Transportation for America, Author at Transportation For America

About Transportation for America

For general inquiries about the campaign, email info [at] t4america [dot] org.

Senate Democrats’ infrastructure plan provides more funding, but as with the president’s plan, it fails to prioritize repair & maintenance

Upon the release of the Senate Democratic Jobs & Infrastructure Plan, T4A Director Kevin F. Thompson released the following statement:

“We strongly support the Senate Democrats call to increase funding for investments in vital infrastructure, addressing our maintenance backlog and funding transportation alternatives. But many of these programs signal the approach Congress should be, but isn’t, taking with the rest of their proposal: prioritize repair with formula dollars and select expansion projects on a competitive basis.

“It seems that both parties on Capitol Hill are missing an important point on infrastructure. We need to focus much more on what we are funding rather than how much we are spending. Both the President’s infrastructure plan and the Democrats’ plan are silent on how to address the quality of projects chosen and how to overcome the flaws in our current transportation program that produced such a massive national backlog in deferred maintenance and repairs in the first place.

“In contrast with the President’s plan, the Democrats’ plan does provide distinct funding for various categories of infrastructure investment rather than forcing them to cannibalize each other for funding. It encourages more competition rather than indiscriminately doling out the spoils of a finite funding package.

“But neither plan provides any new long-term source of transportation funding or prioritizes new federal dollars toward our backlogs of neglected maintenance. We cannot repair our ‘crumbling’ transportation infrastructure unless we raise new, real money for transportation, and then ensure that money is directed first to fixing our existing networks.

“The Senate Democrats propose funding these increases by making changes to the tax code. Regardless of the merits of tax reform, real, long-term, dedicated funding is necessary. If infrastructure investment is truly a priority, Congress needs to pay for it with new, long-term, stable revenue for transportation that’s derived from the users of the system. If Congress is unwilling to do so, then we should admit that infrastructure investment is not a priority.

“While we appreciate that the Democrats’ plan proposes new transit grants for critical asset repair and a new program for repairing bridges, these programs will fail to accomplish their goals if, at the same time, we fund programs that encourage building new over improving stewardship of existing infrastructure.

“We cannot simply pour new money into the same existing highway and transit formula programs that brought us to this moment. This is more than just an issue of money — if Congress is going to raise new money for transportation, we need to spend it in a new way. Absent any real reform, we’ll merely be empowering states and metro areas to build new things that they can’t afford to maintain over the long-term.”

Stories You May Have Missed – Week of February 23rd

Stories You May Have Missed

As a valued member, Transportation for America is dedicated to providing you pertinent information. This includes news articles to inform your work. Check out a list of stories you may have missed last week.

The math in Trump’s infrastructure plan is off by 98 percent according to a recent study from economists at the University of Pennsylvania. (Washington Post)
“Experts Doubt Trump’s Infrastructure Plan Will Boost Economy.” (NY Times)
“America’s three infrastructure problems.” (Vox)
“The White House is touting a pilot vehicle mileage tax program in Oregon as a reasonable means to fund infrastructure investment.” (The Hill)
Lawmakers are concerned at the lack of progress in installing positive train control (PTC) on the nation’s major freight and passenger rail. (The Hill)
“Lawmakers Commence Fiscal 2018 Funding Bill Negotiations.” (Transport Topics)

First & Main: An Opportunity for Local Elected Officials to Tell Capitol Hill Their Stories and Fight for Main Street

The corner of First & Main is where everything happens. Whether a small town in a rural area, a tribal community, or a mid-sized city, First & Main is the anchor of it all. While it has a different name in every community, First & Main is where you can find the old train depot that built the town, City Hall, or the corner from which to spot the community’s most beautiful historic buildings.

Do the Trump Administration and Congress understand what America’s struggling small and mid-sized communities need to turn their prospects around? Local elected officials are uniquely positioned to tell federal decision-makers what they need to flourish, and scores of them are uniting behind a new blueprint for prosperity in these smaller and midsized communities.

The nonpartisan First & Main initiative is a coalition of local elected officials from small to mid-sized communities all across the country. Initiated by current and former elected officials, the coalition will fight to protect those federal programs proven to work for local communities, improve the programs that should be more effective, and create new programs to provide local communities with additional resources.

