At the meeting of the House Committee on Transportation, a number of people (including me) testified in support of Senate Bill 1183, SD2 as written, meaning that there would be no extension of the rail surcharge past 2027 but the state’s ten percent cut of the surcharge would be eliminated. The mayor, HART interim CEO, contractors, and unions all supported the bill; however, they wanted a surcharge extension. The mayor, of course, again raised the threat of increasing property taxes without an extension. Following all of the testimony, Chair Aquino brought up House Draft 1, leaving the ending date for the surcharge open; a vote was quickly taken and the bill passed with HD1. That draft is still not even on the Legislature’s Web site but it was obviously just sitting on the desk in front of Aquino and all of the testimony was meaningless. I hope that Finance Chair Luke will kill HD1 and force the city to make some real decisions on how to complete rail with the estimated $6.8 billion.