CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A committee of state lawmakers voted Tuesday afternoon to approve a new version of the bill taking away control of Charlotte Douglas Airport from the city of Charlotte and giving it to a regional authority.
The House Transportation Committee approved the bill, though not without some contentious discussion.
"I've had a lot of heartburn over this bill," Rep. Becky Carney said.
Charlotte's city manager, Ron Carlee, never saw the bill before it passed.
"We in fact have not seen it," he said. " I do not know what the provisions are in the current bill."
There are some significant changes in it compared to the previous version.
It says that the more than 200 city employees currently working at the airport under the city's aviation department could keep their retirement benefits.
Rep. Bill Brawley, who's overseen the bill's path in the House, said that the benefits would remain as long as the authority applies to join, and is granted membership to, a plan administered by the state that the city of Charlotte is a member of right now.
The authority board would be 11 members from Charlotte and surrounding counties, not 13 as originally proposed. The bill also clarifies that smaller airports in the area would stay under local control, a point of concern for counties like Iredell and Lincoln.
Brawley said he, House Speaker Thom Tillis, and Rep. Ruth Samuelson tried to negotiate with two city council members by phone last Tuesday.
Eyewitness News learned those council members were David Howard and James Mitchell.
Brawley said they offered to create a join legislative study committee with members from the House, Senate, and Charlotte's city council to study what structure of an authority should be implemented and other issues surrounding a transition, with the aim to implement an authority by July 1, 2014.
Instead, council members counter-offered with the same concept Carlee described on Tuesday: a blue ribbon commission to study the airport's operations point-by-point and ascertain whether the city could improve them or whether an authority, in the end, would be the best route.
"We did not believe that this was a sufficient move in our direction," Brawley said.
"I expected to find some sense of listening and willingness to work with us," Samuelson said. "There was zero."
Councilman Michael Barnes said he wasn't aware of negotiations and that they should have made a formal offer in writing to the entire council.
But he said he wasn't surprised by what happened in the committee.
"They haven't shared the bill with us," he said. "They have not worked with us to determine whether or not an authority is the right conclusion."
He said it's proof that no matter what the city asks for, the state plans to move forward.
"This General Assembly, because they have the power, chose to take the airport from the people of Charlotte, and that's just not right," Barnes said.
The bill now goes to the House's finance committee before a vote before the full House, where, if the bill is passed, it would become law.
The city council is considering its options, including a lawsuit.
WSOC
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