Metro Reform Bill Passes House of Delegates

The Governor and both houses of the General Assembly are behind bills to create dedicated funding for Metro sponsored by Dels. Erek Barron, Marc Korman, and Sen. Brian Feldman. However,  I’m hearing from Annapolis-land that parallel legislation designed to heighten scrutiny of how WMATA spends the money are having trouble in the Senate.

Specifically, Sen. Jim Rosapepe is philosophically opposed to the creation of an strengthening of the inspector general. I suspect voters and taxpayers have stronger objections to handing over large sums to Metro on a repeat basis without the slightest increase in oversight despite repeated problems not just before but also in the wake of SafeTrack. Federal reports on the tracks and work done have been damning.

Time to get past philosophy and on to practicality in this case.