CHARLOTTE, N.C. — After putting the airport authority bill on hold to propose a planning commission, state lawmakers now plan to introduce a new version of the bill Wednesday morning in the House Finance .Committee.
If it passes there, as it is expected to do, it only needs a full House vote to become law.
The move comes one day after Charlotte city leaders rejected the proposal, which would have delayed a decision for about a year.
State lawmakers said the commission was a compromise that included three lawmakers from the House -- two from the majority, one from the minority, and a citizen from Mecklenburg County. It followed the same pattern for the Senate, and then included three city council members -- two from the majority, one from the minority, and one citizen appointed by the city of Charlotte.
It also would have a Charlotte chair and a legislative chair and its purpose would be to study how an authority would work at Charlotte Douglas Airport and how it would have to be structured to be successful.
But some council members said it was rigged because of the number of Raleigh lawmakers that would be on board.
Councilman Michael Barnes called the process "unjust" and "immoral."
Mayor Patsy Kinsey wrote in a letter to Samuelson on Monday that council members thought the commission had a "pre-determined outcome."
City Manager Ron Carlee said the city has been reviewing operations like security and finance that were brought up by the city-funded Oliver Wyman study and suggested that lawmakers participate in that instead.
"I think a bill that creates a last-minute authority will be destabilizing and will create serious problems at the airport," Carlee said.
"That completely exhausted our options to try to work with the city in any way," Rep. Bill Brawley said of Mayor Kinsey's letter. "It probably could have been a better bill if the city had been at the table."
WSOC
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