The First & Main Blueprint was prepared based on feedback provided by these local leaders. It contains more than 30 proposals that local elected leaders have told us will help their communities rebuild, reinvest, and remain competitive in today’s economy. A key component of the First & Main Blueprint is its proposals for funding community-scale transportation projects: roads and bridges, Complete Streets, public transit, transit-oriented development, and trails.

Are you an elected official from a small to mid-sized community such as a mayor, city council member, tribal leader, or county board member? Do you know or work with someone who holds such an office? Here is how you (or they) can get involved with First & Main:

Read the Blueprint to learn more about the specifics of what we are proposing
Sign up for our free kickoff webinar scheduled for March 1 at 3 p.m. Eastern. On the webinar, three mayors will share stories about how federal programs and funding are essential for their communities. We’ll talk more about the campaign’s goals, strategies, and next steps.
If you are a local elected official, join First & Main (no cost) to share your story and become a part of this critical effort to save key federal programs benefitting America’s local communities.
Ask your local elected officials – mayors, city council members, county board members, tribal leaders, and others – or those you work with, to join First & Main.
Travel to DC April 22-24 for a First & Main gathering to talk more in depth about these issues, strategize, and then go to Capitol Hill to lobby Congress regarding the importance of the Blueprint’s proposals.

The program will offer local elected officials from small and mid-sized communities the opportunity to share their stories with the Trump Administration and Congress regarding how federal programs and policies can improve their economic opportunity, revitalize their downtowns, and improve their quality of life. Join First & Main to be part of a coalition that will do just that.

“One cannot claim to invest in infrastructure while also cutting it”—T4 statement on President Trump’s infrastructure proposal and 2019 budget request

Upon the release of the president’s infrastructure plan and his budget request for FY19, T4America Director Kevin F. Thompson offered the following statement:

“One cannot claim to be investing in infrastructure on the one hand while cutting it with the other. The president’s infrastructure plan is merely a shell game, ‘investing’ money that his budget proposes to cut from other vital transportation and infrastructure programs. Taken together, they provide zero new dollars to invest in our country’s pressing infrastructure needs.”

“This proposal makes no progress on the four simple priorities we believe are essential for success. It provides no new money, does nothing to prioritize the smartest projects, and eliminates the programs that are most responsive to local needs. The president’s plan also fails to include any requirements to prioritize repair, even though he stated a clear preference for repair in his remarks this morning.

“The budget signals to local elected officials and taxpayers that they are on their own if they are to invest in transit, penalizing the communities that have already taken the initiative to raise local funding for new or improved transit service. The infrastructure plan gives blank checks out to governors to spend on projects with the greatest political sway—hardly the kind of accountability that taxpayers are clamoring for.

“We’re eager to work with Congress as they begin drafting their own infrastructure plan and setting the budget for the rest of this year and the next, and we hope they’ll follow our four simple principles and advance a national transportation program that invests more real dollars, rewards innovation and local revenue, funds only the smartest new projects, and provides states and localities with a trustworthy federal partner in their efforts.”

Webinar recap on State of the Art Transportation Training

Catch up with our webinar on new creative placemaking technical assistance workshops

This past Tuesday, Ben Stone, T4America’s Director of Arts & Culture, and Patricia Walsh, Americans for the Arts’ Public Art Program Manager, spoke about our upcoming State of the Art Transportation Training. During the webinar we discussed the opportunity for three communities in 2018 to gain hands-on technical assistance to improve collaboration between local arts agencies and departments of transportation. The ultimate goal: use art to better address transportation challenges.

In the webinar, we explored relevant case studies, reviewed the application process, and answered questions. If you missed the webinar, you can find a recording below.

FAQs:

Where can I find more information on this opportunity?

Visit our State of the Art Training webpage to learn more about this opportunity and view the full webinar recording if you missed it. On the webpage you can find the PDF application and the link to apply. We recommend having your responses prepared in advance of starting the online application form.

Who are these workshops geared towards?

Please find more details of the eligibility requirements in the PDF application, but if you are looking to collaboratively and creatively solve your community’s unique transportation challenges and put into practice the concepts T4America explored in our recent Creative Placemaking Field Scan, we encourage you apply. As a reminder, the deadline to apply is 5:00 p.m. EST, February 23, 2018.

Am I eligible to apply if my organization doesn’t have a transportation agency?

A chief goal of the State of the Art Transportation Training is to improve collaboration between local arts agencies and departments of transportation to better address transportation challenges. We recommend that you demonstrate in your application the role of local transit agencies (or the local equivalent) in helping to address your transportation challenges.

