A bill that would abolish the Georgia Regional Transportation Authority (GRTA) and the Atlanta-Region Transit LINK Authority (The ATL) is making its way through the House, and it is expected to pass today — crossover day.
House Bill 1358, introduced just a week ago, would transfer all assets, obligations, liabilities and employees of both regional transportation agencies to the State Road and Tollway Authority (SRTA), effectively eliminating the entities focused on Atlanta region transit and transportation.
The bill was passed by the House Transportation Committee on Monday on a partisan 6-0 vote by Republicans.
The six Republican sponsors of the bill are Rep. Victor Anderson, Rep. Jan Jones, Rep. Charles Martin, Rep. Jordan Ridley and Rep. Soo Hong.
If this bill is passed and signed by Gov. Brian Kemp, it would have far-reaching implications for regional transportation, especially when it comes to who would have the power to spend money and make decisions.
“I am unable to comment on pending legislation,” wrote SRTA spokeswoman Ericka Bayonne in an email.
The Atlanta Regional Commission declined to comment on the bill.
“While HB 1358 obviously represents a significant change in how Georgia administers our transportation infrastructure, we are still working to analyze and understand it’s complete long-term impacts,” said Seth Millican, executive director of the Georgia Transportation Alliance.
“While that analysis is ongoing, we are maintaining a neutral position on HB1358 and look forward to engaging with leadership in the House, Senate, and Governor’s office to work towards transportation solutions that contribute to Georgia’s long term economic growth,” Millican added in an email.
MARTA spokeswoman Stephany Fisher wrote in a text: “We are neutral as it doesn’t impact our funding or service delivery.”
GRTA was formed during the administration of Gov. Roy Barnes to help expand transit throughout the Atlanta region. It created the X-Press bus system, which could be turned over to individual counties to operate if they so choose at the end of 2024.
Stay tuned for updates.
This is just another example of mostly white republicans making every effort to consolidate all power, political, financial, educational, …,etc…, into white folks hands.
They want a civil war. I hope they realize that comes with consequences.
Your comment brings up something I wasn’t considering: How does diversity and control of the current authorities compare to that of SRTA? Oh, and can a House bill become law without going through the Senate? If so, why? If not, what’s the likely position of the Senate?
Please correct me if I’m wrong, but doesnt the GRTA, with the past TSPLOST, get money paid from transportation districts all throughout the state? Why should some of the poorest counties in Georgia like Echols, Berrien, Brooks send money to subsidize Atlanta transportation? I believe whole heartedly that Marta should expand and have more robust metro Atlanta transportation. But the funding needs to come from Atlanta and the counties it serves.
I can understand how it must feel to not be able to benefit from an initiative the state takes that is far from home, but you can think of it another way as well. Do you want that logic applied in the other direction? I can imagine that there is quite a lot of money flowing from my pockets in the Atlanta region to the rest of the state and I think that is well and good. A well functioning urban region is healthy for the state and healthy rural communities are vital to the metro region as well.
Right you are Avery. They tried to get the airport; that didn’t work. The state legislature wants to make sure the City of Atlanta has no assets so it loses economic power, therefore political power. I bet all the jobs and maintenance facilities will leave Atlanta and move to places that don’t require involvement of minority contractors.
Libby, this is not a City asset. All three – ATL/SRTA/GRTA are state agencies. Do all three need to continue to exist as three separate entities, when they have a lot of overlap? I don’t know if this is a good or bad thing, ultimately, but perhaps streamlining the assets and responsibilities of the three agencies into one makes some sense.
Better yet, ATL/GRTA’s functions should be rolled into MARTA, and SRTA should be rolled into GDOT. There is zero reason for ATL/GRTA/SRTA to exist other than political optics.
GRTA was created to coordinate the various transit entitities planning efforts. And that was for each of the urban areas of the state. I believe the ATL was created to better coordinate the transit planning for the Atlanta region after Gwinnett failed to choose to join MARTA in a referendum in 2019. Eventually the various regional transit agencies would have been merged under the ATL brand in a sense under MARTA but with a more expansive board. If I am right then I applaud the legislature for addressing the future needs of the state.
As it is all three of these entitites share one executive director and have for several years. Clearly there could be some benefits if they were consolidating the agencies. Or is this a gambit by rural communities looking for more funding for rural area needs like more interent?
Much more information is needed: What is behind this particular piece of legislation? What are the positions of those municipalities and communities impacted? How effective have these authorities been in alleviating the Atlanta region’s considerable traffic woes? What does Georgia’s House Republicans truly wish to be the consequences? Is everyone involved either neutral, noncommittal or in board with this action?
Select Georgia legislators are insistent on stepping back in time. Weakening Atlanta weakens the entire state.
May be a moot point since it looks like the bill didn’t get to a vote before Crossover Day (can anyone confirm?)
I don’t see Kemp signing this. It’s performative. And it will kill Republican chances of making inroads in the suburbs.
I believe there is merit in the positions espoused particularly the ones regarding the power grab by a committee of all white republican men and the consequences for Atlanta and the region. With that said, it is also a valid point that consolidation my produce some efficiencies. Why not merge all three into one agency, but not within the SRTA? There should remain a focus on transit and regional transportation; this is not the mandate or focus of SRTA. Atlanta and the region still lags behind other major metropolitan cities in terms of regional transit. Also, with the anticipated growth in the region over the next 10 years, the state would do well to elevate the conversation and partnership around a consolidated and coordinated regional transit plan that grows Atlanta and the region. This bill would do nothing but continue the decades old effort to consolidate power and weaken Atlanta’s leadership role in the region. I think its also disappointing that both the Atlanta Regional Commission and the Atlanta Chamber of Commerce have no comments on the bill as it is antithetical to both the plans to grow the Atlanta region and the need to ensure a robust and connected transit program exists.
It’s quite nonsensical that the state as a whole isn’t funding and controlling transit in and around the Atlanta Metro when every other state that hosts such a large metro area does. None of the arguments make sense. It benefits every community that pays in one way or another. But what do I know I’m just a transplant from the northeast where car traffic, and by extension, COMMERCE, even when bad, moves because there’s other options.
MARTA had been stymied on rail expansion since the 1990s because the white suburbanites in the legislature refuse to subsidize any expansion of rail lines. As a result our highways are more clogged every day . Buses are not the solution .
Buses are part of the solution. I do agree that rail does need to be expanded. I would say some of the pushback in the legislature is also from the rural areas that don’t see the benefit from expanding transit in more urban areas. But then again they insisted on expanding roads in an attempt to grow economic development in rural areas and that didn’t work. Their angle lately has been internet expansion in rural areas. They key is more likely improving education around the state including rural areas as employers increasingly will need well educated employees. Yet the legislature hasn’t revisited funding calculations in decades. Another option for the legislature is adding other funding options such as education/school impact fees.
Jim Crow political tactics…
More likely just anti-transit tactics.
Passage of this bill is very sad. The metro Atlanta area needs a focused approach to transportation development to connect our communities. We need leadership that is local to the region.
Absolutely. We need visionary leadership that understands that transit is the future as we are nearing the end of the time that widening roads has a long term effect. Rail while an old technology is an efficient technology. Studies have shown the younger generations want more transit and that is why several major employers built offices at rail transit stations.
My understanding is that this bill thankfully never made it across on crossover day. It should have never made it our of committee. More wasteful nonsense coming from the legislature that didn’t address several important issues.