Ward: Election year may bring Ala. road commission

2/21/2010, 3:06 p.m. ET
PHILLIP RAWLS
The Associated Press

(AP) — MONTGOMERY, Ala. - A state representative says this election year might finally bring success for his legislation to end the governor's control over which highway projects get built and which get postponed.

State Rep. Cam Ward, R-Alabaster, got the House to pass a bill Jan. 19 that would transfer control of the state Department of Transportation from the governor to an appointed commission.

There was nothing new about the 87-6 vote. Ward said it marked the seventh year the House has approved his bill, but each time it has died in the Senate due to opposition from senators who want to maintain the current control.

Ward is hopeful this year will be different because Republican Gov. Bob Riley is not running again, and a new governor will be elected in November.

"This bill will begin with a new administration and a fresh start," he said.

Sen. Scott Beason, R-Gardendale, said the bill dies each year because some Democratic Senate leaders feel they can influence highway projects as long as the governor is in control, but their influence would be less if they had to deal with five commission members.

"They are holding on to what they have now," he said.

Ward's bill would create a five-member commission appointed by the governor to staggered terms, much like universities' boards of trustees or the board that oversees the State Docks. Within a few years, commission members would be appointed by at least two different governors. The commission would hire the transportation director rather than having the director appointed by the governor.

Ward said governors used to send their transportation directors to the Legislature to lobby for votes for administration proposals. "Roads were sold for votes," he said.

Riley, who endorsed a transportation commission in his 2002 campaign, has not done that, but there is no guarantee a future governor wouldn't resurrect the lobbying practice, Ward said.

He said a commission also would provide continuity in road planning and make sure highway priorities no longer change with each new governor's administration.

According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, about half the states use transportation commissions or boards.

Ward's bill is pending in the Senate Commerce, Transportation and Utilities Committee. Committee Chairman Quinton Ross, D-Montgomery, said it is hard to gauge support in this election year.

One committee member, Sen. Larry Means, D-Attalla, said he will try to kill the bill in the committee.

"I've been killing that for five or six years. The system we have in place may not be perfect, but as long as you've got people in it, you are going to have politics," he said.

Means agrees with Ward that trading road projects for votes used to be a problem, but is not any more. In his view, that's a good reason to maintain the status quo. "

All in all, the process works pretty good," said Means, who serves on the Legislature's Joint Transportation Committee.