Additional questions? Feel free to email Sophie Schonfeld.

Photo courtesy: Jade District

Get more information about year two of our Smart Cities Collaborative

Earlier this week, we held a webinar to explain and answer questions about year two of our Smart Cities Collaborative. Catch up with a full video of the short informational session here and apply soon — the deadline to apply is next Friday, February 16.

Transportation for America launched the Smart Cities Collaborative to build a forum for collaboration and provide direct technical assistance to 16 leading-edge cities advancing smart mobility policies and projects. Applications are open now for year two.

Learn more and apply

The second year of the Collaborative will focus on how emerging technologies and new mobility are reshaping the right-of-way. Content and curriculum will be separated into four sub-topics; design, measure, manage and price. We’ll cover how the right-of-way and curb space are evolving; measuring and analyzing project, modal and system performance; managing public and private mobility providers in tandem; and pricing road and curb space in service of long-term outcomes.

Last week we held a short informational webinar to provide an overview of how cities can apply for year two, discuss our planned curriculum and recap our lessons learned in year one. We also answered questions on the types of cities that can apply (all sizes!), pilot projects that were implemented in year one and the types of projects we anticipate cities will be working on in year two. Watch the full session below

Get more out of transportation by incorporating art

A new opportunity for your transportation agency to become State of the Art

If there’s one industry that’s ruled by forms and regulations, it’s transportation. The ideal width of a bike lane, font on a street sign, and the length of a light-rail platform are all laid out in design manuals. And while there are often important safety and accessibility reasons for these standards, it doesn’t inspire a lot of creative thinking.

And that’s where art comes in–artistic involvement can help solve entrenched transportation problems by thinking outside the manual. It can help heal communities divided by destructive infrastructure, generate more local buy-in for transportation projects, bring diverse constituents to the table, and create a sense of place that reflects local values of the communities transportation systems serve.

To help communities better integrate artistic and cultural practices in transportation projects, Transportation for America is pleased to announce our State of the Art Transportation Trainings, a new technical assistance program made possible through funding from the National Endowment for the Arts and ArtPlace America, in collaboration with Americans for the Arts.

To learn more about this opportunity, register for our information webinar on Tuesday, February 6 at 3 p.m. EST.

“An artist thinks differently, imagines a better world, and tries to render it in surprising ways. And this becomes a way for his/her audiences to experience the possibilities of freedom that they can’t find in reality.”

– Guillermo Goméz-Peña

Next Tuesday, Ben Stone, T4America’s Director of Arts & Culture, and Patricia Walsh, Americans for the Arts’ Public Art Program Manager will be speaking about collaborating with artists to solve your community’s unique transportation challenges. In the webinar, we will explore case studies, review the application process, and answer your questions.

This is an excellent opportunity to see how your city can leverage creative placemaking in transportation projects and get tailored advice for your city’s unique challenges.

You can find more information about the application and the program on our website.

Applications are due by 5:00 p.m. EST, February 23, 2018!

The application process is online and can be completed via this form at https://t4america.org/creative-placemaking-workshops/apply/ . We recommend downloading the full application information (pdf) and preparing your responses before submitting the online form.

President Trump talks infrastructure in State of the Union, but with few specifics

As expected, President Trump used his first State of the Union Address Tuesday night as an opportunity to discuss infrastructure. The speech was light on specifics, though the Washington Post and other outlets continue to report that the White House is preparing a full plan to be released in a few weeks.

In his address, the president urged Congress to “produce a bill that generates at least $1.5 trillion for the new infrastructure investment we need” and said “every federal dollar” should be leveraged by funds from local governments and the private sector. Other than these few remarks, there were few details offered in the speech itself.

We agree with the president that it’s high time to repair and invest in our infrastructure.

This goal cannot be achieved without presidential leadership, and we appreciate the president’s stated commitment to this issue, beginning as a candidate and continuing through today. We look forward to seeing the details of a plan and are ready to work with the administration and Congress to develop an infrastructure plan that 1) provides real funding, 2) fixes our existing infrastructure, 3) funds smart, new projects, and 4) measures success.

