UPDATED: S.B. 200 passes with one vote to spare
A bill that gives lawmakers direct control over how billions in tax dollars are spent on state transportation cleared the House today by the barest of margins after House leaders twisted arms to gain five key votes.
Speaker Glenn Richardson (R-Hiram) cast the deciding vote to give House approval to S.B. 200 after holding the vote open while his lieutenants persuaded skeptics to switch their vote.
According to an analysis of the voting board, before and after the vote, five lawmakers switched their vote from a “no” to a “yes”: Reps. Steve Davis (R-McDonough), Billy Horne (R-Newnan), Barry Loudermilk (R-Cassville), Chuck Martin (R-Alpharetta) and Ed Setzler (R-Acworth). Rep. Penny Houston (R-Nashville) switched her vote from a “yes” to a “no.”
When the vote on the transportation governance bill finally came, it appeared to be on its way to defeat, judging by the live vote recorded on the electronic boards in the House. Even Transportation Committee Chairman Vance Smith (R-Pine Mountain) voted against it.
But rather than call the vote to a close, as he normally does, Richardson left it open as the House whips, including Rep. Jan Jones (R-Atlanta) and the sponsor of the bill, Rep. David Ralston (R-Blue Ridge) spread throughout the chamber.
As opponents of the bill realized what was happening, they rose to try and get Richardson’s attention to shut down the vote. instead, Jones, Ralston, Speaker Pro Tem Mark Burkhalter (R-Johns Creek) and the governor’s floor leaders, including Rep. Jim Cole (R-Monroe) twisted arms, cajoled and asked for votes.
They got them. When the vote was called, it stood as 90 in favor, 84 against. Richardson, who votes very rarely, cast his vote in favor. It takes 91 votes — a majority of the 180 seats — for a bill to pass.
The bill is a key component in Gov. Sonny Perdue’s legislative agenda for the year. In fact, Perdue has demanded the state’s transportation governance be overhauled before he would consider a new method for paying for transportation projects.
Perdue’s original proposal was to abolish the Department of Transportation — and its board — and replace it with a new agency controlled by the governor, speaker of the House, the lieutenant governor and a newly created secretary of transportation.
That’s largely the plan the Senate has adopted. But the House version that squeaked out today dumps most of that plan, leaves in place the DOT and its board and creates a new position there of director of planning who would oversee much of the actual work of building roads and bridges.
Most of the debate in the House today centered over who would or would not lose power under the House plan. Many lawmakers worried they would cede power over transportation to the governor and the new director of planning.
Rep. Jay Shaw (D-Lakeland) blistered House leadership from the well of the chamber, accusing them of bringing a “fool’s” bill to the floor.
“I tell you, I cannot believe we even see this bill today,” Shaw said. “This is the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever seen in my life. I know someone is going to tell us in a few minutes this is April Fool’s Day. Nobody in here would vote for this unless they’re a fool on April 1.”
There’s nothing wrong with the Department of Transportation, Shaw said, that wasn’t caused by “meddling” from the governor.
House Rules Chairman Earl Ehrhart (R-Powder Springs) was the first supporter of the bill to take the floor. He railed against opponents who worry about losing control of DOT.
“You don’t get to appropriate it (now), you don’t even get to think about it,” Ehrhart said. “Under this bill, the money is coming to us. Follow the money, folks.”
Smith was given the final 20 minutes before the vote and he praised the work of his committtee — but he ultimately voted against the bill.
Richardson was the last to speak and regaled the House with the woeful tale of his failed 17-year effort to get a road in his home of Paulding County widened.
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36 comments Add your comment
Edward Beazley
April 1st, 2009
3:50 pm
BAD MOVE BY THE HOUSE, IT GIVE ALL THE POWER TO PERDUE
Chris
April 1st, 2009
3:57 pm
Marietta City Schools = mostly black or mexican, just like Clayton County. Funny how you don’t see problems or layoffs in mostly white areas like East Cobb, Alpharetta, Forsyth, etc.
Road Scholar
April 1st, 2009
3:58 pm
How can an urban politician vote in support of such a blatant power grab by rural Georgia! Oh, by the way, there already is a position at GDOT named Director of Planning; it presently has an interim manager (who is quite capable.) I wonder what project(s) in the areas of those who changed their vote were promised?
GAciti
April 1st, 2009
4:00 pm
Terrible!!! Now watch and see if roads get built quicker or congestion goes away. No!!! Perdue and his chess pieces have “forgot” to mention that the biggest portion of these projects are funded by FEDERAL money with tough environmental loopholes. This is why rods don’t get built. I hope every Rep that voted for this never returns to office. You are idiots!!!!
