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Stories You May Have Missed – Week of January 19th

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 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)

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)

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!

Stories You May Have Missed – Week of December 1st

The U.S. Senate in the early hours of Saturday morning passed a sweeping tax reform bill. The House of Representatives is scheduled to vote on Monday to go to conference to work out the differences between the Senate and House bills. (Politico)
Transportation for America released a statement on the Senate tax reform bill after passage. (T4America)
The House and Senate tax bills spell trouble for any infrastructure package. (The Hill)
Governing Magazine covers how the tax bills will negatively affect transportation projects. (Governing Magazine)
“Southern California transport agencies raise concerns about tax reform proposals.” (Southern California Association of Governments, American Shipper)
“Uncertainty mounts over timing of Trump’s infrastructure plan.” (The Hill)
House Republican leadership are pushing a two week short term continuing resolution until December 22^nd in order to avoid a government shutdown and create more time for negotiations over full year appropriations. (Fox Business)
“Uncertainty Surrounds Avoiding Shutdown Showdown.” (Roll Call)

Stories You May Have Missed – Week of November 24th

“Trump’s missing infrastructure plan.” (Axios)
President Trump has promised to reveal his infrastructure package after tax reform is signed into law. (The Hill)
The White House does not know what policy item is next on the President’s agenda after tax reform. An infrastructure package could be next, but other items are under consideration like welfare reform and another attempt at healthcare reform. (Politico)
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer “Says No to Gas Tax Hike, Complicating Trump’s Infrastructure Push.” (The Daily Beast)
Richard Florida argues that driverless cars will exacerbate inequality and not be the panacea everyone is expecting. (City Lab)
Wired magazine looks at how cities are rethinking what curbed spaces are used for, including drop-off spaces for ridesharing vehicles. (Wired)

The rapidly disappearing infrastructure promises of 2017

The House-approved tax reform legislation is the most recent evidence that neither the administration nor Congress seems to be very serious about supporting and encouraging infrastructure investment.

On the campaign trail, in his inaugural address and in numerous press conferences and events throughout 2017, President Trump and members of his administration have been promising a much-needed investment in infrastructure. “Crumbling infrastructure will be replaced with new roads, bridges, tunnels, airports, and railways gleaming across our very, very beautiful land,” the President recently said in a statement. After nearly a year of waiting for an infrastructure plan that was always just right around the corner, as we were frequently told, the Trump administration has only managed to release a few broad principles. Numerous congressional leaders have joined the chorus, yet nothing has been accomplished.

In the total absence of a specific infrastructure plan from the administration, we can only look for clues. The most obvious is the President’s budget proposal for 2018 — the priorities of which stand in stark contrast to his stated commitment to rebuilding the nation’s infrastructure, luring more private sector involvement into infrastructure planning and spending, or the early promises to make a $1 trillion investment in infrastructure.

Under the president’s budget for next year:

Overall infrastructure spending would go down. The President’s budget proposal for next year recommends funding the highway and transit formula programs at levels prescribed by the 2015 FAST Act, but capping the Highway Trust Fund in 2019 and 2020 at FY2018 levels, effectively cutting about $2.4 billion in transportation funding already authorized by Congress.

Funding for new transit construction would be slashed…and eventually eliminated. The President’s budget reduces and eventually eliminates another $2.4 billion in annual funding that helps states and cities of all sizes build or expand public transportation systems. Some of these projects already have signed funding agreements from the federal government, matched by local and state dollars committed by voters at ballot boxes.

The only funding that communities can currently tap directly would disappear. The budget also eliminates the $500 million competitive TIGER (Transportation Investments Generating Economic Recovery) program — the only multimodal transportation investment program directly available to local governments. At a time when we should be awarding more dollars to the best possible projects, this budget dumps one of the only programs intended to do so.

Promises have already been scaled back, and are shrinking as we speak. The President’s budget suggests that his infrastructure initiative will have $200 billion in direct federal spending over ten years, far less than the $1 trillion program previously promised by the administration. And after nearly a year, the administration has only offered vague principles for such a package.

The administration has suggested that the massive gap between their original $1 trillion figure and the $200 billion, ten-year plan be filled by increasing and encouraging more private investment in our infrastructure. Yet the House Tax Cuts and Jobs Act — the House’s tax reform proposal, which passed last week with the President’s thumbs up —eliminated private activity bonds, a specific financing mechanism that encourages greater private investment in infrastructure.