Repairing the country’s roads, bridges, and transit systems while investing in new projects to strengthen the country’s global competitiveness does require a real commitment from the federal government. Gutting existing federal funds from other programs (such as transit, as Trump representatives have proposed) will undercut that effort during a time of mounting needs and increasing competition for waning federal funds. Only real funding will be able to fulfill the diverse infrastructure needs we have nationwide.

Yet over the past year, this administration has repeatedly proposed cutting federal funding for transportation projects, while hoping that private capital or dramatically increased local funding can make up the yawning gap. Picking projects only from communities that can come to the federal government with a huge chunk of their own money, or those that have high tolls to repay financing costs, does nothing to guarantee that we’re selecting the best projects to deliver long-term economic growth. The needs of smaller, rural, and poorer communities in particular will go unmet in this scenario as these communities won’t be able to compete against larger cities.

Further, a true effort to rebuild will ensure that repairing deficient bridges, deteriorating roads, and aging railways gets priority for funding. We cannot simply dole more money out to states in a big block and hope that they spend the money well—taxpayers deserve better. Any infrastructure plan should include clear goals and metrics for determining whether our investments are meeting our national goals.

Finally, the president spoke of the need to speed up the permitting and approval process for transportation projects. There are indeed many ways we can and should improve the process for new projects to both save money and time. However, it is important to remember that the approval process is not a trivial review or bureaucratic exercise. It’s the process by which we protect private property rights and ensure that communities are not divided or harmed unnecessarily. We could certainly build projects much faster if we simply seized people’s property and laid highways over neighborhoods. China and Russia can build much faster by taking that approach, but it’s not the American way. Speed of project delivery is not more important than building cost-effective projects that build strong communities.

To be successful, we urge the president to propose real funding targeted specifically to rebuild crumbling infrastructure in all communities across the country—large and small, rich or poor.

We look forward to seeing such a proposal from the administration in the coming weeks. In the meantime, though written as a preview of the speech, this post highlighting eight key questions about the president’s plan is still a relevant guide to evaluating what you hear from Washington when it comes to infrastructure.

Eight questions to ask about infrastructure during tonight’s State of the Union

Stories You May Have Missed – Week of January 26th

“Should Transit Agencies Panic? Many predict that new technology will doom public transportation. They’re wrong.” (CityLab)
“3 Transportation Predictions for 2018.” (U.S. News)
“White House plan would reduce environmental requirements for infrastructure projects.” (The Washington Post)
“Uber lays out infrastructure principles.” (The Hill)

Stories You May Have Missed – Week of January 19th

The U.S. Senate voted to end the current government shutdown today. (Politico) See T4America’s member summary for more details.
“Trump administration’s infrastructure plan taking shape.” (Reuters)
Brightline’s private All Aboard Florida service launched last week between West Palm Beach and Ft. Lauderdale. Service is expected to be extended to Miami later this year. (USA Today)
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has proposed implementing congestion pricing in New York City. (Citylab)
Costs for the California High Speed Rail System have increased another $2.8 billion. (LA Times)
Waymo announced they will test their self-driving minivans in Atlanta. (The Verge)

Join us for the only national conference about arts, culture and safer street design

Smart Growth America’s arts and culture team and National Complete Streets Coalition, now in partnership with the Urban Land Institute, invite you to the only national conference focused on the intersection of arts, culture, and building safer, complete streets.

On April 3 and 4, in Nashville, TN, Intersections will bring together planners, artists, engineers, public health advocates, and many others to collaborate and find practical ways to integrate arts and culture to create streets that are not only safe for everyone, but also better reflect the unique character of their communities.

The arts and culture connection to Complete Streets

We believe that everyone in America—no matter their age, ability, income, or race—deserves the option to live somewhere affordable, convenient, beautiful, and safe. Our arts & culture team funds pilot projects, supports local and regional partners, and conducts research that shows that art and culture play a crucial role in supporting this vision by providing an organizing force for residents, business owners, and other stakeholders to work towards strengthening neighborhoods, by revealing the authentic character of communities, and by connecting citizens with decision makers to collectively pursue smart, equitable policies and projects.

Whether you’re an artist or an engineer, join us in Nashville to learn more about these vital connections.

The brand new conference website makes it easy to access everything you need to know about Intersections, with new speakers being added regularly. Registration is open, and you can purchase a ticket at the discounted rate of $195 (regularly $250) from now until 11:59 p.m. EST on January 31st by using the promo code: new year_new intersections.

