Perdue and Richardson to talk transportation

Gov. Sonny Perdue and Speaker Glenn Richardson are to meet privately on the second floor of the state Capitol this afternoon to discuss transportation — and what Tuesday’s actions in the House might have meant. Whether there might be a move afoot in that chamber to preserve the power of the state Department of Transportation and its board.

This, of course, would be contrary to the aims of legislation proposed by Perdue in both the House and the Senate — which Richardson and Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle signed onto last month.

Any details we get will appear in this space, so check back.

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Signs of nervousness abound. The Senate this morning received H.B. 277, which passed the House a day earlier. This is House Transportation Chairman Vance Smith’s bill endorsing a statewide sales tax for transportation. The Senate has already passed something similar, but the approach is regional.

H.B. 277 was remanded not to the Senate Transportation Committee, but to the chamber’s Finance Committee. It was intended as an expression of frustration with what senators are seeing across the way.