Private activity bonds are tax-exempt bonds that fund infrastructure projects with a “private” use of at least 10 percent, and they’ve been used on a wide range of infrastructure projects around the country, including roads, highways, housing, hospitals and airports. Most notably, these bonds have also been instrumental in several public-private partnerships (P3s), including the Purple Line light rail project in Maryland and the Rapid Bridge Replacement Project in Pennsylvania. Encouraging more P3s has been one of the core pillars of the administration’s approach to supporting infrastructure investment.

But to save just $39 billion over ten years, the House did away with these tax-exempt bonds, hindering the ability of state and local governments and private entities to obtain financing and build more complicated infrastructure projects like toll roads and transit and rail stations. This is after the administration’s 2018 budget proposal — harmful in so many other ways — proposed expanding the number of infrastructure projects that could tap private activity bonds as one of their few infrastructure investment proposals. The administration even stated that they “support the expansion of PAB eligibility.”

As we wait for a substantial infrastructure plan from the administration, which will almost certainly not be released until 2018, if at all, last week Transportation for America released its own set of guiding principles to help inform or evaluate any standalone infrastructure bill.

Our four principles place a new emphasis on measuring progress and success, rather than just focusing on how much it all costs. We want real funding for infrastructure, not just ways to borrow money or sell off public assets as a means to pay for projects. We want a real commitment to prioritize fixing our aging infrastructure before building expensive new liabilities. We want new projects to be selected competitively with more local control, spurred by innovation and creativity. And yes, we want to ensure greater accountability so taxpayers understand the benefits they are actually receiving for their billions of dollars.

As Congress works on a tax plan and a 2018 budget, let’s keep infrastructure funding in the forefront and stop advancing short-sighted plans that undermine or circumvent our ability to connect communities, create jobs and secure our economic future.

Download the full one page principles document here.

Stories You May Have Missed – Week of November 17th

Stories You May Have Missed

Everyone, including President Trump, wants to build infrastructure projects faster. The NY Times highlights some case studies to explain why some infrastructure projects can get slowed down. (NY Times)
“How the House tax plan could kill Trump’s infrastructure plans.” (The Hill)
The NY Times published their first article from an 8^th month investigation into the factors that have contributed to the problems the New York City Subway is experiencing today. (NY Times)
The Florida Times-Union and Pro Publica have released an investigative report highlighting the racial disparity in pedestrian violations in Jacksonville. (Florida Times Union)
NY Times Op-Ed: “America Is Now an Outlier on Driving Deaths.” (NY Times)
San Francisco has procured its first fire truck that is designed specifically for vision zero streets. (Wired)

Transportation for America’s Principles for Infrastructure Investment

RE: T4America’s Principles for Infrastructure Investment

Dear Transportation for America Members:

Transportation for America shares the goal of the Trump Administration and members of Congress on both sides of the aisle for reinvesting in our nation’s infrastructure. Transportation systems have a profound impact on our lives and communities. All Americans understand that the deteriorating state of our transportation infrastructure limits economic opportunity. Expediting the critical rebuilding of infrastructure like roads, bridges, transit systems and other investments that improve shared mobility access and strengthen our diverse, multimodal transportation network will guarantee a prosperous future for all Americans.

Today, we are sharing the following principles essential to developing an infrastructure package with the Administration and members of the 115^thCongress. These principles will foster new opportunities by connecting communities, creating jobs and securing long-term economic growth. Our goal is to move the national conversation beyond the breadth and cost of an infrastructure program to include an examination of which projects we are investing in and why. Our principles are simple and sensible:

Increase real funding
Fix the infrastructure we’ve already built
Make sure that any new infrastructure is selected through competitive processes, is locally driven, and has clear and specific benefits.
Measure the performance of investments to ensure accountability.

These principles will not only serve to help guide investment, they will also help federal, state, and local agencies, as well as taxpayers, judge the success of these investments. Through accountability, we can ensure limited dollars are used wisely.

Please feel free to share these principles through your professional and social media networks. If you have questions, or would like to discuss these principles, please contact Alicia Orosco, our program manager for membership and outreach at alicia.orosco@t4america.org or at (202) 971-3907.

Sincerely,

Kevin F. Thompson
Director, Transportation for America

Provide real funding

We need real federal funding, not just new ways to borrow money or sell off existing assets, to rebuild our transportation systems. Historically, economic development and opportunity have depended on federal investments in transportation that connect communities and allow businesses to bring goods to market. Direct federal investment funded the construction of our highways, bridges, and transit systems, creating economic opportunities. Today, deteriorating transportation infrastructure—the result of years of reduced federal investment—is a roadblock to continued economic growth. Real funding, invested according to the principles outlined here, will rebuild the nation’s transportation infrastructure and restore economic opportunity.

