September 26, 2005

Are we getting ahead of ourselves?

Over the last few days the media has been celebrating the signing of the Legacy Highway agreement. Most of the local papers are hailing this as the start of construction. Others are saying that the environmental groups shouldn't be negotiated with and that other more important groups were left out of the negotiations. Maybe we should all take a step back and put this into perspective.

Ten years ago, the Legislature would not have even had a voice in all of this. There would be no talk of an up or down vote of any proposed settlement. Case in point - the "David C. " human services lawsuit that was negotiated and settled without the Legislature at all. It cost the state tens of millions of dollars, but did so without involving the branch of government responsible for the budget. Because of the lessons learned with the David C. case, the Legislature changed the law to ensure that when a lawsuit is being negotiated and signifciant taxpayer dollars are at stake (over 1 million dollars), the Legislature must approve it. That brings us to today. The legislature is involved in the Legacy settlement because it involves hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars.

Should we be negotiating with the environmentalists? First of all, the negotiations will be between the plaintiffs and the defendants. That includes the environmental groups and the Department of Transportation. Some are saying the trucking association should be consulted. They are not part of the lawsuit. The Legislature got involved when it was obvious that the original settlement agreement wouldn't pass. Now some feel that the new settlement agreement is a big enough improvement that it should pass in a legislative special session. Not so fast.

Last week's ceremonial signing by the Governor was only the settlement agreement. The final agreement - the real deal - has to be drafted. This will take at least a month and will be much larger than the outline presented last week. Once this draft is put together it will be reviewed by the Legislature. A lot will depend on the content of this final agreement. Some have already said they could vote for the outline but if certain things are in the final agreement they won't vote for it. Also, don't forget that it is an up or down vote. No changes can be made by the Legislature once the final draft is presented. There can be debate for and against, but in the end it will be an up or down vote.

So, don't get ahead of yourself. No matter what you think about the environment, 55 mile per hour speed limits, negotiating with terrorists, etc. It will all come down to one vote and no amendments. Now really is the time for the public to weigh in. There is still plenty of time.

Posted by Jeff at 03:29 PM | Comments (6)