AL Constitutional Amendment Re Transportation on Nov. Ballot

[Grzrd]

In November, Alabama voters will get to vote on Constitutional Amendment that would authorize taking $100 million per year for ten years for transportation needs from the state Trust Fund.  My crude understanding of the Trust Fund is that it has been built up over years by royalties from offshore oil and gas.

I've only briefly scanned it, but in first couple of years specific appropriations are made for Redstone Arsenal area, a study of I-459 and Highway 280 interchange, I-10 Connector in Dothan, and Alabama State Port Authority.

Here's a link to pdf of the proposed amendment: http://arc-sos.state.al.us/PAC/SOSACPDF.001/A0008097.PDF

[Tom]

Well, did the amendment pass?

[Grzrd]

Well, did the amendment pass?

Voters voted against it 57% to 43%, sending it down to defeat: http://www.landlinemag.com/todays_news/Daily/2010/Nov10/110110/110310-03.shtml

"By a vote of 57 percent to 43 percent, Alabama voters rejected a question Nov. 2 on boosting funds available for roads and bridges over the next 10 years. Amendment 3 on the state ballot would have amended the Alabama Constitution to allow money to be rerouted from a state savings account.

The additional road and bridge funding would have come from the Alabama Trust Fund. The fund has about $2.45 billion accumulated from natural gas wells drilled in state-owned waters along the Alabama coast ...

Supporters said it would help Alabama to continue work on a long list of road and bridge projects, as well as create jobs.

Critics, however, said the money would have been spread too thinly among the state's 67 counties. They also had concerns that the plan did not focus on key transportation projects ..."

[codyg1985]

IMO, the amendment was nothing more than a political ploy that would have only benefited the contractors that built the roads. It would have taken $100 million out per year for ten years for all 67 Alabama counties, which amounts to about $1.5 million per county per year, which would hardly be enough to do a resurfacing job. A portion of it was supposed to be weighted by county population, but I still failed to see how it would have done much to help.

Also, a provision in the bill stated that money could not be taken out of the trust fund if it dipped below $2 billion. Well if it stands at $2.5 billion right now, how much revenue are we getting from offshore oil and natural gas versus how much we would have taken out of it?