What's Happening in Durham, NC…

The North Carolina House passed a measure to restore funding to a local light rail project, only to have the Senate shelve the measure until April.

In an attempt to “derail” a planned Durham to Chapel Hill light rail line, a transportation spending cap of $500,000 was inserted into this year’s budget bill. This was done late in the budgetary process and negated the Department of Transportation’s commitment to provide $138m for the project, which will have a total cost of $1.5bn.

Normally, printing companies are made privy to whatever actions politicians take so that they can include it in election literature they provide; however, this is not likely to occur in this case, which remains something of a mystery. As yet, nobody has owned up to inserting the spending cap, but while it remains, the Durham-Chapel Hill line is effectively a non-mover.

The spending limit is part of Senate Bill 605 that had been passed 103-6. To restore funding, the NC House voted 81-28 to pull the spending cap from the budget. However, the anticipated vote on that amendment in the Senate never took place. Instead the issue was passed to a committee. With the Senate no longer in session the matter will now not be addressed until next year’s short session at the earliest.