Lawmakers have been deliberating a potential $3 billion transportation bond behind closed doors as part of the $23.9 billion budget proposed for 2018-19.
The House Select Committee on Strategic Transportation Planning and Long Term Funding Solutions advanced draft legislation in late April for a $3 billion transportation bond, and Gov. Roy Cooper included it in his budget.
State Treasurer Dale Folwell said earlier this week he opposes the bond as presented because it does not allow state taxpayers to vote on whether the state should assume that much debt.
Since legislative leaders have decided to present the budget in the form of a conference committee report, lawmakers will not be able to add or remove anything to it. The entire legislation will be adopted or rejected.
“As a finance and transportation chairman, I am not involved in all the details of the budget negotiations. Different options are being discussed, and our members met about this issue and other issues. In fact, we had committee meetings about this issue,” said Rep. Kelly Hastings, R-Gaston.
“I am not sure what language would be part of the budget. I assume we will know more at a later date,” Hastings said. “As I wrote earlier, as a conservative, I share Treasurer Folwell’s concerns. I want to be able to improve our infrastructure and choose the option that will allow citizens to express their opinions.”
“In the event that a transportation bond will be offered, the public would get to vote on it. I doubt it will happen this time, however,” said Sen. Jim Davis, R-Macon, a co-chairman of the Senate Transportation Committee.
Rep. Jeff Collins, R-Nash, said lawmakers should only be tweaking the two-year budget.
“If we’re going to make some kind of major change or do any kind of policy change, then I don’t think we need to do it through a committee report,” Collins said. He couldn’t pledge to vote for a budget that adds state debt without full and public debate.
Joe Coletti, a senior fellow at the John Locke Foundation who specializes in fiscal issues, also noted a concern with adding debt to a budget that can’t be changed. “The budget is the single most important policy document of state government in a year, and there will be no opportunity to consider the adjustments being proposed until they are finalized,” Coletti said.
“I hope the legislature does not follow Gov. Cooper’s lead with $5 billion in new debt — $2 billion from the General Fund and $3 billion from transportation funds — and future spending that grows faster than the economy and tax structure can support,” he said.
Voters passed the last General Obligation Bond for transportation in 1996, Coletti said. The most recent study by the state’s Debt Affordability Advisory Committee urged not to use debt tied specifically to transportation revenues because the debt would have higher risk and higher interest rates.