Senate gives OK to amendment

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- The Senate gave initial approval Tuesday to a proposed constitutional amendment that would ask voters to gradually reduce the diversion of state road funds to various state agencies.

Eventually, the legislation would direct an additional $179 million annually to Missouri's roads and bridges. But it would start small, with $11 million in the first year, and does not provide a new funding source to replace the money lost by other parts of state government.

The bill, approved on a divided voice vote, needs another Senate vote to move to the House.

The state constitution allows some of the money to go to the highway patrol and the Department of Revenue.

Over time, the legislature also has appropriated road funds to other agencies, including the state auditor's office and the Department of Natural Resources, to cover their transportation-related expenses.

The proposed constitutional amendment would reduce the amount of road funds channeled away from the transportation department by 20 percent in the first year, beginning July 2005, and increase that percentage annually thereafter. After five years, no road money could be sent to unrelated agencies.

The proposal also would gradually direct all the state's vehicle sales tax revenues to transportation. Currently, half of those proceeds go to transportation and the other half to the state's general revenues. That phase-in would begin in the fifth year of the legislation and take an additional 10 years to complete.

Also, beginning in the measure's first year, 5 percent of any increase in state vehicle registration fees would go to a new state highway patrol fund. Plus, the proposal would authorize the legislature to establish a vehicle registration surcharge to go to the patrol.

Senate Transportation Committee chairman Jon Dolan, R-Lake St. Louis, described the proposal as the second step in a long-term plan "to pursue highway reform in the state of Missouri."

Last year, the legislature created an outside inspector general to audit the Department of Transportation.

During debate Tuesday, some senators worried how state agencies would fare if they lose the road funding they have come to depend upon.

"I just don't see how we can pass along more cuts to these departments," said Sen. Joan Bray, D-St. Louis. "The other half of the equation isn't there to fill the hole."

The highway diversion bill is SJR44.