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 to public safety when approving $1.5 Billion in bonds
  • Traffic congestion
  •  Noise
  • Property devaluation
  • Boat back-ups at bridge crossings
  • ublic safety risks at the 59 at-grade road crossings 

What’s happening legislatively?

  • Florida’s Republican US Seantors are meeting with US rail officials over saety after 4 deaths
  • 2 bills in the legialature to require greater safety standards

Courthouse News Service | Lawsuit Seeks to Derail Florida Passenger Train Project

 

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 would slap extra annual fee on electric, hybrid cars

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

Lege Trend. Killing Red Light Cameras and Speed Cameras. 1 Bill. 2 Point Opposition.

 

HSB 512  in Iowa would prohibit the “use of automated or remote systems for traffic law enforcement,” to ensure that both red light cameras and speed cameras cannot be used.

2 Points from the opposition in Iowa:

  • Question about whether safvety is ctually improved with cameras
  • The big brother aspect of camera monitoring

FOX 42 | New bill in Iowa legislature calls for end to red light and speed cameras

Governor: 3 things Holding Self Driving Cars Back

Michigan Governor, a former tech executive, says these 3 tings are holding back autonomous vehicles:

  • Public is slow to embrace the technology
  • Effective commubnication to the public of the benefits of self-driving and connected vehicles
  • Coordinated work by 3 levels of government:
    • federal government to regulate design of vehicles
    • state government sets traffic laws & build highways
    • local governments install connected streetlights & other infrastructure 

What does Governor Rick Snyder think will be the first uses of autonomous vehicles?

  • commercial deliveries or parking shuttles

Governing | What’s Holding Driverless Cars Back? It’s Not Tech. It’s People, Says Michigan Governor

Funding State Transportation Projects via Ride Share Tax. Deep in the Old South.

The State: Virginia

The ride share tax: extending state and regional sales taxes to ride services

The ride share tax revenues will be dedicated to: 

  • “$21 million a year for mass transit systems across Virginia, replacing the use of state-backed bonds to pay for new buses”
  • $154 million a year for the ailing Washington-area Metro system
  • ” one-time bond payment of $50 million as Virginia’s share of a $150 million pledge with Maryland and Washington to collect an equal share of federal funding for Metro if Congress reauthorizes the expiring Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act”

The bill: Virginia Senate Bill 856 (2018) 

Richmond Times Dispatch | Senate panel backs extending Virginia and regional sales tax to services like Uber and Lyft for mass transit funding

EV Requirements for Ride Share. The Bill Mandating EVs.

California Legislature is considering SB1014 (2018) that requires:

  • all ride share companies to have 100% EV fleets
  • By 2028
  • $300 Million in funds to help ride shre drivers move to EVs

Which agencies are involved?

  • The California Public Utilities Commission and the California Air Resources Board to set electrification targets

Los Angeles Times | California lawmaker wants all Uber, Lyft cars to be electric by 2028

High Speed Rail in the Land of Poppies Triggers Audit. 3 Factors Triggered the Audit.

California High Speed Rail, Phase 1, will  face an audit after these 3 things happened:

  • Projected costs for phase 1 of California’s high speed rail have risen by $3 Billion
  • A bipartisan group of legislators requested a formal audit
  • Concerns that the project will need state subsidies

Due to the projected cost increase, the audit will make the following recommendations:

  • how to accelerate the project’s timeline
  • reduce costs and identify other sources of revenue
  • best practices for approving contract cost changes, including eminent domain costs
  • economic benefits of the project to communities

California Eminent Domain Project | HIGH-SPEED RAIL TO FACE AUDIT AFTER RISING COSTS