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Barron pushes roads bill locally

By Mark Harrison
The Times-Journal

Published January 25, 2010

State Sen. Lowell Barron held an impromptu press conference in Rainsville Monday to defend his proposed “roads and bridges” bill, which has been under attack from Senate Republicans.

Almost a dozen of DeKalb’s elected representatives gathered for the outdoor press conference in support of the roads and bridges bill. The delegation included Fort Payne Mayor Bill Jordan, Rainsville Mayor Donnie Chandler, DeKalb County Commission President Sid Holcomb, Rainsville Councilmember and state engineer Bejan Taheri and others.

Barron, D-Fyffe, said he chose to have the conference at an outdoor location near Rainsville’s Marshall Road because the road exemplifies the sort of damaged roadway that the proposed bill could help rebuild.

Barron’s bill proposes a constitutional amendment that would require a statewide vote. If voters approved, the amendment would take $100 million per year for 10 years from a state savings account known as the Alabama Trust Fund, to be invested each year in roads and bridges across the state. The fund contains about $2.6 billion in royalties from natural gas wells drilled along the state’s coast.

Barron said 75 percent of the money would to the Alabama Department of Transportation and $25 million would go to counties and cities across Alabama. Barron said, in DeKalb County alone, the measure would mean an annual investment of $367,189 and a total of investment of $3.6 million over the life of the bill.

On Monday, both Holcomb and Taheri spoke in favor of Barron’s proposal.

“We just got our figures in on what it’s going to cost to repair county roads recently damaged by snow and ice, and we’re looking at about $1.2 million in losses,” Holcomb said. “This bill could be a great benefit to DeKalb County and would help repair both county and city roads.”

Taheri said Rainsville may soon “lose” Marshall Road because of weather-related damage. He estimated it would cost about $1 million to repair the road. “We’re probably going to lose this road sometime in the next six months,” he said. “And we have so many other roads that are coming apart and need to be fixed.”

This is the third consecutive year that Barron and Senate Democrats have tried to get the bill passed. Barron most recently tried to pass the same proposal during the Legislature's 2009 session, but it failed in the Senate by two votes in March. The vote was largely along party lines, with Democratic support and Republican opposition.

Barron’s press conference on Monday came largely in response to a series of telephone calls made late last week and over the weekend to members of his constituency encouraging opposition to the roads and bridges bill.

Barron said Senate Republicans sponsored the calls.

Republicans filibustered the bill last week and several have said they believe the measure is a bad idea, largely because some of the earnings from the trust fund go toward the state budget each year, which means reducing the size of the trust fund would reduce the earnings.

“I think it’s wrong to get into the trust fund,” said Sen. Del Marsh, R-Anniston, who staged the filibuster with Sen. Arthur Orr, R-Decatur. Some Democrats are also opposed to the bill, including Sen. Phil Poole, D-Tuscaloosa.

He said he feels it takes interest from the state’s General Fund, “which is in horrific shape.”

Barron said the Republican counterproposal is an increase in gas taxes by 5 percent. “The last thing we need, in this economy, is an increase in taxes,” he said. “The Republicans always seem to have a problem with this bill but their alternative is to increase taxes – and that’s a terrible idea.”

Barron argues that his bill would could lead not only to improved roads and bridges throughout the state, but also help create much-needed jobs, without raising taxes.

He said his bill would create almost 30,000 jobs statewide and would ultimately help attract more business and industry to Alabama by improving infrastructure.

“This is not just a road bill; it’s a job improvement bill,” Barron said. “And, under this bill, everyone will get their fair share.”

– The Associated Press contributed to this report

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