Fix the existing system first

We must immediately fix the transportation system we have and fund needed repairs to aging infrastructure. If we have a house with a leaky roof, it’s only prudent to fix the roof before building a new addition. Our transportation systems are no different.

Congress should dedicate federal transportation formula dollars to maintenance to make sure the system is returned to a state of good repair, is resilient, and works for all users; before funding new projects that bring years of additional maintenance costs. The application of federal performance measures to both the state and metro area programs would help prioritize needs and ensure that the greatest of them are addressed first.

Build smart new projects

At a time when transportation resources are scarce, it is critical that funds go only to the best new projects. Competition, local control, and objective evaluation can ensure that federal funds flow to the projects that deliver the greatest benefit to communities. When communities are given the opportunity to compete for federal funds, they work harder to put forward projects that maximize return on investment, provide creative solutions, and involve a diverse range of stakeholders. Congress should direct new federal transportation dollars through competitive processes, such as the TIGER and transit Capital Investment Grant programs, which are accessible directly to city, county, regional, and state governments. Merely adding new funding into existing and outdated formula funding programs will not deliver the transformative projects that deliver long-term economic growth.

Measure success

Investments in transportation are not an end in and of themselves. They are a means to foster economic development and improve all Americans’ access to jobs and opportunity. Agencies should be held accountable by evaluating how well their investments help achieve their regions’ goals. Newly available data and tools allow agencies to measure—better than ever before—how well transportation networks connect people to jobs and other necessities. The federal government should harness these tools so that state departments of transportation and metropolitan planning organizations can ensure that federally funded investments are effectively connecting people to economic opportunity.

Download these principles as a sharable one-page PDF here.

Stories You May Have Missed – Week of November 10th

Stories You May Have Missed

Almost 50 members of Congress, led by Senator Ben Cardin (D-MD) and Representative Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), sent a letter to U.S. Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao asking her to keep the greenhouse gas emissions rule and not move ahead with plans to repeal it. (Senator Cardin’s Office)
The U.S. Senate is expected to vote to approve Derek Kan’s nomination today to be Undersecretary of Transportation for Policy. (Railway Age)
Representatives Randy Hultgren (R-IL) and Dutch Ruppersberger (D-MD) explain in an op-ed the importance of a tax reform bill keeping private activity bonds. (Northwest Herald)
“Self-Driving Taxi Service From Waymo Set To Begin Shortly” in Chandler, Arizona. (CleanTechnica)
Forbes Op-Ed: “Waymo Tests Its Self-Driving Cars In My Town. Here Are The Odd Things I’ve Seen.” (Forbes)
The American Transportation Research Institute, part of the American Trucking Association put out a report that concludes a “federal fuel tax increase is the ‘only meaningful mechanism’ to pay for President Donald Trump’s proposed infrastructure improvements.” (Talk Business and Politics, ATRI Report)
Reed Cornish, a White House Advisor, shed a little more light in an interview with Recode on the Trump’s administration’s infrastructure principles and reveals he encouraged Elon Musk to start building a tunnel between New York City and Washington D.C. (Recode)

Stories You May Have Missed – Week of November 3rd

Stories You May Have Missed

The House GOP tax bill has advocates scrambling because it eliminates important current provisions of the tax code like private activity bonds. (The Hill)
“Facing pockets of discontent in their own Republican ranks, tax negotiators in the U.S. House of Representatives will seek this week to brook differences over their far-reaching tax bill and stick to a self-imposed deadline of passage this month.” (Reuters)
“Private investors line up to support infrastructure projects without Trump” but say that “a commitment from the federal government is needed to provide long-term financing.” (Washington Examiner)
House Transportation and Infrastructure Chairman Bill Shuster will stay in Congress, even after he gives up the chairmanship next year due to term limit rules. (The Hill)
The NY Times covers some examples of the burgeoning highway removal movement. (NY Times)
The National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO) released a guide at their conference last week to help planners and engineers determine what bike lanes should be protected. (Streetsblog)