In partnership with the Urban Land Institute

To bring this conference to the next level, we are partnering with the Urban Land Institute to expand conference offerings and explore how to transform vehicle-dominated commercial corridors to better serve those who live, work and travel along them. ULI will bring expertise gained through their Healthy Corridors project to understand the common issues facing commercial corridors that impact the social determinants of health, and how these corridors can be transformed to become safe, healthy,vibrant, mixed-use places.

Full agenda coming soon

The conference will start at 7:30 a.m. on Tuesday, April 3rd with registration and breakfast and end at 6:00 p.m. on Wednesday, April 4th. Both days will be held at the Music City Center in Nashville, TN.

Speakers and panel sessions are being added regularly to the website. Click here to learn more about experts, advocates and practitioners from around the country who will be at the conference. The agenda will be packed with two full days of interactive panels, and breakout discussions about cutting-edge Complete Streets, healthy corridors, and creative placemaking research, ideas and practices.

See you in Nashville!

Thank you to our sponsors:

New creative placemaking technical assistance workshops available

T4America is eager to help communities better integrate artistic and cultural practices into the planning and construction of transportation projects, and is now offering free workshops to help three communities build their capacity to do so.

Transportation for America is pleased to announce State of the Art Transportation Training, an exciting opportunity for local transportation agencies to learn about creative placemaking and obtain technical assistance in using artistic and cultural practices to address local transportation challenges.

With funding from the National Endowment for the Arts and in partnership with Americans for the Arts, T4A will award technical assistance to three communities in 2018 in the form of workshops to help them build capacity in artistic and cultural practices.

LEARN MORE & APPLY

This is an excellent opportunity to learn how your community can integrate creative placemaking in transportation projects, receive hands-on technical assistance geared towards addressing your community’s unique challenges, and put into practice the concepts T4America explored in our recent Creative Placemaking Field Scan. We are especially committed to funding collaborative projects that expand transportation opportunities and local control for low-income people, recent immigrants, and people of color living in communities that have experienced disproportionate disinvestment.

Transportation systems can and should be a powerful tool to help people access opportunity, drive economic development, improve health and safety, and build the civic and social capital that bind communities together. And when artists team up with transportation professionals at a project’s outset, their collaboration can lead to new, creative, and more comprehensive solutions to today’s transportation challenges. Learn more and apply today for this free technical assistance opportunity.

Applications are due by February 23, 2018

The application process is online and can be completed via this form at https://t4america.org/creative-placemaking-workshops/. We recommend downloading the full application information (pdf) and preparing your responses before submitting the online form.

The application deadline for this opportunity is Friday, February 23, 2018 at 5:00 p.m. EST.

We are planning for an informational webinar about the opportunity on February 6, 2018. Register here.

Note: Unfortunately, due to our previous work with projects in Los Angeles, Dothan, Indianapolis, San Diego, Nashville and Portland, OR, proposals from those cities are not eligible.

Stories You May Have Missed – Week of January 12th

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is supporting a 25 cents increase in the gas tax to fund an infrastructure package. (Washington Post)
Congress must pass an extension of government appropriations this week or a government shutdown will happen. (Vox)
“GOP leaders face most difficult shutdown deadline yet.” (The Hill)
Cities and researchers are finding clever ways to get data that transportation network companies (TNC) like Uber and Lyft refuse to provide. (Citylab)
GM says they plan to have a car with no steering wheel Or pedals ready for streets In 2019. (NPR)
Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton has proposed a $1.5 bond for infrastructure projects that would fund a variety of types of infrastructure, including express bus service in Minneapolis. (Minnesota Star Tribune)
Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards has proposed a $600 million highway improvement plan for the state. (The Advocate)

Introducing a new monthly podcast all about transit and development

Pittsburgh north shore skyline. (Photo Credit: Nick Amoscato via Flickr)

Last week, our colleagues at Smart Growth America launched Building Better Communities with Transit, a new podcast series at TODresources.org about transit-oriented development and how it improves communities across America.

There’s a deep well of expertise when it comes to undertaking or encouraging development around transit stations or along transit corridors. This new monthly podcast taps into that expertise to share the experiences of communities across the country, large and small, when it comes to development near transit of all shapes and sizes—heavy rail, bus and everything in between.

