In This Issue

	Senate Jobs Bill Focuses on Transportation, Small Business
	Georgia Nears Transportation Funding Deal
	Calif. Fights to Keep Traffic Fine Revenues
	Arizona Closes 11 MVD Offices
	U.S. DOT Announces TIGER Grant Recipients
	Wyoming Senate Panel Advance I-80 Toll Plan
	DOTD Head Resigns
	Possible Lawsuit could Delay New Champlain Bridge

Senate Jobs Bill Focuses on Transportation, Small Business

Washington, D.C. – The most recent version of a federal jobs proposal contains a $20 billion increase for the Highway Trust Fund as well as an extra $2 billion in bonds to fund infrastructure, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-NV, said. He said the Senate is backing off from a larger jobs bill but other job plans could be forthcoming.

Reid announced the latest version's inclusion of $2 billion in "Build America Bonds", a program which was launched under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The bonds assist local and state governments in borrowing money for infrastructure at low interest. The bond money can be used for public infrastructure including roads, transportation infrastructure, public buildings, environmental projects and more, according to ARRA documents.

The smaller version of the Senate jobs bill includes a possible $1,000 write-off per new employee hired by employers in 2010 and also allows expanded equipment purchase write-offs as business expenses. Provisions cut from the bill from earlier drafts include unemployment assistance and farm aid, which Reid said would have to be part of separate legislation. Debate on the jobs bill will begin when Capitol Hill operations return to normal after the recent record snowstorms.

Remember that the $20 billion is not new money; it represents funds needed to keep the Highway Trust Fund afloat. It only meets the projected needs of the current bill and doesn’t add to the overall funding picture. Congress seems to be doing the states a favor by putting this money into the system. Actually, they are bailing themselves out from a problem they created by not addressing funding to the degree needed in the authorizing legislation. TW

Georgia Nears Transportation Funding Deal

Georgia - Legislative leaders in Georgia are nearing a transportation funding deal allowing residents to vote on taxing themselves to pay for improvements to curb congestion and resolve transportation concerns. Gov. Sonny Perdue is also proposing to borrow $300 million annually to improve freight movements within the state.

Perdue, a Republican, and statehouse legislative officials said they plan to move forward with a proposal that would give regions the option to increase the 4-cent sales tax by one penny to fund roadwork. With lawmakers' approval, the bill would move to the 2012 presidential primary ballots to give voters the final say.

"This approach will mean dollars spent in a region remain in that region, and the projects will benefit the entire region," Perdue said in a statement. Meanwhile, state Democrats are calling for a more immediate resolution that they say is needed for the Georgia's struggling transportation system.

Calif. Fights to Keep Traffic Fine Revenues

SACRAMENTO – The state of California and hard-pressed cities, both struggling with record budget deficits over the collection of traffic fines, are battling over cities collecting revenue by issuing citations on their own laws, instead of the state vehicle code. Los Angeles is among several cities that proposed similar tactics for collecting red light fines, which city councilman Dennis Zine called a win-win--drivers pay lower fines and the city gets a revenue boost to help close a $212 million budget deficit.

Democratic State Sen. Jenny Oropeza (D-Long Beach) has proposed legislation to stop cities from what she calls “a raid” on the state treasury. Allowing cities to pursue such enforcement practices would be “confusing, unfair and robs the state of legitimate income,” said Oropeza, a member of the Senate Transportation and Housing Committee. “I view it as a raid on state resources that are for transportation.”

With tens of thousands of red light citations issued each year in Los Angeles through photo enforcement systems, Zine said his plan would cut drivers’ fines in half. As the largest city to look at adopting its own citation system, Los Angeles could collect millions in new revenue by processing the citations outside of a traditional traffic court, according to Zine. In response to arguments that it was a raid on the state coffers, Zine argued that state officials have used local government funds to balance their budget for years. “The state has ripped every dollar they can” from cities.

Arizona Closes 11 MVD Offices

PHOENIX – Eleven offices of the Arizona Department of Transportation’s Motor Vehicle Division have closed as part of an agency-wide effort to balance a $100 million budget deficit tied to the state’s fiscal crisis. The effort will reduce MVD customer service offices from 61 offices to 50 offices. Closure of the 11 offices will allow staff to be consolidated into the remaining offices, providing more people to serve customers without further staff layoffs.

