|
|
| |
| Sat, Nov. 22, 2008 |  |
 |
|
||
| |
Whose fault is this? Mine, you say? Tuesday, Nov 15, 2005 By John Brummett State Sen. Jim Argue of Little Rock - and, heck, he's one of the good ones - says he didn't know what he was doing when he voted for that highway bond bill. That's not as bad at it sounds. Harried legislators vote on hundreds of measures in a madly abbreviated state legislative session. If a legislator is going to vote on a bill he doesn't know enough about, it's best that he do so on one that merely refers an issue to the voters. If they don't like it, they can be the backstop. Stuff happens. Argue was busy being Senate president pro tempore and a vital insider on school finance. Along came an 11-page bill about highway bonds fresh out of the Transportation Committee with a unanimous do-pass. He joined 32 members of the 35-member Senate to rubber-stamp it on down to the House, where it passed as overwhelmingly. Argue tells the Little Rock paper he hadn't realized at the time that the bill would authorize the Highway Commission to get only one debt authorization ratified by the voters, then use that single vote to stay permanently in debt up to $575 million in principal for interstate highway improvements yet to be determined. I would refer him to Page 3 of SB 430, not that I bothered to read it, either, at the time: "Subject to the one-time approval of the voters in a statewide election, the state Highway Commission may issue bonds from time to time if the principal amount outstanding from the issuance of the bonds, together with the total principal amount outstanding from the issuance of bonds pursuant to the Arkansas Highway Financing Act of 1999, does not at any time exceed $575 million." Now Gov. Mike Huckabee has called this fateful election for Dec. 13. Both major announced gubernatorial candidates, Mike Beebe and Asa Hutchinson, instantly endorsed the proposal, calling it a simple refinancing of the 1999 highway bond issue. The vote in 1999 was for a set amount of $575 million and for a specific set of interstate rehabilitation projects. This, by contrast, is to authorize that $575 million as a revolving line of credit for unknown interstate needs into the future. It falls under a federal program called GARVEE bonds, which stands for Grant Anticipation Revenue Vehicle. States may sell tax-exempt bonds to compile big pots of money now to be paid back over time with federal turnback funds. In our case, we've also pledged a portion of diesel taxes. A few people, including newspaper writers and truckers, have balked at the permanence of the debt and the full discretion it bestows eternally on the Highway Commission. I suspect the proposal might fail while the companion measure for college bonds passes. I remain inclined to vote for the highway bonds. Debt can be helpful, if strategic and controlled, whether in allowing a homeowner to re-invest in his home to make substantial improvements or enabling a taxpayer to invest in his interstate highways to improve the system as a whole rather than merely in sporadic stretches. For the cost of paying interest over time from our future federal highway allotments, we can put together a pot of money to do more road work than we could otherwise do unless we raised taxes at the pump. There's a place for that in a capital-poor state that relies uncommonly on highway transportation for human and commercial needs. This is debt unlimited in time, yes, but not by amount. If the Highway Commission sells bonds at exorbitant rates for profligate purposes - even to the point of forcing us into general revenues for repayment, as, yes, the bill permits if federal turnback and diesel taxes aren't enough - then the same electorate that granted the line of credit could take it away. It could even amend the state Constitution to change the way we govern our highway system. ------- John Brummett is a columnist for the Arkansas News Bureau in Little Rock. His e-mail address is jbrummett@arkansasnews.com; his telephone number is (501) 374-0699. |
