Airport bills swirl in House committee talk
By Carl Mickelson, Staff Writer
Saturday, July 30, 2005 |
The North Bend Airport's general manager is no longer cautiously optimistic about whether the South Coast's largest airport will be infused with $10 million in Oregon Lottery bonds for a new passenger terminal.
"I'm very, very, very optimistic," Gary LeTellier said Friday afternoon.
The change in mood came on the heels of a unanimous vote Friday on Senate Bill 152 by members of the House's State and Federal Affairs Committee.
Earlier that day, committee members heard favorable testimony from Republican Sen. Jeff Kruse of Roseburg; Rep. Arnie Roblan, D-Coos Bay; Rep. Wayne Krieger, R-Gold Beach; and Sen. Joanne Verger, D-Coos Bay, as well as members of the Coos County Airport District.
Krieger is the committee chairman. The bill is now bound for the House Budget Committee, chaired by House Majority leader Wayne Scott, R- Canby. This is the second time that SB152 has been in the Budget Committee. In a previous trip to that committee Scott was reported to have said he would kill the bill - making good on a threat to Roblan who had refused to kowtow to demands from House leadership earlier in the session to back a Republican education funding proposal.
During a visit to the airport last week, Scott denied he made the threat and called the airport bill a "top priority."
LeTellier said SB152 could see action in the Budget Committee as soon as this weekend. If it passes there, its last stop would be for a vote on the House floor. The Senate voted unanimously on the bill in June.
"My sense is that we are almost there," LeTellier said.
In addition, a similarly worded bill was crafted by Verger in a procedural maneuver to force the Republican-controlled House to vote on an airport bill this session. That vote took place on Tuesday and failed on a strict party-line vote and was shipped to a House/Senate negotiating committee.
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