Bob
April 1st, 2009
4:05 pm
Very glad to see this pass. Our transportation system has languished in present form. A good bill for the whole state.
THE CATHOLIC HAMMER
April 1st, 2009
4:07 pm
Eliminate the Mechanical Jacobin.
tld
April 1st, 2009
4:19 pm
Georgia has the bestroads in the SE, largly because we don’t have political appointees in charge of DOT. In the Carolinas, Alabama, Mississippi,and Louisiana you have bridges to nowhere and transportation funds used to pave parking lots or bild driveways to country clubs. Their Interstates are crumbling. Rep Ehrhart has it right: “the money is coming to us. Follow the money, folks.”
Thie new position should be called the Commissioner of Pork. If you’re not a pal of the governor, your projects don’t get funded.
GeorgiaDuck
April 1st, 2009
4:26 pm
Great job here. Now the “new” DOT will get Gena Evans back in charge and sit on the stimulus money instead of bidding new work.
professional skeptic
April 1st, 2009
4:28 pm
OK, now can we move on and approve a workable funding mechanism now that “governance” has been addressed?
@Chris, 3:57 PM: You must have missed this article:
http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/cobb/stories/2009/03/08/King_Cove_cobb_recession.html
stupid bill
April 1st, 2009
4:32 pm
this will do nothing but slow down road construction… except on projects that benefits the governor… which wont be helpful to anyone else (may we look at the fishing pond perdue built in a recession)… the problem with the dot is too much government meddling, now they want to run it? stupid… transportation is a slow moving process because so many things can delay a project (the least of which is lack of funding in ga (ga is 48th in per capita spending, but number 2 in road quality)… things including envirnomental issues, political meddling, one influential property owner, etc etc)… until evans came in no one knew the dot existed and were quiet happy about it… travel out of state and you will see that ga has far better roads…. but evans and her scandals… and now shell be running it again
Jim Callihan
April 1st, 2009
4:33 pm
I look forward to an honestly unbiased summary of the changes. Many of the arguments FOR change, hedged or directly addressed the issue of “control” being in the hands of a committee that too often failed to act cohesively in the best interest of the State. If Ehrhart is correct in proclaiming “the money is coming to us” (lemme count…thats 56+180+1+1), then the primary issue of cohesive consensus is not made better – BUT POSSIBLY WORSE!?!
Another point of criticism, chiefly hailed by Governor Perdue was “efficiency”. But as I read the bill, it appears to effect the abolishment of one department, while simultaneously creating two more – huh? Is this “The Peterson Principle” striking again?
And then there is the question of just “where does the buck stop”? The bill mentions the position of a GDOT Commissioner (and “such subordinate employees as may be deemed necessary by the commissioner”), but what is changing with that? Will the “commissioner” be elected as with other State Departments (or appointed, if “yes”, by whom)? And the “Secretary of Transportation”? And the “Deputy Commissioner of Transportation”? How will these changes in personnel interact with one another (a “Flow Chart” please)?
It seems to have potential for improvement, but much more detail is needed in order make that assessment. No wonder the votes went “back and forth”. Here’s hoping for the best.
Good Ol' Girl
April 1st, 2009
4:34 pm
**I hope they build more roads…traffic is too congested. WE NEED MORE ROADS and less land for wildlife animals. We don’t need parks or MASS Transit…what we need are more roads…more exits….more wider roads..**
**Great work Good Ole Boys. We should widen ROADS to 3,240 lanes…that’s the only way to solve congestion! MOre roads will help us get to the new Piggly Wiggly they’re building in Canton**
GAciti
April 1st, 2009
4:42 pm
Huh, Perdue brought Gena in, Gena “uncovered” problems, Gena gets kicked out, makes Board look bad and Perdue gets the votes he wanted. Cagle and Gena will soon be back to their “stairwell” meetings, watch out Mike, YOU know how well she likes her 15 minute meetings.
South
April 1st, 2009
4:42 pm
Hey Chris what the heck does marietta schools have to do with the DOT?????DUH……
clifton grant
April 1st, 2009
4:45 pm
What a shame that our do-nothing governor finally decided to do something! Now we are right back where we were before leaders during
the Sanders administration decided to reform the DOT by taking politics
out of transportation decisions and placing them in the hands of an
independent board. Shame on the legislators who voted for this bill.
GAciti
April 1st, 2009
4:47 pm
Where can we find out how the legislators voted?
Dick
April 1st, 2009
5:00 pm
Just what we citizens need. Our incompetint elected officials over seeing another governmental body. I would love to have a list of the favors swapped the last 20 minutues. Richardson is in a world of his own, he thinks he owns it.
