Before the House Transportation Committee approved legislation cosponsored by Rep. Becky Carney, D-Mecklenburg and a bipartisan coalition of lawmakers to give other counties a way to pay for transit systems such as Charlotte's, Mecklenburg Republican Rep. Ric Killian of Charlotte proposed an amendment allowing local governments to use such funds for roads.
Killian told the committee he was a strong supporter of mass transit and wanted to support the bill, but that transit funds available in Charlotte had done nothing to relieve congestion on area roads. The mass transit system, he said, "simply doesn't relieve congestion."
But other committee members urged the committee to keep the bill for transit. Rep. Deborah Ross, D-Wake, told Killian he had plenty of time left in this session to offer a proposal to amend the law in another committee. And Forsyth Republican Bill McGee, one of four primary sponsors of the bill, put it bluntly: "This is a transit bill that does not include roads." The committee voted down Killian's amendment on a voice vote before approving the legislation and sending it on to the House Finance Committee.
