North Carolina lawmakers during the 2009 legislative session have set the state up to write blank checks. Those checks would cover the costs to build commuter choo choo services in areas such as the Charlotte metro and Raleigh-Durham, where the fight to build light-rail services has been on-going for years. According to House Bill 1005, “An Act to Allow the Department of Transportation to Participate in Funding Fixed Rail Projects That Do Not Include Federal Funds,” the state has now put it in writing that they are going to get funding for this mode of transportation one way or another.
What is evident is that North Carolinians do not prefer to travel by train. Being cognizant of that information doesn’t seem to matter to some legislators who prefer to continue to side-step that fact. Changes to the bill were endorsed by Reps. Becky Carney (D-Mecklenburg) and Nelson Cole (D-Rockingham). Only two areas in North Carolina are truly vocal about their desire to add light-rail services: Charlotte and Raleigh-Durham. Of course with the state opening its checkbook, other areas will probably now get interested.
After spending almost $150 million dollars in taxpayer money the Triangle’s light rail spending proposal didn’t receive federal funding because the projected population density and ridership numbers weren’t sufficient. Light rail services don’t fall directly under the parameters of President Obama’s $8 billion recovery spending plan for high-speed rail service either. The state has already asked the feds for $76 million of that money. So if and when stimulus and U.S. Department of Transportation money begins to be pumped into the state, the backup plan is to spend our own money on said light-rail projects - just because.
Instead of coming up with creative ways to pay for light-rail services, or making decisions based on sound evidence, lawmakers have chosen to keep taking water from the well and pursuing dead end deals. This is another indirect way of growing government and raising taxes.
In other words, while light-rail may be one of the deepest desires in Charlotte and Raleigh-Durham, in order to meet those desires, taxes for everyone will just continue to increase faster than the speeding locomotive. That is what makes HB 1005 the bad bill (and bad law) of the week.