Tennessee Lawmakers Could Force Governor To Put $261M Into Roads

A pair of lawmakers is trying to force the governor to put some of the state’s tax surplus into roads.

State Rep. Eddie Smith, R-Knoxville, and state Sen. Jim Tracy, R-Shelbyville, filed a bill Tuesday to move $261 million into Tennessee’s fund for highway construction and maintenance.

House Speaker Beth Harwell
and several other legislators already back the idea. They say it’s money that was taken from the highway fund a decade ago.

Lawmakers won’t debate the proposal,
Senate Bill 1435, until they reconvene in January. But it comes as
Gov
. Bill Haslam’s
administration is developing a plan to clear the state’s backlog of road projects.

The governor says he’s not against putting some of the surplus into highways, but says it’s just a drop in the bucket compared to the state’s road needs, which have been estimated at $6.1 billion.