The House has included a Mobility Fund in their budget at this time. The budget bill (both the money report and the bill) is posted on line at http://www.ncleg.net/sessions/2009/budget/2010/S897-CSLRxf-40.pdf and http://www.ncleg.net/sessions/2009/budget/2010/budgetreport06-01-10.pdf. You can search on the term “Mobility” to find the language.
The House has written a new version of the Fund and it is substantially different from the Governor’s version.
1. The Governor’s proposal included new additional Powell Bill funds for cities; the House version does not.
2. The Governor’s proposal included new dedicated funds for Interstate maintenance; the House version does not.
3. The Governor’s proposal included a stakeholder process for designing the criteria for project selection; the House version does not.
4. The Governor’s proposal (after funding the Yakin River Bridge) included funds for future projects(DMV fee increases and a phase out of the transfers from the Highway Fund and Highway Trust Fund); the House version does not.
What does this mean and where are we?
The good news is that the House is creating a Mobility Fund. The bad news- its sole funded purpose at this time is the Yadkin River Bridge. If all goes as scheduled, the House Finance Committee will be voting on the bill at 4pm today, the House Appropriations Committee will be voting on the bill at 9 am tomorrow, and then to the House floor for votes later this week.
Please keep talking to your legislators about the importance of the Fund and the need to include it in the Budget bill. Ask them to include the Governor’s stakeholder process in the bill so your community can have a voice in the prioritization process.
There were news articles and editorials over the weekend in support of the fund you can read on the Metro Mayors Daily Clips page.