ADOT’s budget-management plan for the 2010 fiscal year includes the closure of the MVD offices, temporary suspension of operations at 13 highway rest areas, layoffs affecting 115 employees, and reductions to roadway maintenance and construction efforts. These moves are necessary to balance a budget struck hard by $500 million in transfers away from transportation, and significant declines in vehicle license and gas tax revenue.

U.S. DOT Announces TIGER Grant Recipients

The U.S. Department of Transportation has announced 41 states and the District of Columbia as recipients for 51 Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grants after reviewing more than 1,400 applications for the past six months. The $1.5 billion will fund projects in the sectors of rail, transit, intermodal, port, bridge and highways.

“Tiger grants will tackle the kind of major transportation projects that have been difficult to build under other funding programs,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood in a statement.

The TIGER program has been allocated an additional $600 million for fiscal year 2010, which means at least one more round of project awards will be made. Sixty percent of the approved grants – ranging from $105 million to $3.1 million – will go to economically distressed areas in which 39 percent of the nation’s population resides, according to the U.S. DOT.

This program had 1400 applications valued at $57 billion. From a monetary standpoint it was oversubscribed 38 to 1. It reflects the desperation of the states as they grapple with an increasingly uncertain future at the federal level. TW

Wyoming Senate Panel Advance I-80 Toll Plan

Wyoming - A bill to allow I-80 tolling in Wyoming is awaiting a vote on the Senate floor after an appropriations committee voted 4-1 to advance the bill. The measure would give the state Department of Transportation authority to study different tolling scenarios as well as allow the Wyoming Transportation Commission to implement tolls on the interstate.

The bill was approved by the Senate Transportation, Highways and Military Affairs Committee last week and could come up for a vote on the Senate floor by the end of this week. If approval is obtained, the measure would go to the House for consideration.

WyDOT officials say the state does not have enough local or federal funding to maintain the interstate, so another source of funding is needed. WyDOT could make a formal request to the Federal Highway Administration to implement tolls on I-80 once the agency receives the authority to toll.

DOTD Head Resigns

Louisiana transportation head William Ankner has resigned after two years of service for the agency. The resignation comes amid controversy regarding a $60 million highway contract that prompted heavy criticism during a three-hour hearing by the House and Senate transportation committees. The source of the criticism stems from Ankner and the Department of Transportation and Development’s decision to award a $60 million I-10 widening contract to Boh Brothers of New Orleans, which was the highest of three bidders and had the longest time frame.

Ankner explained that the choice was the best value for taxpayers because the Boh Bros. bid included replacement of a bridge in the widening, and the other bids, for $55 million and $39.7 million respectively, offered to repair, not widen the bridge. Boh Bros. estimated the work could be done in about three years, compared to nearly two years by the other two bidders.

Sherri LeBas, deputy director secretary and 18-year veteran of the DOTD, has been named as interim secretary.

Possible Lawsuit could Delay New Champlain Bridge

Crown Point, NY – Construction on the new $75 million Champlain Bridge in Vermont faces delay as a trade organization representing nonunion contractors is threatening to sue if a union-negotiated agreement is approved. With work scheduled to begin this spring, the potential litigation could postpone construction by several months.

The New York State Associated General Contractors Group say such an agreement would lock them out of bidding and force them to follow union rules on wages, benefits and safety standards. General Contractors President A.J. Castlebuono said he believes that state transportation officials recommended a labor agreement for the project after the state DOT received a report from a private firm paid to study the issue.

A draft of the DOT’s recommendations has been sent to the Federal Highway Administration for approval, although state DOT officials won’t say what the recommendations were. The Champlain Bridge connecting Crown Point and Addison, Vt. was closed Oct. 16 due to severe cracks and demolished Dec. 28.

“This area of New York state, Essex and Washington counties, and the state of Vermont, are largely served by nonunion contractors,” Empire State Chapter of Associated Builders and Contractors President Rebecca Meinking said in a news release that a labor agreement effectively prevents nonunion firms from bidding on a project. “More than 70 percent of the construction workforce in this area of New York and 95 percent of Vermont’s construction workers do not belong to a construction labor union, according to government data.”