Transit-oriented development is not a one-size-fits-all solution and it’s vital that projects are tailored to each community’s specific needs. Yet, the principles are the same. Beginning this month, host Jeff Wood will invite experts for short conversations about how communities can catalyze smarter growth by encouraging new development around transit stations. Jeff and his guests will discuss the finer points of developing local policies to encourage TOD, engaging the public, securing sources for funding, and how certain communities are experiencing success, among other topics.

All of this is intended to support communities and local leaders who are working to catalyze new development around transit, give more people access to public transportation, increase access to opportunity, and build robust local economies.

Listen to the inaugural episode: Taming Pittsburgh’s Hostile Streets

For this first episode, Jeff Wood speaks with Breen Masciotra, transit-oriented development manager for the Port Authority of Allegheny County, PA, and Karina Ricks, director of the Department of Mobility and Infrastructure for the City of Pittsburgh. We discuss the challenges they face in Pittsburgh, including topography, new technologies, and hostile streets. You’ll also hear about how they’re making a more walkable and multi-modal city through new bus rapid transit projects, transit-oriented development initiatives, and “eco innovation districts.”

Stories You May Have Missed – Week of January 5th

President Trump and his administration are still divided over the merits of private-public partnerships (P3’s) after their meeting on Friday with President Trump expressing skepticism about P3’s. (Washington Post/The Press Herald)
A key Democratic Senator says Democrats can work with President Trump on infrastructure. (The Hill)
“A group of more than 150 national trade organizations last week urged Congress to advance an infrastructure investment package.” (Progressive Railroading)
Congress is expected to consider a Trump infrastructure plan sometime this spring if a plan is actually released. (Fox News)
Governor Andrew Cuomo of New York is expected to endorse congestion pricing in parts of Manhattan. (Curbed NY)
“In Phoenix, a Light Rail Station Designed For, and By, People With Disabilities.” (Streetsblog)

Tax reform promises prosperity but is more likely to assure austerity

Transportation for America Kevin F. Thompson offered this statement:

“The supporters of this tax package have promised that it will bring great prosperity. But the trillion-dollar deficit it creates all but guarantees that Congress will be forced to cut funding for job-creating surface transportation programs and other infrastructure investments that the President claims to support — imperiling the country’s economy. In other words, their promises of prosperity will actually lead to years of austerity.”

—

Transportation for America is a program of Smart Growth America, the only national organization dedicated to researching, advocating for, and leading coalitions to bring better development strategies to more communities nationwide. From providing more sidewalks to ensuring more homes are built near public transportation or that productive farms remain a part of our communities, smart growth helps make sure people across the nation can live in great neighborhoods. For more information visit www.smartgrowthamerica.org.

Stories You May Have Missed – Week of December 15th

“Democrats cool to Trump’s infrastructure pitch.” (Politico)
“D.J. Gribbin, the president’s adviser on infrastructure,” says an infrastructure plan is coming in January. (Transport Topics)
“Republicans confident tax bill to become law this week.” (Reuters)
The final Republican tax bill apparently keeps private activity bonds. (Bloomberg)
However, the final bill does eliminate the commuter benefit, including the bike benefit. (CBS News).
The Atlantic covers the provisions included in the final Republican tax bill. (The Atlantic)
Hunter Harrison, CEO of CSX, died over the weekend. (Transport Topics)

Recent Federal Activity Summary – Week of December 8th

As a valued member, Transportation for America is dedicated to providing you the latest information and developments around federal policy.

Tax Reform

Congress, in coordination with the White House, has been considering comprehensive tax reform, and the proposed bills could have large effects on transportation and infrastructure. The House passed their tax reform bill, H.R. 1 or the “Tax Cuts and Jobs Act” on November 16^th by a vote of 227 to 205.

The House version of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act repeals private activity bonds and eliminates the ability of employers to deduct the cost of providing transit benefits to employees. These proposals undermine efforts to rebuild our infrastructure and make it difficult to envision how the Administration can achieve its stated goal of creating a new $1 trillion infrastructure package.

On Saturday December 2^nd, the Senate passed its version of the “Tax Cuts and Jobs Act” by a vote of 51 – 49. Senator Bob Corker (R-TN) was the only Republican to join all Democrats in opposing the bill. While deeply flawed, the Senate bill retains private activity bonds (PABs), which are a critical tool for financing investment in a variety of infrastructure projects.