Stories You May Have Missed – Week of October 13th

Stories You May Have Missed

“Rural America looks to Trump to help with crumbling infrastructure.” (Washington Examiner)
Democrats gathered last week to discuss ideas for President Trump’s promised infrastructure package and criticized the White House for the continued lack of a concrete proposal. (The Hill)
The Senate Environmental and Public Works (EPW) Committee will vote on Paul Trombino’s nomination to be the administrator of the Federal Highways Administration (FHWA) on Wednesday. The nomination is expected to pass easily. (Senate EPW Committee)
The Chairman of the Senate Transportation and Housing and Urban Development (THUD) Appropriations Subcommittee, Susan Collins (Republican-Maine), announced she will stay in the Senate rather than run for Governor of Maine. (Politico)
The Verge reports that “self-driving cars are coming, and US cities are totally unprepared for the radical changes that will accompany them.” (The Verge)
Brookings Institute Commentary: President Trump is undermining the chances of an infrastructure plan passing. (Real Clear Politics)
Streetsblog covers a protest over a bike lane in Minneapolis that rose to a whole new level. (Streetsblog)

Stories You May Have Missed – Week of October 6th

Stories You May Have Missed

President Trump still hasn’t released his infrastructure plan, despite repeated promises to do so. (NPR)
The New Democrats, a group of centrist House Democrats, released their infrastructure package policy principles last week. (The Hill)
“Congress Poised to Let Autonomous Car Companies Run Wild in Cities.” (Streetsblog)

Stories You May Have Missed – Week of September 29th

Stories You May Have Missed

President Trump expressed skepticism over the idea of using public-private partnerships to fund infrastructure, saying those deals “don’t work”. (Bloomberg)
President’s Trump apparent change of heart on public-private infrastructure could threaten the administration’s $1 trillion infrastructure package proposal. (Transport Topics)
The Senate Environmental and Public Works (EPW) Committee is holding a hearing on Thursday on Paul Trombino, President Trump’s nominee to be Administrator of the Federal Highways Administration. Mr. Trombino is the former director of Iowa DOT. (Senate EPW)
Senate Democrats push for $500 billion in infrastructure investment (Washington Post)
The National Association of Rail Passengers (NARP) released a study on the positive economic benefits of Amtrak’s national network. (NARP)
Portland’s transit agency Tri-Met is “pitching a $1.7 billion bond measure to help pay for a new light-rail line as well as a slate of other regional transportation projects”. (Oregon-Live)

Stories You May Have Missed – Week of September 15th

Stories You May Have Missed

“An Infrastructure Deal Should Be Easy, But Isn’t.” (Bloomberg)
The House of Representatives passed the package of eight appropriations bill, including the Transportation and Housing and Urban Development (THUD) appropriations bill, that they began consideration of last week. (The Hill)
The Chair of the Senate Environmental and Public Works Committee, John Barrasso, published an op-ed about his plans on infrastructure. (Washington Examiner)
Slate covers U.S. DOT’s recently released autonomous vehicle regulation and explains why relying on voluntary safety efforts could be harmful to our communities. (Slate)
Wisconsin’s state budget bans cities and towns from using eminent domain to expand or build new sidewalks, bicycle lanes and trails. No such provision is applied to using eminent domain for expanding highways or roads. (Wisconsin State Journal)
Politico Europe covers how Amsterdam is leading in transportation innovation and how their embracement of the bicycle is a big reason why. (Politico Europe)
Op-Ed Essay: “The end of walking.” (Aeon)

U.S. DEPARTMENT of TRANSPORTATION House FY2018 APPROPRIATIONS BILL AMENDMENT SUMMARY

As of September 5th 2017

INTRODUCTION

On Monday July 17^th, the House Appropriations Committee marked up and passed the House Transportation, Housing and Urban Development (THUD) appropriations bill for fiscal year (FY) 2018. The House THUD bill would appropriate $17.8 billion in discretionary FY 2018 funding to the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT), a $646 million decrease from the FY 2017 funding level. The full text of the House draft bill can be found here.

The THUD bill is part of a package of six appropriations bills that the full House of Representatives will consider together, and we expect that the House will consider this package during the week of September 4^th. The House Rules Committee is scheduled on Tuesday September 5^th to consider the 89 amendments proposed to the THUD bill and decide what amendments to make “in order” and advance to the full House of Representatives for consideration.

We urge you to call your Representatives and make your voices heard on the below amendments that the House of Representatives may consider in the near future.

TIGER

Current Bill: The House FY 2018 bill eliminates funding for the TIGER program, which was funded at $500 million in FY 2017.

