Municipal Regulation Trend: Ride Share and Airports. Ride Share Wins.

Los Angeles voted this week to approve ride share permits for airports. The measure passed 9-6.

What new regulations will apply to ride share and/or taxis/Limos?

  • LA City Council is formally asking the state PUC, which has rule making authority over ride share, to “add fingerprinting as a part of the required background check process for all for-hire drivers, including those operating limousines, shuttles and ride-hail cars.”
  • As a back-up, the city is researching its authority “to require fingerprint background checks for ride-hailing services if state regulators fail”

What was the airport’s position? Ride share is more like limos than taxis and limos do not have background checks required.

Los Angeles Times

New: House Select Committee on Transportation Planning. 5 Study Topics.

Rep. Joe Pickett, Chair

Members include:

  • Reps. Larry Phillips of Sherman
  • Armando “Mando” Martinez of Weslaco
  • Ron Simmons of Carrolton
  • Lyle Larson of San Antonio
  • Paul Workman of Austin
  •  Debbie Riddle of Houston
  • Armando Walle of Houston
  • James White of Hillister.

The select committee is the result of 2015’s HB 20 by Simmons. The Selecgt Committee will:

  • review and evaluate transportation revenue projections
  • funding categories and project selection criteria
  • rules for project prioritization
  • methods of financing
  •  performance evaluation metrics and measurement tools.

Rep. Simmons Press Release   Rep. Workman Press Release

Lege Trend: Adjust Rebates for Hybrids. Welfare for Tesla Drivers? 4 Points to Know.

California is limiting the rebate it gives for hybrids. If you earn more than $500,000 per year, no rebate for you! Tax groups label the rebate, “welfare for the rich.”

How does California fund the electric car subsidies? A surcharge on vehicle registration fees and a portion of the smog fee 

California’s Policy Goal: Rapidly increase the percentage of zero-emission vehicles in the state

What’s the program cost so far? $242 million in rebates awarded to 114,702 Californians, mostly in the L.A. area

What percentage of Teslas are in the mix? 15% of rebates go to Tesla owners

Los Angeles Times

TAMU Transportation Institute: Good Economy = Bad Traffic. 7 Strategies to Combat Congestion.

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

WallStreet Journal

Texas A&M Transportation Institute 2015 Mobility Study

3 State Regulatory Trends: Taxing Trains. Oil. Transparency.

3 states in recent months have strengthened regulations for tranporting oil via train. The states:

  • Pennsylvania
  • Oregon
  • Washington

What do the new regulations do?

  • greater policing of oil shipments through inspection, regulation and even lawsuits
  • Washington added a 4-cent-per-barrel tax on oil moved by trains to help pay for clean up from any accidents or derailments.
  • require freight rail companies to notify local emergency personnel when oil trains would pass through their communities.

Governing

5 Ways Utah Reformatted its Transportation Funding. AZ looking to Follow Suit,

Utah lawmakers reformatted transportation funding in 2 significant ways:

  • Utah raised the state gas tax to 12 percent
  • Utah also bolstered the gas tax with an inflation-tied trigger for automatic increases
  • The revised gas tax has  a floor of 29.4 cents per gallon
  • It has a ceiling of 40 cents per gallon.
  • Local voters are limited to adding a 0.25 cent sales tax split between city and county transportation and transit needs.

An Arizona Senator said of Utah,

“In 22 states, and mostly red states, the legislatures raised gas taxes,” said Farley. “We need to do a whole lot for Arizona (transportation). The federal government is not going to get its act together.”

Phoenix Business Journal

 

Funding Roads with Cigarette Taxes on the Ballot in 2015.

Missouri Petroleum Marketers and Convenience Store Association is promoting an initiative to significantly raise tobacco taxes. The details:

  • A proposed 135% tax increase
  • The funding will allow for top priority safety projects to be done like unsafe bridges and roads
  • The funding would be effective 1/1/17

WGEM.COM: Proposed tobacco tax hike in Missouri could help area roads

St.Louis Post- Dispatch

 

Rep. Wray on 2015 Transportation Legislation

“There has been some discussion about a portion of that tax being diverted away from highway construction. We were able to stop that in the current budget. That is approximately $650 million per year that will be spent on highway maintenance and construction,” Wray said. “That was an item and topic that I heard a lot about on the campaign trail. I am happy to report to you that we were able to end that diversion.”

Waxahachie Daily Light

Legal Trend: State Supreme Court Strikes Down Red Light Cameras

Missouri Supreme Court struck down red light cameras this week. The rational:

  • One of the city ordinances stated no points would be applied against the person fora  red light camera violation, but that conflicts with state law requiring points for moving violations.
  • Another city ordinance unbconstitutionally shifted the burden of proof of that the moving vioaltion occurred onto the defendant.

Courts have also halted red light camera use in Florida. Illinois & California have upheld the use of red light cameras while Ohio is facing an ongoing legal challenge.

Wall Street Journal  Kansas City Star  St. Louis Post-Dispatch