Joe
April 1st, 2009
5:02 pm
We’ll have bridges and roads to nowhere. Not to mention roads to benefit developers and politicians. As a life long Republican it’s sad to admit that we have a corrupt legislature and govenor.
Bloated Governmental DOT
April 1st, 2009
5:14 pm
We need to see the GDOT revamped. The truth be told the GDOT is a jobs program and has been since the mid- 90’s. There are many fine folks in the GDOT however there are 3 times as many who do not produce anything except a burden on the tax payers of Georgia. Wasted monies on retirement and cost of keeping these people riding around in the Yellow and White Trucks and Vans.
When you see a job that is bid and won by a contractor for 10 million you need to add several more million to the cost for the GDOT to staff persons to be on site during construction, this is ALL OVERHEAD to the project and money you never hear about being spent. Private companies who take on the work and provide warranties are the way to move toward. Relieve the GDOT of many many staff persons and projects will move more rapidly through the system. Every Transportation Division in the country has reduced all non essential staff and are providing services with better response time and better end results.
Get Georgia on track. Dump the wasteful jobs driven GDOT. We can do better than what we have now.
Bush
April 1st, 2009
5:19 pm
Another nail in the corruption that is Georgia GOP controlled state goverment. I honestly believe our Georgia GOP is the worst in the country.
stupid bill
April 1st, 2009
5:24 pm
BLOATED… are you serious? first of all if anything the people on the construction site over seeing the work are underpaid and undertrained… most of them do not have a college degree… and are paid less than 25k a yr, and there is only like 10 people per district… they are responsible to oversee the contractor and make sure no cornors are cut (which if they werent there, they would be all the time…)… making this a private 3rd party responsiblity is going to cost more money because you will have to pay the people and then pay a new companies overhead… if anything the dot needs to hire more of its own people and less consultants (both in design and oversight)…
Britt Shiver
April 1st, 2009
5:29 pm
This is just plain stupid. Moving funds around the DOT to the projects that need them most has been hard enough to date. Now, if the House and Senate can agree on a bill, elected officials, a majority of which are not capable of understanding all the engineering and science in our state infrastructure, will directly control all of the funds. Instead of the transportation needs of the state being met, we may see a huge mess that brings the state to a grinding halt. These decisions need to be placed in the hands of those educated and experienced to do so, not politicians who want to increase their wealth and that of their friends. This is a very important bill. Everyone needs to send emails and pester the heck out of their state representatives.
Bloated Governmental DOT
April 1st, 2009
5:57 pm
Stupid Bill…What kind of Government fool are you? You can not train idiots and embezels. Have you seen the guys out there on site? We have folks working for us who can not get a job anywhere else because of their lack of intellect and or the plain laziness that is the status quo of the department. We need professional to design, build and maintain roads not a jobs program.
I am sick and tired of hearing about the ” Georgia has the best roads in the Southeast or Nation”. That is so untrue and has not been the case since before the 1996 Olympics. Do you realize how much money we were allowed to spend for that one time event? It was money provided by the Feds. We repaved roads, widened roads, added lanes, added cameras, added new signs , added new guardrails, and added numerous new I.T. programs. That got Georgia ahead. The olympics came and went and we still have people on payrolls who DO NOTHING!
Be smart for once in your life and smell the rotting corpses around you. Those are lazy, uncaring, non performing , tax burden employees.
We have to eliminate some of this waste before we become another California with a hole so deep we can not climb out of.
Georgia needs to understand that training lazy people creates nothing but smarter lazy people.
NAME ONE GOVERNMENT JOB THAT IS DONE BETTER THAN ANY PRIVATE SECTOR JOB?
Keep thinking that the Government is the answer and one day you will wake up to Complete Socialism.
Get a clue.. I see people everyday who I DESPISE for doing nothing and yet they are the first one to complain when they are asked to do a little extra…THE GDOT AT ITS FINEST!
joker
April 1st, 2009
6:28 pm
I love this… republicans manage government agencies into the ground, then say, “see? government doesn’t work!” It’s true that government could learn a few lessons from private enterprise about how to run an organization, but government is not flawed in principle.
Also, remember that private enterprise *must* run at a profit, while government can break even. Look at Katrina.. The feds pay a contractor $20M, who pays another contractor $10M, who pays another contractor $5M, and so on, until at the end an illegal immigrant builds a house for less than minimum wage using below-standard materials, producing a poor-quality house.
Government wastes time, private enterprise wastes money.
Perdue knows this and doesn’t care about Georgians. He wants to enrich his fat cat road-building friends.
