While all eyes have been focused on the $1 billion in tax hikes that will be imposed on North Carolina families, there’s been plenty of legislative action on the proposed Triangle transit tax. Bottom line: it appears to be headed to a ballot box near you. From the Herald-Sun:
Triangle governments’ push for local-option sales-tax authority to pay for new transit projects cleared a big hurdle Tuesday when a bill authorizing such taxes gained an endorsement from the state Senate Finance Committee.
Committee members made only one change to the bill’s wording, a move officials like Triangle Transit General Counsel Wib Gulley said they support.
Because of the change, which affected a provision directing local governments to offset any impact transit projects have on low-cost housing, the N.C. House will have to weigh in on the bill one more time.
But the change already has “been reviewed and signed off on by all the parties who are interested in this bill, so I don’t think it’ll be a problem at all,” Gulley said.
He added that the full Senate will likely act on the measure today and Thursday, debate on two days being required under chamber rules because it involves finance.
A House concurrence could happen as early as Thursday, but is more likely on Friday, Gulley said.
For a good overview of the state’s transportation challenges, check out this interview with Dr. David Hartgen, professor emeritus of transportation studies at UNC-Charlotte, and president of the Hartgen Group. In it he discusses roads, transit, and rail.
