The short-term fate of a key component of Gov. Tom Corbett's agenda will likely depend on what happens in the state Legislature over the next several days.

Senate Bill 1 would generate billions in revenue for road and bridge maintenance, a desperately needed measure that failed over the summer after House lawmakers tried to use it as a bargaining chip to get the Senate to go along with a measure to privatize state liquor stores.

Both predictably failed to pass as a result.

Now, as negotiations over SB 1 intensify ahead of a vote expected next week, another quid pro quo has emerged, according to CBS News in Philadelphia: Lawmakers are expected to demand a weakening of the state's prevailing wage law in return for yes votes on transportation funding.

A link between prevailing wage concessions and road construction makes a lot more logical sense than holding transportation funding hostage to liquor store privatization. Road construction, after all, is frequently performed by the union shops that have a direct stake in the prevailing wage debate.

But we also fear that linking transportation funding to prevailing wage concessions creates even greater potential for yet another delay in fixing our roads and bridges.


Unions figure heavily in both road construction and state store retailing, but the amount of money at stake in transportation projects is far larger, creating more incentive for hard bargaining and less of a likelihood for compromise.

We understand that trading one issue for another is simply how business is done in the Legislature. But if ever there was an issue that should transcend business as usual, it's generating revenue for road and bridge maintenance.

It would be a huge economic driver in a state that put too many natural gas eggs in its economic development basket. It enjoys intense support from unions, business groups and municipal leaders. Rough roads and structurally deficient bridges cost Pennsylvania drivers money and threaten their safety.

In a perfect world, it's an issue that should pass or fail on its own merit.

The perverse reality, however, is that crucial issues that carry mainstream impact will always be seen by opportunistic lawmakers as means to get traction on narrowly applied special interests.
