1 State. Filling Gas Tax Hole with Tax on Hybrid and Electric Cars. 3 Points to Know.

The state: Maine

The tax proposal: Fill the $168 million annual gas tax hole with a tax on hybrid and electric cars

What opponents say:

  • A tax on hybrids and electric cars is not enough to fill the $168 million annual shortfall
  • Bonds are a tool, but shouldn’t be relied on for road and bridge maintenance

Bangor Daily News | Contibution by Transportation Committee Chair | Taxing hybrids and electric cars alone won’t solve Maine’s road funding problem

Local Ride Share Rules. Red State. 4 Pieces Informed Intel.

 Hillsborough County, Florida is proposing new ride share rules over the objections of Uber. The new rules include:

  • $7 fare minimum
  • 7 minute maximum wait time
  • Ride Share firms would have to conduce regular vehicle inspections
  • Mandatory fingerprint background checks for drivers

Tampa Bay Times | Proposed rideshare rules move forward over objections of Uber/Lyft

3 Pieces Informed Intel. DMV Lawsuit by Auto Title Companies.

What‘s the lawsuit about? 8 auto title companies say the TX DMV auto title fees limits put the companies out of business

When did Texas Legislature pass a law to allow DMV to limit the fees? 2013

What’s the pro argument for private auto title processors? It will be an added cost to the counties if they begin processing all auto titles

Texas Tribune | Auto Title Companies Sue Texas DMV Over New Fee Limit

INTERIM. TREND. Sharing Economy. Ride Share for Carpooling to Soccer AKA Football.

The Company: HopSkipDrive

The company’s objective: To be the Uber for kids and requires secret passwords for drives and the kids are followed via GPS

Founders: 3 mothers who needed to get their kids to soccer, football, ballet etc…

How it differs from ride share: it schedules rides and is not on demand ride service

Tech Crunch | HopSkipDrive wants to be the Uber for kids

+1 County Requires Permit for Eminent Domain. Texas High Speed Rail.

The County: Freestone County

The County Commissioner vote: Unanimous

The requirements on high speed rail:

  • require permits if high speed rail crosses any Freestone County roads and/or right-of-ways
  • high speed rail must prove eminent domain

Freestone COunty Judge Grant view:  “the Surface Transportation Board states that the Federal Government lacks the authority to grant eminent domain power to Texas Central Railway”

Freestone County Times | County Adopts Budget, Sets Tax Rate, Restricts High-Speed Rail & Lifts Burn Ban

3 Points Informed Intel. State Auditor Report. TXDOT. Design Build Contracts. Bonjour Procurement.

  • Procurement & monitoring was all good, Standardizing the contracts is not.
  • Standardizing design build contracts will “foster uniformity and potential efficiency”
  • 11 specific issues were identifiied linked to the lack of TXDOT uniformity in contracts:
    • addenda to the requests for qualifications and RFPs were not always approved
    • review of qualification statements and proposals did not always include completing individual scoring worksheets
    • no evidence of past performance of a contractor
    • no consistent document retention
    • no process for adjusting price proposals
    • no process for reprocurement when a project has significantly changed
    • no template for design build contracts
    • no policy to ensure that “that descriptive information related to the alternative technical concepts is redacted”
    • no process to ensure segregation in the membershi of evaluating committees
    • no standard policy for a a postmortem review

SAO | An Audit Report on Selected Design-build Contracts at the Department of Transportation | Report Number 16-037

Transportation Utility Fees. TX Cities impose it. More TX cities considering it.

Which cities impost a transportation utility fee? Austin, Bryan, Corpus Christi

How is the transportation utility fee imposed? On a water bill

What does the transportation utility fee mitigate? Lessens reliance on on general funds for roadway maintenance and improvements

What city is considering it & how much revenue is anticpated? Killeen anticipates $4.9million in revenue.

The Final Vote by Killeen? Killeen is a solid NO on transportation utility fee

Killeen Daily Herald | Killeen council to consider transportation utility fee

KWTX 10 | Killeen: City Council votes against transportation utility fee

INTERIM. Sharing Economy. Taxing Ride Share Apps. 3 Pieces Informed Intel.

Massachusettes ride share legislation will tax ride share transactions via app.

What you need to know about taxing an app:

  • 20 cents per trip tax, with a breakdown of:
    • 5 cents to taxi industry
    • 10 cents to local governments
    • 5 cents to a designated state transportation fund
  • The app tax revenue will be given to the taxi industry as a subsidy for the purposes of:
    • new technologies
    • advanced service safety
    • operational capabilities
    • support workforce development.
  • Its the first ride share app tax in the nation

Reuters | Massachusetts to tax ride-hailing apps, give the money to taxis

Business Trend. Lege Trend. Self Driving Big Trucks Coming Your Way. 3 Pieces of Informed Intel.

What companies are driving the push for driverless big trucks?

Why is the big truck industry moving fast toward driverless semis? Constant shortage of truck drivers

What incremental changes have occurred in trucking? Much like driver aided features in consumer cars, trucking has added “Advanced Driver Assistance Systems”

Tech Crunch | Paving the way for the autonomous truck