President Trump has set an ambitious goal of signing tax reform legislation into law before Christmas. There are substantial differences between the Senate and House bills that will have to be bridged, including the disparate private activity bonds provision, if tax reform will become law. To do that, the House and Senate both voted this week to go to a Conference Committee to reconcile their differences and leaderships from both Houses have appointed their conferees.

The Senate Conferees are: Senators Orrin Hatch (R-UT), Mike Enzi (R-WY), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), John Cornyn (R-TX), John Thune (R-SD), Rob Portman (R-OH), Tim Scott (R-SC), Pat Toomey (R-PA), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Patty Murray (D-WA), Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Robert Menendez (D-NJ), Tom Carper (D-DE). The House Conferees are: Representatives Kevin Brady (R-TX), Devin Nunes (R-CA), Peter Roskam (R-IL), Diane Black (R-TN), Kristi Noem (R-SD), Rob Bishop (R-UT), Don Young (R-AK), Greg Walden (R-OR), John Shimkus (R-IL), Richard Neal (D-MA), Sander Levin (D-MI), Lloyd Doggett (D-TX), Raul Grijalva (D-AZ) and Kathy Castor (D-FL).

Impact of Tax Reform on Infrastructure

The “Statutory Pay As You Go Act,” of 2010 requires the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to keep an annual debt scorecard and institute across-the-board spending reductions to a select group of mandatory programs to offset an increase in the debt in any calendar year. Congress can avoid these mandatory reductions by either cutting spending elsewhere or passing legislation to wipe the OMB scorecard. Each the House and Senate tax reform plans would add approximately $1.5 trillion to the debt over the next decade. Under the law, OMB would have to make $150 billion in mandatory spending cuts every year for the next 10 years, unless Congress takes additional action as described earlier. It is important to note that additional action to cut spending or wipe the scorecard would require 60 votes in the Senate, whereas the special rules – known as reconciliation – being used to pass tax reform only require 51 votes. $639 million in the highway trust fund used for the equity bonus program is considered mandatory spending and that $639 million would be subject to mandatory reductions.

It’s unclear if Congress will allow the mandatory reductions to take effect, as it would slash funding from a variety of programs including Medicare. Two possible scenarios are that Congress would either institute spending reductions in discretionary programs – such as TIGER, Capital Investment Grants (CIG), and others – or it will wipe the scorecard and allow for an increase in the debt. In the latter instance, it is likely that a future Congress will seek to cut spending to address the increased debt. This means that critical transportation programs are at risk as a result of the tax reform proposals under consideration. One way or the other, T4America is concerned that Congress may pay for these tax cuts by choosing to cut programs that reinvest in our country, including critical transportation programs like TIGER, CIG, and Amtrak.

Government Appropriations

Fiscal Year (FY18) Appropriations

The House and Senate approved legislation on Thursday, December 7^th – one day before the deadline – to fund the federal government through December 22^nd.

Funding was extended by two weeks in order to give the President and Congressional leaders more time to negotiate a full year appropriations package. The main sticking point is how much to raise the discretionary spending caps established by the Budget Control Act of 2011. Democrats want non-defense discretionary spending to be raised by the same amount as defense spending, while Republicans want to increase defense spending more than non-defense discretionary spending. Finally, other issues may need to be dealt with, including the inclusion of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program and health care insurer payments to stabilize the Affordable Care Act.

House and Senate Appropriators are waiting for an agreement on the budget caps so they can finalize FY18 appropriations. An agreement allows each subcommittee to know how much they have to allocate to programs within their jurisdiction. At this stage, we expect that the spending caps will be raised. It is important to note that an increase in the budget cap will not guarantee full funding for key transportation programs like TIGER, CIG, and Amtrak.

Fiscal Year (FY19) Appropriations

One final thing to remember is that while Congress is finalizing FY18 appropriations, House and Senate Appropriators and the Administration are already starting the FY19 appropriations process. If you have FY19 funding or language requests, it’s important to start talking to your member of Congress and the Appropriations committees

Update on Senate Autonomous Vehicle Legislation

As you know, T4America has been working to improve the autonomous vehicle (AV) legislation that is working its way through Congress. The House passed their AV legislation, the SELF-DRIVE Act, in September. The Senate Commerce Committee has approved its bill, the American Vision for Safer Transportation through Advancement of Revolutionary Technologies Act” or the “AV START Act. We are particularly concerned about language that would preempt the enforcement of local laws as well as how the legislation would address data sharing, among other issues.