Amendments Proposed:

Maxine Waters (D-CA) Amendment #1: Provides $7.5 billion for the TIGER program.

Maxine Waters (D-CA) Amendment #2: Provides $550 million for the TIGER program, specifically requires the Secretary to award the funds using the 2016 notice of funding opportunity (NOFO) criteria, and requires that the Secretary distributes the grants 225 days after the enactment of the bill.

Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) Amendment: Provides $500 million for the TIGER program.

Rod Blum (R-IA) Amendment: Provides $200 million for the TIGER program and reduces HUD tenant rental assistance by $200 million as an offset.

T4America’s Position: We SUPPORT efforts to fund TIGER because it is a crucial program that gives local governments direct access to federal dollars for innovative projects. TIGER projects are overwhelmingly multimodal and multi-jurisdictional projects – like rail connections to ports, complete streets, passenger rail, and freight improvements – that are often challenging to fund through the underlying formula programs.

However, we OPPOSE paying for a TIGER program by cutting the HUD tenant rental assistance program, which is also a crucial program. There is enough money, as evident by past appropriations bills that fund both, to sufficiently fund these two important programs.

New Starts, Small Starts, Core Capacity (Capital Investment Grant Program)

Current Bill: The House bill allocates $1.75 billion to the Capital Investment Grant (CIG) program, which is $660 million less than the FY 2017 enacted funding level of $2.4 billion. It is also $549 million less than the authorized level for the program in the FAST Act. Of this $1.75 billion, $1.008 billion is set-aside for New Starts projects that have full funding grant agreements (FFGAs), $145.7 million for Core Capacity projects, and $182 million for Small Starts projects.

Of the remaining CIG funding, $400 million would fund “joint Amtrak-public transit projects.” This language indicates that the Subcommittee intends the funding to go to the Gateway project, a rail improvement project in the Northeast Corridor. With all this funding dedicated to Gateway, there would be no remaining funding would be available for any of the CIG projects that anticipate getting an FFGA signed in 2018 or late 2017.

The House bill also includes language directing the USDOT Secretary to “continue to administer the Capital Investment Grant Program in accordance with the procedural and substantive requirements of” the law, including directing the “Secretary to continue to advance eligible projects into project development and engineering in the capital investment grant evaluation.” Basically, when CIG projects become eligible to move along in the pipeline, this language requires the Secretary to advance them. The Committees included this language because the Administration has stated a desire to block funding for any new CIG projects by not advancing or taking in new projects into the program. While this language challenges that approach, under the House bill, the lack of funding available for additional New Starts projects would effectively prevent new projects from moving forward until at least 2019.

Amendments Proposed:

Darren Soto (D-FL) Amendment: Increases the amount of funding for small starts funding by $82 million and decreases funding for intercity passenger rail projects by $82 million as an offset.

Mark Amodei (R-NV) Amendment: Requires the Secretary of Transportation to continue administering the current Capital Investment Grant (CIG) Program in accordance with current law and requires the USDOT secretary to enter into a grant agreement with any small starts project that has satisfied the current eligibility requirements of the small starts program.

T4America Position: We OPPOSE proposals to offset funding for small starts by taking money from intercity passenger rail funding, which is also important. There is enough money, as evident by past appropriations bills, to sufficiently fund both programs and we should not be cutting funding from one program to fund the other.

We SUPPORT legislative language that increases the likelihood that the CIG program will continue operating as it should and also moves future small starts projects forward by ensuring these projects get grant agreements when they are ready.

Amtrak, CRISI, State of Good Repair, and REG

Current Bill: The House FY 2018 bill provides $1.4 billion for Amtrak. Of this, $1.1 billion is reserved for the National Network, which is consistent with the FAST Act authorized amount, and $328 million for the Northeast Corridor (NEC), which is a decrease from the $515 million authorized amount in the FAST Act.

The Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements (CRISI) grant program is funded under the House bill at $25 million, a decrease from the $230 million authorized under the FAST Act and less than half of the $68 million that the program received in FY 2017. The draft bill does not provide funding for the Restoration and Enhancement Grants (REG) program, which authorized at $20 million under the FAST Act and funded at $5 million in FY 2017..

