Transportation bill on the floor of the Pennsylvania House

We’ve been baited and promised and jerked around continuously since September, but with debate now underway and hours in, a vote on a transportation package seems genuinely imminent tonight. The bill under discussion is a $2.3 billion/year plan, with $1.65 billion going to roads and bridges, and $497 million for transit and $144 million for everything else, including bikes and waterways. That’s not really enough transit funding to get SEPTA out of the deferred capital spending hole it’s in, but it can stem the bleeding until the next election.

I’ll be keeping a close eye on this (there’s a live stream on the PA House Republican Caucus website, but it’s getting hammered into unusability), and I’ll update tomorrow with a recap and any last-minute detail changes, but the traditional practice of the General Assembly is to hold off any shenanigans to the dead of night, after newspaper reporters’ deadlines have passed. In this case, shenanigans might involve not having a vote, or further amending the bill and then voting on it. Presumably the choreography has been set, and we’re waiting to see what happens with bated breath. Stay tuned…