Oh, and just wait until Perdue and his cronies run Atlanta into the ground. All these redneck cities will find they suddenly have no more government treasuries to plunder. Then the good ol’ boy network will have to resort to a time-honored tradition.. stealing from poor people.
Jason
April 1st, 2009
6:38 pm
This state and its government are a joke. Not only do we have a governor who continues to “hold the assets” of his business while in office (can you say shady?), prays on the capitol steps to address our water shortage (can you say ineffective?) and is generally ineffective at everything except moving this state back a decade in every possible way, but now you want to give him control of transportation too? The only thing more ineffective than the DOT is the office of the Governor.
Reality Check
April 1st, 2009
7:06 pm
Bloated……it takes more to design and build a road than just calling up your neighbor to see how it is done, which what will be happening with road projects when this bill is passed. There are several instances needed to build roads from design to the actual construction of the product, that is what politicians and some uneducated tax payers do not understand. And by the way GA has some of the best roads in the south, if you trust in federal transportation statistics. Why are you seriously harping on the people of the DOT sounds like you are a disgruntle person who could not get one of those lazy peoples jobs. Check the facts, dig deeper than what the politicians want u 2 see and do not be blind to the facts around this very political vote, they have twisted arms and promised favors at the expense of the tax payers.
LA
April 1st, 2009
7:25 pm
http://www.legis.state.ga.us/
Click on “legislation” for either the House or Senate to see who voted for what bill. You can also read the bill, see who sponsored it, etc.
stupid bill
April 1st, 2009
7:28 pm
bloated… i never said they were the best… but the construction people have really hard jobs that are not very enriching, hence the high turnover and the bad attitude… they are never given the training to do their jobs right so they just dont care
and if you think consultants do a better job than the state engineers you are just plain uninformed… more often than not the consultants work is deeply flawed and has to be sent back multiple times… i’m not saying the in house work is a lot better sometimes (though it generall is) but they at least know the process…
SUBURBAN OVERLORD
April 1st, 2009
7:29 pm
Oh the poor DOT. I don’t get how people can defend an agency that has carried INSTITUTIONALIZED LYING AND DECEIT to a level never seen before in the history of the state of Georgia. The leaders of GDOT lied about their financial problems – lied about the when projects would be built – lied about doing bridge inspections – lied about everything they do. Their credibility is gone and they did the impossible by getting the Governor, Lt. Governor, and House Speaker to agree on something, for once.
People that are scared of a power grab, and yes there is one, should understand the terrible shape our state DOT is in. You know nothing if all you keep up with is what is in the newspapers. I am no Sonny Perdue fan, but this was the right call. The present system is the most dysfunctional one in the country, where Board members are King and don’t spent the money around the state evenly or even care. No matter where you are from, an in-town Atlanta hippie to a south Georgia Cracker, this is better than what you have now.
Bloated Governmental DOT
April 1st, 2009
7:31 pm
Reality……How many engineers with the DOT have left on their own in the past 3 years? Left Early?..over 35 to go to the private sector. We lost one in the past 3 months who pretty much handled the day to day engineering services for all road projects..why because he will say the same thing I have….the system is broken and bloated. No one needs to call a neighbor or friend to design a road or build a road. The projects created now are done 90% outside the department and the GDOT approves the plans. Once again the job is done by a private company who turns the job around on time. How many projects have been completed on time in the last 10 years? About 8% were completed on time and within budget. 61% were completed 90 days past due or longer and were 40% to 50% overbudget due to changes made by the DOT. 26% of the projects were over 280 days past deadline and created an additonal average of $400,000.00 per $ 1 million dollars budgeted. Those are facts.
As for being one of those disgruntle persons who could not get one of those lazy jobs..I have one of the jobs with the department that is scrutinized and is out in the public eyes, I have to create reports for every project in my district, I have to write reports for every person in my district, I evaluate employees, I budget my office, I budget my projects and deal with the issues of attempting to rid the state coffers of employees who do not do a days work for a days pay, which in my eyes is stealing from the taxpayers of Georgia. I am sick and tired of working with lazy people who only look for the 1st and 15th of each month and take little or no pride in their work, appearance or attitude. Let me add I have 5 family members who were also Real Engineers who retired from the GDOT and went on to work in the private sector and have seen this department turn into a jobs program.