The House FY 2018 bill also provides $500 million for Federal State Partnership State of Good Repair grants, significantly above the $175 million authorized for FY 2018. In spending this funding, the bill directs USDOT to “first give preference to eligible projects for which the environmental impact statement required under the National Environmental Policy Act and design work is already complete at the time of the grant application review, or to projects that address major critical assets which have conditions that pose a substantial risk now or in the future to the reliability of train service.” This language indicates that funding would be directed to the Gateway’s Portal North Bridge and Hudson River Tunnel projects. Overall, the Gateway project could receive $900 million in grant funding under the bill – about one sixth of the $5.4 billion in discretionary appropriations for non-aviation programs.

Amendments Proposed:
Mo Brooks (R-AL) Amendment #1: Eliminates funding for Amtrak’s National Network only.

Mo Brooks (R-AL) amendment #2: Eliminates both the funding for Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor and Amtrak’s National Network.

Mo Brooks (R-AL) Amendment #3: Eliminates funding for Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor only

Jim Himes (D-CT) Amendment: Increases funding for Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor account by $30 million and decreases essential air service funding by $30 million as an offset.

Ted Budd (R-NC) Amendment: Eliminates the $900 million allocation for the Amtrak gateway program, increases funding for national New Starts Projects by $400 million and applies savings from the elimination of the TIGER Grant program to deficit reduction.

T4America’s Position: We STRONGLY OPPOSE the elimination of funding for Amtrak, which is crucial to the economy vitality of our nation and communities across our country. The National Network provides mobility options for and acts as an economic catalyst to small and rural communities across the country. For many residents in these communities, the Amtrak connection is their primary way of traveling around the country, especially in areas that are losing Essential Air Service. Similarly, Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor is the primary travel option for millions of people traveling the congested Northeast Corridor every year. Not only does it take cars off our congested roadways, benefiting train and road users alike, but the Northeast Corridor is a huge economic driver for communities located along the Corridor. Cutting funding for Amtrak’s National Network and Northeast Corridor would decrease our nation’s prosperity, harm the economic vitality of communities that Amtrak serves, and greatly lower the amount of personal mobility and freedom that people that use Amtrak currently have. The House of Representatives rightly voted down these amendments two years ago and should do so again.

We also OPPOSE funding for the Northeast Corridor by taking funding from the Essential Air Service program. While Northeast corridor rail funding is important to the urban communities along the corridor and our nation’s economy as a whole, the essential air service program is important to many rural communities that would not have airline service otherwise. Our transportation system should and can meet the needs of both our urban and rural communities and this amendment would needlessly cause a divide between urban and rural communities when we need all of our communities united in a push for greater infrastructure funding overall.

Finally, we OPPOSE amendments that pit one infrastructure priority against another one.

Other Amendments To Watch:

Kevin Brady (R-TX) Amendment: Prohibits federal funding, including a grant or loan agreement, for the development or construction of high-speed rail, with non-interoperable technology, in the State of Texas.

T4America’s Position: We OPPOSE efforts to limit the ability of the federal government to advance high-speed rail in Texas. Texas currently has an exciting privately led effort underway to build high-speed rail between Houston and Dallas. While the private group leading the effort has indicated they don’t have plans to seek financial support from the federal government, we shouldn’t prohibit the federal government from providing financial support if the need arise and there are benefits to providing that financial support. The federal government provides billions of dollars in funding to other modes of transportation, including highway and other transit projects, so the federal government shouldn’t be prohibited from providing funding in this case if it becomes a good idea to do so.

Jamie Herrera-Butler (R-WA) Amendment: Prohibits federal funds from being used to establish or collect tolls on Interstate 5 or Interstate 205 in the state of Washington or Oregon.

T4America’s Position: We OPPOSE efforts to limit the ability of Washington State or Oregon to use tolling as a financing option for infrastructure projects. Congress hasn’t raised the gas tax since 1991 and therefore there is a national funding crisis for transportation. Because Congress has repeatedly been unable to step up to the plate, States increasingly have taking the lead and either raised their gas tax or found other innovative solutions, including tolling, to raise revenue to fund transportation and other infrastructure projects. Congress shouldn’t prohibit states from taking much needed steps, including tolling, to solve a problem that Congress has so far refused to solve.

Al Green (D-TX) Amendment: Restores $250,000 in funding for the Department of Transportation Office of Civil Rights and reduces USDOT salary and expenses by $250,000 as an offset

T4America’s Position: We SUPPORT efforts to maintain funding for the Office of Civil Rights within USDOT. Unfortunately even today, there are still many equity issues in the way we fund transportation projects and the individual projects and modes of transportation that we do ultimately fund. The Office of Civil Rights is crucial in our effort to ensure that we solve the equity challenges and gaps that still exist in our transportation system today.