Thursday, May 7, 2009

House votes for single Transportation Commissioner--no news on killing TTC

I watched as much as I could of the live stream coverage of the House debate today of the massive TxDOT Sunset bill hoping to see if Rep. Kolkhorst's amendment to repeal the Trans-Texas Corridor made it in. I didn't see that this was brought up yet, and I haven't been able to find any coverage of it.

I did find an AP report that the House did adopt an amendment that would change the five-member Texas Transportation Commission (the current one appointed by Gov. 39%) to one Transportation Commissioner who would be elected statewide like the Agriculture Commissioner.

Another proposal being considered is the addition of 14 regional commissioners that would address the concern that the different constituents and needs of different areas of the state be represented.

The Legislature Online site shows that the House is still in session (10:20 p.m.) debating HB 300. They have just allowed amendments to the amendment against concession agreements to allow projects in progress to go forward, the best I can tell.

I would appreciate any news on killing the Corridor, if anybody has any.

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