Once again this ‘Best Roads in the South” is brought up and the plain facts are those numbers are 10 years old…yes it was true for over 16 years during the 80’s and 90’s Georgia ranked in the top 5 each year, the numbers also reflected the number of dollars spent on roads per gallon of gasoline tax purchased. The old formula until it was changed By Gov. Barnes allowed as much as needed to be spent on roads. Now the rules must provide for walking trails, sidewalks, trains, bicycle trails and horse trails to taken out of the funding formula. The old formula allowed GA. to spend up to 90 cents of every dollar on road projects…now the number is much less, almost half for “roadway projects” Road projects need to be built on need not want. Today with the cost to employ a state worker and the benefits it involves is just wasteful for the taxpayers to finance a retirement program. Just in case you did not know it..the old retirement system is funded nicely..the new retirement system is in the negative and the money is not there to keep it fluid. Check your facts…and do your homework.
Roy
April 1st, 2009
8:17 pm
the house bill makes sense except the person who oversees actual construction is called the Director of Construction, an already existing position in the current DOT structure.
The House Transportation committee is the logical group to direct the DOT, not another state agency. Look at the lack of success of Roy Barnes’ GRTA.
Bloated is he really gdot?
April 1st, 2009
9:41 pm
You said how many engineers have left on their own? 35% wonder why? They are all studying for their P.E. I guess if you were a engineer you would be gone like them. Alot of them are using GDOT as a stepping stone in their own careers. They learn how GDOT does buisness and uses it too help their companies get contracts because they have to follow the Aashto guidelines. Ever heard of Aashto? Because GDOT pays so LITTLE, we are the lowest paid of all the state agencies why the engineers leave. I would leave a job paying 50K for a job making 100K what fool wouldn’t. Did you mention that? Also your figures are dead wrong. I saw the 2007 data we are in the top 5 so you need to do better looking yourself. Because your info is bogus. Also the 1st and 15th we get paid on the 9th and 24th. Are you really a GDOT worker? Or one that that is just full of it? Also if you hate it bad enough find a new job your probaly part of the bloated problem too as you say. We design the roads, the scratch and sniff brigade are the contractors. Anybody that needs to come down hard on is them.
Bloated Governmental DOT
April 1st, 2009
10:21 pm
I have a P.E. behind my name. Some Professional Services Offices get paid on the 1st and 15th. I guess you work in the D-7 or Central Office.
You need to get your facts right, The GDOT takes external Data from Private Contractors/Consultants and reviews it for many many months upon a request from various sources, the DOT then assigns the Design structure to one of several engineering firms to develop the scope of services and Planning Design. When was the last time you saw a Survey crew on the road? The plans are then reviewed aqain and you add to that R/W services acquistion and legal. I have worked at each level of the GDOT- and I know how the system works.
The GDOT does have some engineers who leave to work in the private sector after gaining experience in basic engineering from the GDOT. However most of the engineers I have worked with left due to lack of work and the ability to see a project from start to finish.
As for the lowest paid state employees…you have your facts wrong. The state of Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Tennessee, Louisiana, North Carolina, South Carolina, Arkansas, and Missouri all pay lower wages than Georgia does at every level from maintenance to Engineers to MOT, to Planning. Those are the facts. Get out of the state everyone once in awhile. AASHTO, NSC, ITS, PTE, CEPTG, NSC, AATSA, DESIGN PLANNING ENGINEERS, ENGINEERS ASSOCIATION, TRB, FHWA, Should I Keep going.
I get job offers and have for the past 20 years….I am at 30 plus now..maybe it is time for many of us real Engineers to leave the department and let the prisoners run the place for awhile….Where were you during the floods, the ice storms, the Olympics, I know where I was..and the facts are the road for 1997 was the Non Interstate Roadways because during the June ride through by the FHWA Members only rode SR 520/ Corridor Z…oh but I would not know that I am Bogus…
FlintRiverRat
April 1st, 2009
10:22 pm
For those that continue to bash the ones in GDOT who do their jobs well with little recognition by our state leadership, I thank you. Weeding out inefficient workers should be a top priority within all of state government. Then maybe the legislature could afford to pay the workforce a living wage.
The legislature did did not do a service to Georgia by being hoodwinked into Sonny’s trap. Hopefully the committee will fail to reach a compromise and it will die. Anyway why the rush, no one can vote on the sales tax until November 2010!
FlintRiverRat
April 2nd, 2009
8:05 pm
Correction to previous post. To the dedicated GDOT employees who do their jobs in a professional manner without complaint THANK YOU. To the deadwood who still call GDOT home, please consider leaving before you get fired for incompetence. To the idiots in the public who continue to berate and bash you SHAME ON THEM.
UPDATED: S.B. 200 passes with one vote to spare | Gold Dome Live
April 2nd, 2009
11:11 pm
[...] UPDATED: S.B. 200 passes with one vote to spare | Gold Dome Live [...]