On Friday, October 18, 2013 David M. Thomas, Chief Counsel to the Speaker of the House met with members of the press to discuss the possibility of advancing SB1, a transportation funding proposal sponsored by Senator John Rafferty.

Here's the Democratic Bill Analysis of SB1 PN1308.

Here's a copy of the House Republican Bill Analysis of SB1 PN1308.

Thomas indicated that discussions were ongoing with members from all four Caucuses and they were closer to arriving at a final agreement.

The 2011 Transportation Funding Advisory Commission adopted a target of identifying $2.5 billion in additional funding resources to fund the Commonwealth’s transportation infrastructure needs.

The revenues will be used to repair the Commonwealth’s 5,200+ structurally deficient bridges, aging roadways and public transportation systems.

As of Friday we were informed that the total plan would range between $2.2 and $2.4 billion and would include prevailing wage reforms. License and vehicle registration fees would not be raised on individual vehicles, but fees associated with commercial class vehicles of 4 or above would be impacted.

No substantive information was provided on what those figures would materialize as, just that they would serve as targets to raise revenues.

An amendment was posted yesterday by the Speaker of the House and withdrawn earlier this morning before the language was prepared or available. Pursuant to House rules compromise language would need to be agreed upon and filed by 2 o'clock this afternoon in order to be considered for Wednesday, October 23, 2013. As of 1:40pm there are 240 amendments filed to SB1. Subsequent language has not been re-filed by the Speaker's office.

This isn’t to say that House leadership couldn’t suspend their rules for the immediate consideration of compromise language, but recent actions indicate that a compromise has yet to be reached.

While it appears that legislative leaders are somewhat closer to a deal than when SB1 was originally placed on the voting schedule on June 27, 2013, it appears as if support for the measure is still divided along party lines.

Here’s archive footage of Minority Leader Frank Dermody discussing Democratic opposition to inserting prevailing wage reforms into a transportation funding bill, "It's a non-starter for us."

A spokesperson for the House Democratic Caucus offered the following statement on this position, "House Democrats have no desire to change the existing law which protects the pay of workers who construct and maintain buildings and infrastructure all over the state. The work that they do is critical; they should be paid fairly."

Across the isle the Republican caucus appears to be divided on the same issues facing this legislation. Representative Daryl Metcalfe explained this position at his press conference following the passage of SB1 in the Senate, "There's many of us that believe that Pennsylvanians are paying enough to the government already," Metcalfe explained.

The House Republican Caucus has annotated Representative Metcalfe's video with the following disclaimer, "The PA House Republican Caucus is not responsible for any YouTube generated content on this page."

The inclusion of prevailing wage reforms in a transportation-funding package might be enough to garner an adequate number of Republican votes to pass the house, but this is not without the support of members from the Democratic caucus.

If House Democrats are unwilling to allow some of their members to break rank and support the measure, it's unlikely that we'll see a transportation funding package before November. Based upon what we have seen and heard today, this appears to be the case.

Photo by Natalie Cake

This article was updated with video of Sam Smith - Speaker of the House, as well as statements received from the House Democratic Caucus.