By Michael Shepherd - June 9, 2023
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Republicans were central to a transportation funding agreement that still has a big hurdle. There was a quiet breakthrough on one of the most persistent problems in Maine government on Thursday, when a group of Republicans and some Democrats agreed to redirect money to the embattled transportation system.

The move by the Legislature's Transportation Committee was a relatively quick resolution to Republicans' move this week to inject the idea of including long-term funding for the system into late negotiations around a highway budget that needs to be settled by the end of the month to avoid a shutdown.

Those Republicans and Gov. Janet Mills' transportation department can mostly be credited for the end product against some historic odds. On Thursday, a majority of the committee voted out a spending plan that would redirect as much as $130 million per year from the state budget to the separate Highway Fund budget. In another spending plan, Mills is trying to redirect $400 million to roads and bridges to match up to $1 billion in federal funding.

The ongoing money would come from sending half of the sales tax revenue from vehicle sales and parts to the transportation side, something that has long been a priority for Republicans and was similar to an idea that got a unanimous vote earlier this year from the Legislature's tax committee.

This consensus came after Transportation Commissioner Bruce Van Note told lawmakers that the governor was open to sending some tax revenue to the transportation side. Three Democrats, including the two chairs of the panel, voted against it, but three other Democrats backed it along with all Republicans.

The deal is notable because a legislative task force on the issue broke down in 2020 amid disagreements between Democrats and Republicans who could not agree on a mixed solution to a long-standing structural gap in transportation funding.

Lobbyist Matt Marks, who works on road and bridge issues for the Associated General Contractors of Maine, called the resolution "a big deal" despite lingering Democratic opposition.

"I don't know how you reject it with the bipartisan committee vote," Marks said.

The path to passage is still complicated. It will be intertwined with Mills' other spending proposal on the state budget side, and the budget committee will get a chance to affect the end product before it goes to lawmakers for floor votes. But the bipartisan vote and a green light from the Mills administration sets this on a decent course.