Monthly Archives: February 2018

New Kid on th block. Quickly Get to Know the new TXDOT Commissioner.

Governor Abbott appointed Alvin New to the Texas Transportation Commission.

Term exprires:  February 1, 2021

About Alvin New:

  • Christoval, TX
  • owner of 4N Ranches
  •  former CEO of Town & Country Food Stores
  • former mayor of San Angelo
  • former member of the San Angelo Chamber of Commerce Board & the Concho Valley Center for Economic Development Board
  • Texas Tech University Foundation Board member
  • Goodfellow Air Force Base Advisory Council
  • former state board member of the Texas Restaurant…

4 Legislative Proposals EVs + Cities+Businesses + Funding

Colorado Governor is prposing the following legislative proposals in response to the growing use of EVs:

  • more funding to build out Colorado’s network of charging stations
  • Buy more electric-powered buses
  • Push public and private employers to make charging ports available for workers

Colorado’s Trasnportation Commission is adapting to EVs by:

  •  experimenting with ways to charge motorists by how far they drive as opposed to the gas tax

Denver Post | Electric cars and technology are upending…

How 1 City Auditor Found Lost Ride Share Revenue

Denver city auditor identified that Denver International Airport wasn’t tracking ride share rides.

Why wasn’t Denver’s airport tracking ride share rides? Because it relied on the ride share comapnies to self report

Why is self reporting from ride share a problem? Other local governments say the companies are underreporting based on the cities own tracking numbers

What are concrete examples? San Francisco found underreporting of 39,000 rides in 8 months, which accounted for $150,000 in…

Business TREND. New Sharing Economy. Scooter Sharing + 3 Ordinances/Laws/Regs for Scooters.

The new business: scooter sharing via Bird

Launch city: Santa Monica CA

Seed funding: Yes, $15M to expand nation wide

The laws/regulations/ordinances at play:

  • Do scooters need permits to park?
  • Do scooters need permits to park on sidewalks?
  • Do scooter sharing comapnies need a permit? Satan Monica wants it to have a permit like a food trailer vendor.
  • What kind of local government/scooter sharing compoany data sharing arrangement can be had?

Tech Crunch | This former Uber (and Lyft) exec…

Anatomy of a Cross State HyperLoop Deal. 3 Pieces of Legislative Work in the Interim.

The company: Hyperloop Transportation Technologies (HTT)

The state partners: North Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency (NOACA) and the Illinois’ Department of Transportation (IDOT)

The deal: Connecting Chicago and Cleveland by Hyperloop. The starting point: a feasibility study to determine the viability of a number of different corridors. The “first real public-private partnership to bring Hyperloop travel to the US”

The legislative work:

  • Ohio’s legislature passed a resolution supporting the…

Legal Trend = Legislative TREND. Sunshine States Seeks Stop Private Passenger Rail. 3 Key Points to Be Up to Speed.

The nationa’s only privately funded passenger rail: Florida’s All Aboard Florida’s Brightline venture, a high-speed train that would connect Miami, Ft. Lauderdale, West Palm Beach and Orlando with an expansion of the project linking West Palm Beach to Orlando

Who brought suit to stop the privately funded rail? 2 Florida counties + Citizens Against Rail Expansion in Florida

What are the complaints? 

  • That federal agencies did not sufficiently assess the project’s environmental impacts and risk…

Anatomy of Direct Sales Bill in the Southwest. Lege TREND.

State: New Mexico

The Bill: SB 255 (2018)

How SB 255 (2018) would implement direct sales:

  • Defines line-make
  • Provides for manufacturer sales if:

    • the manufacturer does not have any independent franchise dealers in this state

    • sells and services only the line- make of motor vehicles that it manufactures

Electrek | Tesla pushes a new bill in New Mexico to allow direct sales

 

By the Numbers. Republican EV fee in the Northeast.

Maine’s Republican Governor LePage is proposing  HP 1252 with the following fees on electric and hybrid cars:

  • $150 for gas-electric hybrid cars
  • $250 for all-electric models

How do the proposed Maine fees compare to the other 18 states that put a fee on EVs?

  • Maine’s fees would be the highest in the nation
  • Other state fees range from $30 to $100 for hybrids and $50 to $200 for EVs

Government Technology | Maine’s Governor Backs Bill to Boost EV, Hybrid Fees

Press Herald | LePage-backed bill…

Regulatory Trend. Trucking. Trucks only Roads. The What. The How. The Why.

The What: Georgia Transportation Commission is proposing a truck only highway that stretches 40 miles from metro Atlanta to Macon

The How: Either with federal funds or only using state funds at a total cost of  $1.8 billion

The Why:  To reduce traffic congestion by an estiamted 40%

The opposition:

  •  The U.S. Public Interest Research Group says its a gamble of taxpayer money

WHNT 19 | No cars allowed: Georgia considers highway just for trucks