MDN.ORG:
Missouri Digital News
MDN.ORG
Mo. Digital News
Missouri Digital News
MDN.ORG:
Mo. Digital News
MDN.ORG:
Missouri Digital News
MDN.ORG:
Missouri Digital News
MDN.ORG
Mo. Digital News
Missouri Digital News
MDN.ORG:
Mo. Digital News
MDN.ORG:
Missouri Digital News
JEFFERSON CITY - House Republicans have proposed removing one of the constitutional protections of the state Transportation Department by putting the department under the control of a secretary named by the governor.
Republicans argue that would make the department more accountable than the current system under which the department is controlled by an independent commission.
"We need to reform and restore credibility to our highway administration and to develop a plan to build the roads and bridges we need," said House Republican Leader Catherine Hanaway, R-St. Louis County. "Tax increases are out of the question until we get real accountability."
One of the ways the House Republicans plan on attaining accountability is through the appointment of a Secretary of Transportation to replace the existing Highways and Transportation Commission.
Under the Republican's plan, the secretary would be nominated by the governor and subject to confirmation. A citizen advisory board would also be in place, with a representative from each of Missouri's nine congressional districts plus one at-large member, but it would be purely advisory.
Sen. Danny Staples, D-Eminence, a member of the transportation committee, said he would support having one representative come from each congressional district who was appointed by the governor. But, he would not want the governor to appoint the secretary of transportation because of the urban/rural split.
Since sixty percent of the vote comes from St. Louis, there would be a good chance that a governor could nominate someone from this urban area. This nomination could lead to an increase in the urban/rural split, and leave rural areas of Missouri without as much transportation funding as the urban areas.
The current commission is made up of six commissioners who name a director to manage the department. The nonpartisan group can work on projects that are good for the state, said Jeff Briggs, a MoDOT spokesperson.
Briggs argued that the agency is quite accountable because of several steps that it must go through. Some of these steps include sending an annual report to legislators which breaks down finances and work plans for the coming years as well as submitting a projects list.
But, Hanaway and Rep. Larry Crawford, R-Centertown, argue MoDOT is not as accessible as it should be.
"In order to extract answers from MoDOT, you have spend an extraordinary amount of time and be like a bulldog on a bone," Hanaway said.
"We have endured a decade of mismanagement with no accountability with our highway program, as evidenced by reports from our current and former state auditors. It is time for our highway administration to deliver on its promises."
Since the current commission is nonpartisan, Briggs said it can adequetly look strictly at the transportation needs of the state.
"Removing people who are not political will make it harder to focus on transportation needs," Briggs said.
In an effort to reform and improve transportation, the House Republicans also propose stopping $166 million in highway-related tax revenues from being diverted to other state agencies, phased-in over a number of years; relaxing regulatory restrictions on design-build and highway construction contracts in the metropolitan planning regions and keeping open the navigation of the Missouri River to relieve congestion on the highways and to continue the movement of agricultural products.
The governor's office did not have an immediate statement.