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Senate committee backs bill to fold ATL and GRTA into state transit entity, adds residency and DOT representation protections
Summary
After extended debate and a MARTA witness urging transparency about federal formula funds, the Senate Transportation Committee passed a substitute to restructure Atlanta-area transit governance — dissolving GRTA, renaming ATL (discussed as 'Georgia T'), shifting how federal formula funds are drawn and revising board appointments with residency requirements and inclusion of the GDOT commissioner.
The Senate Transportation Committee on Tuesday advanced a substitute for House Bill 297 that would substantially reorganize transit governance in the Atlanta region, dissolve the Georgia Regional Transportation Authority (GRTA), and reconform how federal transit formula funds are drawn down.
Representative Anderson, who presented the substitute, said the measure consolidates the ATL and GRTA, renames the agency in discussion as the Georgia Transportation Efficiency Authority (sometimes referred to during debate as "Georgia T"), and reduces statutory board membership while broadening the state's designated recipient role for federal funds. "The bill will consolidate the ATL and GRTA, streamlining over 70 code sections," the sponsor said, describing the changes as returning decision-making to local communities and removing dormant or rarely used powers including a threat of eminent domain.
Several senators questioned the proposed appointment structure, noting the draft called for a seven-member board with a majority of gubernatorial appointees and asked whether appointees would be required to reside in the 13-county compliance zone that historically drew regional transit authority powers. Senator Mell warned that, as written, the proposal could allow a majority of the board to come from outside the affected counties; other members suggested a larger board or residency requirements to ensure local representation.
The committee heard testimony from Jennifer Larissa, who identified herself as "Jennifer Larissa with MARTA, senior director of government community affairs." Larissa said MARTA had not seen some formula funds that she understood were set aside under the ATL structure and urged transparency if the funds — including a low-income set-aside and administrative fee — would be handled differently under a new state entity. "We would love to see whoever is going to be controlling these funds — we're happy to take them back if that's the case for the region — but ... we would request some transparency of that competitive process," she said.
Committee members proposed and adopted amendments to require that a majority of appointees reside within the compliance zone counties, to increase the number of appointments available to legislative leaders, and to add the GDOT commissioner to the board (the committee discussed whether the commissioner would be a voting member). After adopting amendments to the appointment and composition language, the committee voted to report the substitute as amended; the motion carried unanimously by raised-hand vote.
Committee leaders said the changes are intended to simplify overlapping authorities, protect local control, maintain GDOT’s engineering and safety oversight functions, and preserve an annual reporting and performance-measure regime. The measure will move to the full Senate for further consideration.
