February 23, 2005

House votes to exempt more overweight trucks

PROVISION NOW FOR COAL HAULERS ONLY

By John Cheves
HERALD-LEADER STAFF WRITER

FRANKFORT - A bitterly divided Kentucky House voted last night to let more 60-ton trucks rumble across the state's roadways, despite the law's general 40-ton weight limit.

The House voted 55 to 32 to expand the weight exemption now reserved for coal trucks so rigs hauling other kinds of natural resources -- such as gravel, sand, oil and natural gas -- also can run 20 tons overweight if they buy the required state permits.

Only coal trucks have enjoyed that exemption since 1986, and the bill wouldn't have any effect on them.

But much of the debate that followed turned into a fiery tribute to the coal industry and its contribution to Kentucky's economy.

A lawsuit in Pike County by a gravel-trucking firm has challenged the fairness of one industry holding such an advantage.

Citing fears that a judge in the future might strike down the weight exemption for coal trucks, lawmakers in support of House Bill 8 passionately urged their colleagues to award the same exemption to other industries, as a pre-emptive strike in favor of coal profits.

If anything were to shrink the payloads of coal trucks, the results would be calamitous, shouted the bill's sponsor, Rep. Howard Cornett, R-Whitesburg.

"They can't make a living hauling 80,000 pounds!" Cornett roared. "Shut down the coal industry, and we'll shut the state down!"

Opponents of the bill, trying in vain to steer the debate back to the actual bill, said putting more 60-ton trucks on the roads will threaten the safety of motorists and chew up blacktop faster than the state can afford to replace it.

Already, the money raised by selling weight-exemption permits to several thousand massive coal trucks every year falls at least $11 million short of paying for the additional repairs needed to roads and bridges because of the extra weight, said Rep. Rob Wilkey, chairman of the House budget panel on transportation.

"We've got a system that currently subsidizes the coal industry," said Wilkey, D-Scottsville. "We're going to pass a bill that takes a bad system and vastly expands it."

Chimed in Rep. Mary Lou Marzian, D-Louisville, "This bill stinks to high heaven. And if we vote for it, we may as well say, 'Taxpayers, we don't care about you. Get out your wallets!'"

Democratic and Republican House leaders remained silent during the debate, but lined up behind the bill, including House Speaker Jody Richards, D-Bowling Green; House Majority Leader Rocky Adkins, D-Sandy Hook; House Dem-ocratic Caucus Chairman Bob Damron, D-Nicholasville; and House Minority Leader Jeff Hoover, R-Jamestown.

The bill barely cleared the House Transportation Committee on Feb. 10, prompting an aggressive lobbying campaign by industrial companies that haul heavy loads.

Road builders, who have given hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign donations to state politicians, helped lead the charge. Not only do their trucks carry gravel and stone, they win state contracts for millions of dollars a year to repair roads and bridges.

Cornett, the bill's sponsor, received at least $10,000 for his 2004 election campaign from Eastern Kentucky's pre-eminent road builder, Leonard Lawson, and Lawson's family and employees. Cornett accepted many thousands of dollars more from people and political-action committees related to coal, oil and heavy industry.

But Cornett has denied that his bill is meant to return favors for last year's election.

He took the unusual step last week of challenging the "fiscal note" -- the required estimate of what his bill would cost taxpayers -- because he thought the original estimate was too high.

After Cornett complained, legislative analysts dropped the estimated price of road maintenance and bridge replacement from a deal-killing $385 million the first year and $25 million in subsequent years, down to a much more palatable $15.3 million a year.

Among the lawmakers who jeered Cornett's behind-the-scenes maneuver yesterday was Wilkey, who referred to "the eight-days-later epiphany fiscal note."

The bill now proceeds to the Senate, to be assigned to a committee.