State funding for transportation projects has essentially dried up, and lawmakers are still trying to nail down a fix.

Gov. Sonny Perdue is backing legislation that would create a regional transportation sales tax, but House Bill 1218 has yet to be scheduled for vote.

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Bills must clear at least one chamber by midnight tonight to remain alive for consideration during the final 10 days of the session.

“I’m not sure if the governor’s bill is coming to the floor,” said state Rep. Barry Loudermilk, R-Cassville, the secretary of the House Transportation Committee.

Loudermilk said supporters are trying to iron out constitutional objections to provisions that designate how future tax collections would be spent. His concerns about the forced regional cooperation run deeper.

“It would essentially allow one county to tax another, since the counties with the biggest population could swing the vote” he said.

State Transportation Board member David Doss of Rome maintains that the concept itself is flawed.

“We have got to have a statewide funding solution if we are to deliver a statewide transportation plan,” Doss said.

Recent movement of an older bill that would set up a statewide vote on a 1-cent transportation sales tax “is further indication the regional bill is in trouble,” he added.

House Bill 277 passed the House last year, but the Senate made several changes and a joint conference committee was unable to strike a compromise before the session ended.

But Senate and House leaders appointed new conferees on Wednesday to restart discussions. The bill was sponsored by Vance Smith, who later resigned his seat to become the Georgia Department of Transportation commissioner.

Voters would have to approve either a regional or statewide sales tax, however, and Loudermilk said there are many who don’t think the idea would fly at the polls.

“A tax increase right now is harder to stomach. A lot of families and businesses are barely getting by,” he said. “And when you look at what people’s interests are, jobs and the economy are No. 1 and transportation is way down on the list.”

Loudermilk said he favors a proposal to dedicate part of the state’s existing sales tax to transportation, but House Resolution 1358 is expected to die in committee today.

“It wouldn’t be a tax increase,” Loudermilk said. “But as our economy improves we’ll see the revenue go up, and the amount of money dedicated to transportation would increase.”

Doss said a positive note is that legislation passed the Senate to let the GDOT to sign multiyear construction contracts before all the budgeted money is in the bank.

“It will allow us to free up hundreds of millions of dollars and put Georgians back to work,” he said.

Senate Resolution 821 must still pass the House. It sets up a statewide vote on the issue.