Senator begins Year 2 of his filibuster of road-repair plan

The S.C. Senate started its much-delayed debate Wednesday of a proposal to repair the state’s crumbling roads the same way it left the issue last spring – with state Sen. Tom Davis, R-Beaufort, filibustering.

Senators had promised road repairs would be at the top of their agenda when they returned to Columbia in January. However, they spent five weeks in a vain attempt to work out a compromise before taking up the issue Wednesday.

If the Senate wants to raise the state’s gas tax to pay for road and bridge repairs, senators will have to vote to sit him down, ending his filibuster, Davis told his fellow senators.

"I am going to put this entire system on trial," Davis said, promising to expose the misuse of taxpayer money.

To pass a roads plan, senators must reach a compromise among competing interests who want the state’s roads agency restructured, a demand of reformers; income taxes cut, a demand of Republican Gov. Nikki Haley; and a recurring revenue stream to pay for up to $29 billion in road repairs and improvements over the next 24 years.

Davis wants to restructure the Transportation Department and S.C. Transportation Infrastructure Bank, a state entity that finances road projects.

But supporters of increasing the state’s 16.75-cent-a-gallon gas tax say the reforms that Davis wants only will pass if more money from driving-related fees is sent to the Transportation Department to pay for road repairs.

A road-repair proposal won’t pass unless it includes restructuring, some tax cuts and some tax increases, said state Sen. Joel Lourie, D-Richland, who has sponsored an amendment that includes all of those components.

Davis’ filibuster means senators will have to work nights and weekends to reach a compromise, Lourie said. “But the public should demand that this Senate vote on a roads bill in the very near future.”

Wednesday, Davis ripped as inadequate a proposal to restructure the commission that oversees the Transportation Department.

The state’s roads agency — now legislatively controlled — should be controlled by the governor, Davis said. The governor also should appoint the agency’s director. That would provide direct accountability to a statewide elected official, Davis said.

If that is not possible, the governor should appoint all Transportation commissioners, Davis said. Those commissioners then would hire a director.

Davis also supports abolishing the controversial S.C. Transportation Infrastructure Bank and putting its borrowing ability under the Transportation Department. Then, the bank’s borrowing could be used to address statewide road needs, he said.

Davis has criticized the Infrastructure Bank as a pork-barrel agency, controlled by the leaders of the House and Senate.

Davis also opposes increasing the gas tax, saying a tax hike is unnecessary to repair the state’s roads. Instead, the state should rely on growth in its revenues to pay for repairs. This year, he noted, lawmakers have an added $1.2 billion to spend, including more than $750 million in added revenues that should recur in the state budget year after year.

But Senate President Pro Tempore Hugh Leatherman, the Florence Republican who also heads the Senate panel that writes the sate budget, said Wednesday that he does not plan to propose paying for roads repairs with projected revenue growth.

The state has other spending needs besides roads, including spending more on education in response to a Supreme Court ruling directing the state to do more for poor, rural schools, Leatherman said.

Last year, Davis pushed for using a one-time state surplus to pay for road repairs. Ultimately, lawmakers sent $216 million to county transportation committees to be spent on state roads.

This story was originally published February 17, 2016 at 1:24 PM.