Last week, the full Senate began the process of advancing the AV START Act. Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune “hotlined” the Senate bill, a process by which the Chairman notifies Senators that he is seeking unanimous consent, and provides them with a final opportunity to object. Senators seeking further change to a bill will seek to address their concerns by objecting to passing legislation by unanimous consent.

T4America continues to have major concerns with the legislation. At least four Senators are known to have formally objected to passing the bill by unanimous consent: Senators Roger Wicker (R-MS), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Ed Markey (D-MA). We are working with Senators who share our concerns with regard to preemption and data sharing.

T4America and our partners have urged the Senate Commerce Committee to include data sharing requirements to provide states, municipalities, and law enforcement the real-time data necessary to ensure the safety of AVs in their communities. Such data would potentially cover areas like the number of crashes and disengagements an AV has had, the types of roads AVs have had problems on, and the weather conditions at the time of a crash or disengagement. Unfortunately, the Committee so far has declined to do so.

As a reminder, the Senate AV START Act (S. 1885) does a number of things including:

Delineating the federal and state/local roles when it comes to regulating automated vehicles via a preemption clause;
Establishing a specific exemption from federal motor vehicle safety standards to test automated vehicles;
Raising the number of safety exemptions a manufacturer can get to test vehicles to 80,000 over three years; and
Establishing an automated vehicle advisory committee to advise the Secretary of U.S. Department of Transportation on a number of issues related to automated vehicles.

Click here for more about T4America’s concerns with the AV START Act.

Chairman Thune has stated his desire to approve AV legislation quickly. If the Committee is unable to satisfy the Senators, the Committee would have to pursue other ways for approving legislation. This would likely include attaching the legislation to another bill that is advancing through the Senate.

Stories You May Have Missed – Week of December 8th

President Trump will apparently release his infrastructure plan in January. (Bloomberg)
U.S. Sets January Push for $1 Trillion Infrastructure Revamp. (Wall Street Journal)
After his tax bill becomes law, President Trump is looking to localities to raise revenue for infrastructure. (Washington Post)
Governing Magazine explores “how small cities can attract and keep millennials.” (Governing Magazine)
“San Francisco is now the first U.S. city to implement a surge pricing program at all of its meters, parking garages and city-owned lots.” (Smart Cities Dive)
Streetsblog explores how the United States, unlike Europe, has not implemented any safety regulations for cars to reduce the likelihood of death or severe injury in automobile crashes involving pedestrians or cyclists. (Streetsblog)

Recent Federal Activity Summary – Senate passed its version of the “Tax Cuts and Jobs Act”

As a valued member, Transportation for America is dedicated to providing you the latest information and developments around federal policy.

This weekend, the Senate passed its version of the “Tax Cuts and Jobs Act” by a vote of 51 – 49. Senator Bob Corker (R-TN) was the only Republican to join all Democrats in opposing the bill. While deeply flawed, the Senate bill retains private activity bonds, which are a critical tool for financing investment in a variety of infrastructure projects.

The President has set an ambitious goal of signing tax reform legislation into law before Christmas. While it has been suggested that the House could simply vote to send the Senate bill to the President, indications are that the House would prefer to work out the differences between the two bills. Therefore, the next step is for the House and Senate to reconcile their differences through a Conference Committee. The House is expected to vote to proceed to conference on Monday evening, and formal negotiations are expected to begin immediately (informal negotiations have been ongoing).

Furthermore, both the House and Senate bills would dramatically increase the federal debt. This will force the Administration and Congress to make difficult choices, or trigger substantial cuts to important programs, including infrastructure. The Administration and Congress have proposed deep cuts to transportation programs in their FY18 budget and appropriations proposals. It is therefore likely that, once a deficit increasing tax bill is law, the Administration and Congress will use the required $150 billion in annual spending cuts to target investments in roadways, transit, and other infrastructure needs. The law requires Congress to pay for a budget-busting bill. Unfortunately, Congress will likely pay for these tax cuts by cutting programs that reinvest in our country, including critical transportation programs.

As the House and Senate head to conference, our top priority is to inform the public and Members of Congress that these bills will create, and green light, a torrent of cuts to transportation and infrastructure programs.

Please contact your Representative and Senator today to make sure they understand all that is at stake. Make sure they are talking to their leadership and letting them know how important it is that they not cut infrastructure programs!