Category Archives: 2019 issue

Anatomy of a Smart City Road System. Funding. Procurement. 6 Goals. 1 Governor Order.

Funding:  $40 million federal grant and $10 million from Paul G. Allen Philanthropies

Goals of Smart Cities:

  • reduce collisions
  • speed first responder response times
  • curb freeway delays
  • get products to consumers faster
  • how to use data to improve city services and quality of life for residents
  • easier access to healthcare services

Procurement Oppostunities:

  • transportation technologies:
    • integrate self-driving cars
    • connected vehicles
    • smart sensors
    • developing transportation technologies

      • …

BUSINESS TREND. REGULATORY TREND. 3 Reasons Automakers Want to Work With California Emission Standards.

Why did Automakers adapt their strategy?

  • Concern over Trump Administration. The concern being that the Administration will pick a fight with the 12 states that follow California emission standards & automakers will be left fixing the problems
  • Uniformity & Certainty.  factions of varying regulations isn’t conducive to business
  •  Sales. 50 different EV car sales account for fewer sales than  F150 Ford truck sales

Governing | Long Adversaries, Automakers Now Want to Work With California on…

Lege Trend. Autonomous Vehicles. Cyber Security Researchers + Distributed Ledger Tech (Blockchain)

Texas University with new cybersecurity and autonomous vehicles research:  University of Texas at San Antonio, Institute for Cyber Security

What code words do I need to watch for in regulations or legislation? fog cloud computing 

What’s fog cloud computing?  A distributed ledger system of cloud computing being utilized to improve security of autonmous vehicles

How does it make it harder to hack an autonmous vehicle? more barriers, if the information is in packets and spread across various…

Lege TREND. Ride Share Vehicle Standards.

California Senate Bill 1014 (2018 | CA)  requires ride share vehicles to:

  • 20% must be Zero Emmission by 2023
  • 50% must be Zero Emission by 2026
  • 100% must be zero emission by 2030
  • Rule making by the regulatory agency for quarterly targets of ride share zero emission vehicles

Forbes | California May Push Uber And Lyft To Go Electric, With Far-Reaching Consequences

Lege TREND. Open Records Exceptions. PORTS. Economic Development. 4 Steps to protect Eco Devo records

State: Louisiana

Bill: HB 665 (2018 | LA)

What steps must a port take to except economic development records from disclosure?

  • the records must be “active economic development negotiations”
  •  publish in its official journal a notice that the records are being hidden, within 10 days after deciding to keep them confidential
  • protection from disclosure lasts 24 months
  • protection ends when negotiations are over

What records cannot be hidden from disclosure by the port?

  •  hazardous waste licenses…

TX Attorney General Opinion. What you Need to Know about the Constitution & Tollroad Funding. The 2019 legislative fix.

The question the Texas Attorney General Answered: whether the Texas Transportation Commission may use Proposition 1 and Proposition 7 funds on toll projects.

What complicated the question & answer: That roads in Texas are often mixed, partially free and partially tolled. 

Why do roads that have tolled and free lanes make the answer more complicated? There is no guidance in statute and no guidance in case law for whether a “toll road” and “toll project” are the same and thus the constitutional…

4 Reasons to Allow Cities to tax Ride Share in the Lone Star State

Background: HB 100 (TX | 2017) establishing ride share laws does not permit local taxation of ride share

4 Supporting arguments for local taxation of ride share:

  • Texas cities are losing out on millions in tax revenue occuring within their boundaries
  • Other cities are doing it
  • Cities are utilizing the revenue to improve transportation and safety
  • Other states have allowed cities to tax ride share to cover the cost of street maintenance, vehicle traffic, and registering drivers

 

Rivard…

Lege TREND. Model e-bike legislation. No local preemption. What you need to know:

9 states have passed model e-bike legislation, including:

  • AZ HB 2266 (AZ | 2018) 
  • CO
  • CA
  • AR (that’s Arkansas)
  • IL
  • MI
  • TN
  • UT (Utah, not any of the universities with these initials)
  • WA

The model legislation does this:

  • defines e-bikes as motorized electric bicycles with a watt definition
  • establishes Class 1, 2, or 3 e-bikes
    • Class 3 e-bikes would be restricted to on-road usage
    • Class 1 and 2 e-bikes may be ridden on bike paths
  • grants e-bikes the same rights of the road as traditional…

Regulatory TREND. Reclassifying Ride Share Companies as not solely Ride Share

Regulator: California Public Utilities Commission

What did the California Public Utilities Commission do? Reclassified Uber, because of Uber SUV and Uber Black, as partially as a charter party carrier (that’s how California regulates limos and party charters)

How was the company operating in California?  Mostly through a subsidiary, Rasier-CA, which the administrative law fact finder to be  ” “a mere instrumentality” of Uber

Appeals forthcoming? Yes

Rational of the fact finder: The company…

EV Charging Roads. The future of transportation procurement. Just the Facts:

Where have EV Charging roads been installed? Stockholm Sweden

What does the partnership look like to develop the road?

  • eRoad Arlanda is the development partnership
  • eRoad Arlanda partnered with  PostNord, the first company to use the new electrified roads

How long of a stretch of road has EV charging? 2 kilometers

How does it work? 

  • A track is laid into the roadway to allow for charging while driving
  • The track is only active when the vehicle is over it and charging
  • The vehicle…