- New Governor’s Directive to TXDOT. It is less than an excutive order, more than cocktail conversation, but will:
- Require the identification of the state’s most congested chokepoints
- Address the chokepoints by working with transportation planners and local communities
- Goals: reduce congestion & get new roads built as soon as possible.
- Building roads is economic development & creates jobs
- Congestion has an economic impact of over $1,000 for the average “rush hour” commuter
- Texas has dedicated more than $4 billion a year to build more roads without raising taxes, fees, tolls or debt
- Road construction needs trained workers too. Texas is making 4-year degrees more affordable & accessible.
Legal Trend: Class Certification for Ride Share Drivers
The hot legal question for ride share drivers is– Are they employees or independent contractors? A regulatory authority in California has rule don individual cases saying drivers are employees, but court consensus is coming.
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit will hear an appeal from Uber against certifying a class action lawsuit by drivers. The issue before the appellate court is supported by the argument that whether drivers are employees or independent contractors is :
- a case raises “urgent [legal] questions”
- the ride share business is a “burgeoning on-demand economy”
- because of this it is too important to leave to a single jury
A New Revenue Generator for Texas Ports
Wind energy is providing added revenue to the Port of Corpus Christi. But there is a cost- the Port is running out of space to take in wind propelers and turbines.
The loading and unloading areas for turbines, blades and other wind-energy equipment take massive amounts of space.
The American Wind Energy Association says Texas ranks #1 in the country for both installed and under-construction wind capacity.
- 18,000 wind-related jobs
- Wind energy industry last year invested $3 billion in Texas
- Texas is home to at least 46 wind energy manufacturing facilities
Corpus Christi Caller Times: Wind energy is making storage space scarce
AG Opinion: New Request to Track: Disposition of County revenue from Local Child Safety Fee
Ellis County Commissioners are considering a county child safty fee of $1.50.
The Question posed to the Attorney General: What can a county do with this local county safety registration fee?
What’s the beef? This is all about revenue sharing. Do the counties need to share with municipalities?
What’s happening with this revenue now? 2 approaches after deducting the county administrtive costs:
(1) the county may use revenue generated from the fee for purposes permitted by Article 102.014(g), Code of Criminal Procedure, without sending any portion of the fee revenue to the municipalities.
(2) the county also gets to deduct fee revenue proportional to the percentage of county residents living in the unincorporated areas, the remainder of the fee revenue must be se t to the municipalities according to their population
Lege Trend: Gas Tax Reforms in a Southern State Improve Transportation Funding
This year Georgia tinkered with its gas tax to address a transportation funding deficit.
Georgia’s Gas Tax Reform looks like this: “Drivers pay 26 cents for every gallon of unleaded gasoline and 29 cents per gallon for diesel fuel. The new single fuel tax replaced a system of excise and prepaid local and state taxes.”
Georgia threw in some other tax reforms too:
- A new $5 nightly fee on hotel and motel overnight stays generated $14.9 million in revenues last month.
- A new highway impact fee generated $844,000 last month
Revenues Went up in year to year comparison: 13.6% increase
Gwinette Daily Post: Deal: State revenues up 13.6 percent in August
Speaker Straus Applauds removal of Toll Lanes
What’s this about? The Alamo Area Metropolitan Planning Organization is working on plans to grow 281. Part of their plan was to add new toll lanes to 281.
Tolls are very controversial. Tolls don’t have favored nation status in Texas. Grass roots groups like Texas TURF were strongly opposed.
Mr. Speaker commented: “Today the Alamo Area MPO took a very positive step toward improving mobility in San Antonio. This vote shows that local and state officials are working together to address our transportation needs and relieve congestion in a responsible way. I want to thank the members of the MPO for taking this meaningful vote, and I look forward to working with them further to begin the expansion of Highway 281.”
Another State Moves Toward Gas Tax Reform
Tennessee is primed to be the next state to support gas tax reform. Here’s what’s happening in the home of the Volunteers:
- Republican Governor supports gas tax reform
- State Comptroller report says the gas tax isn’t meeting transportation needs
- Transportation Coalition of Tennessee formed
- its a bunch of organizations representing construction, local governmental entities, engineers, American Heart Association, AARP and more
To meet the 20 cent level of 1989, the new gas tax will need to be 38 cents.
Nashville Business Journal: Call for changes to state’s fuel tax gaining momentum
TX High Speed Rail On Schedule. The To-Do List for the Rail. 2 Potential Blocks.
Texas Central Rail CEO Tim Kieth says the remaining steps to move forward on high speed rail are:
- the environmental impact statement approval focus of the next next 90 to 180 days
- need to conclude work with the Federal Railroad Administration “as it relates to our rules for operating the high-speed rail system,”
Two potential snags:
- farmers and ranchers who are unwilling to sell land
- Texans Againt High Speed Rail say the problems are 3 fold: Budget viability, eminent domain and the inevitable taxpayer subsidy
Gov. Abbott Signs Transportation Agreement with Mexico. 3 Take Aways.
Background: For the first time in more than 100 years, we have a new border bridge for trains. Safety first.
3 Points of the Trasnportation Agreement with Mexico:
- Goal: promote and increase bilateral collaboration on future border infrastructure projects
- This is tied to energy. Hello, Mexico energy deregulation, how you doin’?
- This is about 3 other things
- encourage economic development
- facilitate bilateral trade
- cooperative border security.
House Select Transportation Committee. 4 Take Aways. TTI & Collin County Judge.
- The TTI study is going to factor into 2017- big time. See their recommendations from a few weeks ago below.
- The Committee focused on the value of transportation funding- especially, in 1991 20cents to transportation now = 6.8 cents for transportation today
- Chair Simmons pointed out that the state has added funding
- 7 states recvently indexed gas tax- its trending- big time- even in Republican states
- 40% of transportation funding should be local government funding
- Collin County Judge who testified after TTI noted 40% seemed high
- The Collin County Judge supports transportation reinvestment zones for transportation funding.
Information Intelligence on August 27, 2015:
Better economy breeds worse traffic. Rest assured, the Texas A&M Traffic Institute is tracking what states are doing about gridlock. See their list. More importantly, here are the strategies they suggest to counter congestion:
- greater transportaiton investment
- Fix existing roads & bridges
- Increase public trnsportation accessibility
- Fixing congestion is a LOCAL decision that needs LOCAL solutions
- Add capacity to critical corridors
- Give travelers options of multiple routes
- Support denser development for land use