Why Vance Smith voted against DOT reorganization

A Senate bill to give the governor greater control over transportation policy barely passed the House on Wednesday afternoon — only after the vote was held open for several minutes for arm-twisting. Speaker Glenn Richardson cast the deciding vote in favor.

House Transportation Chairman Vance Smith (R-Pine Mountain) listens during debate of S.B. 200. Photo credit: Kimberly Smith/ksmith@ajc.com

Among those voting against it was House Transportation Chairman Vance Smith (R-Pine Mountain), once the speaker’s candidate for commissioner of the state Department of Transportation.

Passage keeps open negotiations over a sales tax to put more money into road and rail, but Smith’s vote essentially cuts him out as a House-Senate conference committee on the issue of divvying up — between the Legislature and the governor — power now allocated to the DOT board.

We caught Smith on the ropes outside the chamber, shortly after the vote. The House transportation chairman he voted against the bill — which passed out of his committee on Friday — because he was unsure of its implications, and because important parties involved in transportation policy had no input into the legislation.

Smith specifically mentioned the state DOT board.

Said the lawmaker:

“I think we need to be very careful when we’re reorganizing any department. And I think when you do, you need to call all the players in, sit around the table, and — in this instance — let’s discuss where we’re headed with transportation for the citizens of Georgia.

“Those people should be the governor, lieutenant governor, speaker, the House and Senate transportation chairmen, the DOT board, and the commissioner. And let’s look down the road and move together toward that goal.”

When the new version of S.B. 200 — the product of negotiations between the Speaker and the governor — was unveiled last week, Smith publicly noted that he was getting a first look at the measure.

Asked whether he had enough influence over the legislation, Smith said:

“We had 14 hours of input. I ran the meetings. But at some point, I have to stand up as chairman — I think its my responsibility to my other 35 members of the committee — and say, ‘Please look at this. Because this is the future of transportation in Georgia.’

“And I don’t want to jeopardize anything. I don’t want to jeopardize any federal dollars that might come down, I don’t want to jeopardize any projects that might be ongoing. Do we really know what’s going to happen because of this bill? Do we know how the counties are going to work? There are a lot of criteria that I personally need more answers to.”

Smith was among the last House members to cast a vote. I didn’t want my vote to influence anybody,” he said.

His no vote provoked what looked like an angry stare from Richardson, but Smith said he anticipates no retribution.

“No. the speaker and I are friends. We’ve got a friendship. We just happen to have a difference of opinion. And that’s okay,” Smith said.

When a bid was made to reconsider the close vote, Smith voted against it. “It had taken its course. Let it go,” Smith said.

(Late Wednesday evening, Smith in fact showed up as one of three House conferees on the transportation funding bill.)

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