House to hop on transportation bill

GOOD NEWS, KIDS, it's Rabbit Breeders Week in Pennsylvania.

Yep. The state House took a bold stand last week and voted 196-0 in favor of honoring rabbit breeders.

This bravely bucks conventional wisdom. Who thinks rabbits need help breeding?

So maybe there's hope that the House gets hopping (sorry) on other pressing matters and goes against the conventional wisdom that it can't or won't.

Take new funding for roads, bridges and SEPTA.

You've heard about our infrastructure: basically Iraq after Operation Iraqi Freedom.

You've seen the studies: fixing same creates jobs, enhances public safety and boosts the economy.

And you've watched that rabbit-loving House do nothing despite calls for action by Gov. Corbett and actual action by the Senate.

Well, this could be the week - maybe.

There's talk of a House vote on a brand new transportation effort.

Democratic Floor Leader Frank Dermody says, "I think we can come up with a bill." GOP chief counsel Dave Thomas says, "I'm optimistic."

Well, then, done deal.

I'm just kidding. Remember, we're talking about the wascally Pennsylvania House, a place where Elmer Fudd would be an intellectual giant.

You might recall that the often-sensible GOP Senate passed a $2.5 billion transportation bill back in June. It includes nearly $500 million for mass transit, about 70 percent of which would go to SEPTA.

It would hike the oil-franchise tax (which means higher pump prices), license and registration fees and also fines for speeders.

But House GOP Leader Mike Turzai doesn't support it.

He wants a "critical-needs" bill in the $500 million range and nothing for SEPTA.

(This amount is roughly enough to repair roads and bridges near the Capitol so lawmakers more easily get to and from restaurants for lobbyist-bought dinners.)

Turzai and many of his conservative pals have little or no interest in big spending, or new taxes or new fees, regardless of need.

Think of a bunch of mini-Ted Cruzes.

But hold on. Negotiations are ongoing on a bipartisan call for about the same spending as the Senate bill, including for SEPTA - with a carrot for Republicans.

To me it looks headed down a rabbit hole (sorry) but here's what's in the mix:

The measure spends between $2.2 billion and $2.4 billion.

It needs Democratic and Republican votes.

To get enough GOP votes, it calls for union concessions (sound familiar?) on prevailing wages for state-construction projects.

So it offers Democrats mass-transit money and Republicans a swipe at unions.

But Dermody says Democrats don't support union concessions. So that could be a problem.

Philly Democrats want a $2-a-pack city cigarette tax (for schools) in exchange for their support - an element that Republicans say isn't even under discussion. So that could be a problem.

Presumably, the Leporidae Caucus is on board.

But then we get to broader politics.

More transportation funding is a Corbett priority, and passage helps his cred.

Without more funding, SEPTA plans to start shutting down commuter lines next year as Corbett runs for re-election.

If unions don't give and Democrats side with unions, the deal fails, and Republicans blame "obstructionist" Democrats.

If Republicans who control the whole show can't get new funding, Democrats rail against a do-nothing GOP.

Meanwhile, some suggest that the new effort is just partisan gamesmanship.

(Any of this sound like Washington to you?)

Philly Democratic Sen. Larry Farnese, for example, is "very suspicious" of anything that ties ancillary issues such as prevailing wage to transportation, calling the play "another example of why nothing gets done."

That may be neither hare nor there (sorry).

But clearly it'll take some doing for the House to, ahem, pull a rabbit out of a hat.