This news story originally provided by The Lexington Herald-Leader

March 9, 2005

FRANKFORT - In a surprising and bitterly contested reversal, the Kentucky House last night killed a controversial bill that would have put more overweight trucks on state roads.

The House voted 50-33 to reject a Senate-modified version of House Bill 8, capping a day of frantic efforts by its backers to soothe critics and still satisfy the powerful road builders who have been pushing it.

The bill would have let gravel, rock and sand trucks haul at 60 tons, a 50 percent increase over the state's usual 40-ton weight limit. Currently, only coal trucks can travel at 60 tons. That has prompted complaints of unfairness from road builders who use large quantities of sand and gravel.

In the last two weeks, the measure has emerged as one of the most divisive and heavily lobbied pieces of legislation in the 2005 General Assembly.

The Senate voted for it yesterday by 23 to 12, after exempting Louisville and Lexington streets from overweight trucks carrying any kind of cargo. The cities, both of which have quarries, lobbied aggressively to keep massive gravel trucks out of their neighborhoods.

But the bill found a much chillier reception when it returned to the House for concurrence. Lawmakers shouted and jeered as each side tried to score rhetorical points.

Rep. John Will Stacy, D-West Liberty, unintentionally drew roars of laughter by comparing the argument to put more oversize trucks on the roads to America's Cold War crusade against communism.

Big rigs are needed to build Eastern Kentucky's economy, Stacy declared, and he cited the so-called "Winchester Wall" that separates the prosperous Bluegrass region from struggling Appalachia.

"I am asking you -- the same as another famous American did at one point in time -- I'm asking the members of the General Assembly: Tear down that wall!" Stacy said.

Two weeks ago the House easily passed the bill. But ever since, lawmakers have been deluged with complaints about the risks of 60-ton trucks from a loose but growing coalition that includes city and county leaders, truck drivers, environmentalists and residents of rural Eastern Kentucky, where tractor-trailers hauling coal are a common and loathed sight.

Public comments by Gov. Ernie Fletcher also clouded the bill's chances. Yesterday, Fletcher reiterated earlier doubts about the bill and told reporters that even the modified version didn't answer his concerns about traffic safety and road damage.

That led to talk among lawmakers of a possible veto.

Some House members said they hadn't read the bill closely before their first vote and underestimated the public outrage to come. But they came prepared last night.

Comments about a fatal crash in Martin County on Monday involving an overweight coal truck that apparently lost control kicked off the opposition.

"An overloaded coal truck that cannot stop steers into the other lane and hits and kills a 55-year-old man," recounted Rep. Ancel Smith, D-Leburn, in a floor speech. "And we've got a 27-year-old man that will be facing manslaughter charges," he said, referring to the driver.

"You think that this won't happen to you?"

Several Eastern Kentucky lawmakers who backed the bill urged colleagues from other parts of the state to respect their wishes on a measure they said was most likely to affect their region.

The bill's sponsor, Rep. Howard Cornett, R-Whitesburg, pleaded for support, saying his district's economy would suffer without it.

Cornett cited a lawsuit pending in Pike Circuit Court, filed last year by a gravel-trucking firm. The suit challenges the constitutionality of Kentucky allowing coal to be hauled at 60 tons, but not gravel.

Unless the legislature levels the playing field, Cornett said, the courts probably will strike down the weight exemption for coal, hurting the coal industry and the independent truckers who have invested a fortune in 60-ton rigs.

"We've got a lot of hard-working men and women, particularly in Eastern Kentucky, who are depending on this bill to pass," Cornett said.

But Thomas FitzGerald, director of the Kentucky Resources Council, said the suit is likely to still be pending when the legislature meets again in January. That gives lawmakers time to study the issue, FitzGerald said.

Critics of the bill pointed out that it was pushed on behalf of Leonard Lawson, one of the state's dominant road builders, whose family has given $76,000 to state legislative candidates in recent years, plus $96,000 combined to the state Democratic and Republican parties and $13,000 to Fletcher.

The Lawson family has not responded to calls seeking public comment.

Among those accepting the largest donations from the Lawson family were some lawmakers most active for the bill, including Cornett, who has taken $10,000, and Sen. Ray Jones, D-Pikeville, who has taken $12,000. Jones led the fight for the bill last night in the Senate, which voted for it, with no debate.

Yesterday, Cornett and Jones both described Lawson as a friend, and they agreed his rock quarries and asphalt plants would benefit from the bill. But they denied that the road builder pushed them to support it.