOT projects which can be spelled out by legislators.

That earned the legislation the support of the House Democratic Caucus.

Republicans weren't completely united on the bill. Some - like Rep. Steve Davis - said that allowing a tax increase, even an optional one, violated Republican principles. Majority Republicans lost 30 members of their caucus on the final vote; minority Democrats lost five members.

Richardson had some words for them: "Some of my colleagues say, 'Okay, this is a tax increase.' If that's where you want to run and hide, go hide. But you got elected to lead ..."

In addition to representing a personal victory for Richardson over Perdue, the vote in a larger sense was a victory for the transportation industry and the business groups that have been pushing for a tax increase for more than two years.

The issue originally came to the Legislature from a study committee as either a proposal for a statewide sales tax increase - the House version - or a local option tax increase for individual counties or groups of counties - the Senate version. Several weeks ago, the House and Senate chairmen announced they were working towards compromise on a regional approach.

Next step now is for the Legislature to form a conference committee to resolve the differences.

Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle told reporters, "I think you've got very strong, willing parties on both sides that have a very vested interest in coming out of the session with something meaningful for transportation," and said that while the Senate strongly supports its own plan, it's willing to listen to the House.

Asked if the opt-out provision was a problem and if he favored it, he said, "The broader issue is granting taxing authority to an RDC. That's never been done and there's great concern on the Senate's part."

There was a flurry of action in advance of the vote.

On Wednesday, Perdue warned rural lawmakers he doubts the proposal will help rural areas and said that even if it clears the Legislature, he will speak against it in the months leading up to its submission to the voters as a constitutional amendment.

Thursday morning, Norquist sent out a blast e-mail this morning warning that lawmakers who signed the Taxpayer Protection Pledge who vote for the measure will be in violation of their oaths. More on that in a bit.

Bert Brantley, the governor’s press secretary, said Perdue met with about 30 members of the Legislature’s rural caucus Wednesday.

“He said it was not a bill designed to help the rural parts of the state ... (but) a bill designed to help metro Atlanta,” Brantley said, adding that Perdue likened it to the E-SPLOST, or local option tax for education, which is a boon in wealthier counties but doesn’t help smaller, rural counties all that much.

“He said if it passed and they put it on the ballot, he was not going to stop (criticizing it) just because it passed,” Brantley said. “He said he will continue to raise concerns whether this is the right idea or not.”

Asked if he thought that meant Perdue would mount an active campaign against it, he said the governor merely said he expected to be asked about the proposal a lot and intended to speak his mind.

The Norquist e-mail included these comments:

"Providing a disincentive to true reform and taking the onus off of government, any tax increase at any level of government provides a disservice to your constituents. Failing to stop this tax increase proposal dead in its tracks is an abdication of fiscal leadership. Do not pass this tax increase along."

The e-mail also said: "Regardless of whether you cast a direct vote or pass it on to the ballot - any tax increase will drain money out of the private economy and productive use. As their tax bills go up, your constituents will see your vote in favor of this legislation as a vote to raise taxes on them, and they will hold it against you come election time."

Charles Tarbutton, chairman of the Georgia Chamber of Commerce and co-chairman of the Get Georgia Moving Coalition, issued this statement after the vote:

"Both the House and Senate have now passed legislation that addresses Georgia's critical transportation funding needs today and will help us plan for the future. The time is now. We remain confident that reform and funding can and should be addressed concurrently so that 18-24 months from now, an improved Georgia Department of Transportation will have the resources to move forward with the infrastructure projects this state needs."