Passage of Transportation Budget

Recently I wrote about the mess the Democrats had made when we were first considering HB 2, and how the question was asked if we concurred with the emergency clause and the Speaker broke the rules and never asked the question about whether or not there was concurrence on the actual bill. Well, we never really got that straightened out, the final verdict was that the Speaker's interpretation of the rule is that it can be done that way and besides, he holds the gavel and they're going to do it however they want. He's once again reminding us that the Democrats control the House and they are going to do what they want.

I voted against the transportation budget along with 28 colleagues in the House and 2 colleagues in the Senate. Here's some of the highlights of the bill:

• $100 Million in new and increased fees including increases in vision screenings for your drivers license, temporary tags, late license registration, vanity plates, and plate transfers
• Takes appropriation authority from the General Assembly (where the State Constitution places it) and gives it to the Controlling Board to spend Billions in Federal Stimulus money
• Allows an EMT to withdraw blood for purposes of the OVI law
• Requires residential building codes to comply with the International Energy Conservation Code
• Creates a new government position to oversee spending of Federal Stimulus funds

While this bill represents an improvement over what it originally was when it left the House, it still represents bad policy and irresponsible spending.