February 17, 2004
The bill creates a new Highway Safety Improvement Program that is intended to raise safety consciousness and provide funding support to reduce highway injuries and fatalities. This bill eliminates the 10 percent set aside from STP and instead funds a new safety core program, which is distributed to states using the existing STP formula. States are required to develop a comprehensive highway safety plan in consultation with highway safety officials, local law enforcement officials and others to identify highway safety problems that need to be addressed.
Transit.
The bill provides $56.5 billion in guaranteed funding for transit over six years, an increase of $20.5 billion over TEA-21 funding levels and grants firewall protection for all transit funds. Under the plan $47 billion would come from the highway trust fund while the remaining $9.5 billion-about 17 percent of transit money-would come from the general fund. The bill would eliminate the Transportation Improvement Program (TIP), which approves projects to be programmed and selected for regionally-managed federal funding programs as a stand-alone document; the first five years of the transportation plan would serve as a function of TIP.Mobility. The bill attempts to address mobility issues for urban and rural areas by allowing state and local transportation officials to consider innovative techniques such as HOT lanes (single occupants pay a toll to use the High Occupancy Lanes) and variable toll pricing (officials impose peak-hour pricing to control congestion). The bill establishes an Intermodal Passenger Facilities Program, adopted from the administration's proposal, to improve connections between various modes of transportation. Additionally, the legislation encourages the development of an integrated system of public transportation facilities through intercity bus facility grants.
Improved Project Delivery. The Senate bill also strengthens stewardship of highway trust fund dollars by requiring project management plans and annual financial plans for federal-aid projects above $1 billion and requiring annual financial plans for all projects receiving $100 million or more in federal funds. Additionally, the legislation addresses several environmental issues. The bill contains provisions to ease the transition for areas designated nonattainment under the new air quality standards. The transportation conformity process is changed to better align it with air quality planning. The Senate bill provides tools to assist new nonattainment areas in determining conformity. The bill also seeks to streamline the project delivery process by encouraging communities and project sponsors to consider environmental concerns earlier in the process. According to its sponsors, the bill provides tools to reduce or eliminate unnecessary delays during the environmental review stage.
Governor Guinn Asks Congress for Wild Horse Funding
On Friday, February 13, Governor Guinn sent a letter to Senator Conrad Burns, Chairman of the Subcommittee on Interior (Senate Appropriations Committee) and Chairman Charles Taylor of the House Subcommittee on Interior and Related Agencies (House Appropriations Committee) regarding federal funding to deal with Nevada's wild horse issue. To view the letter in it's entirety, please visit our website at: http://www.sso.org/nevada/letters/2004/wild_horses_02132004.pdf
Amtrak Releases Legislative Proposal
On Thursday, February 12, Amtrak President and Chief Executive Officer, David Gunn, announced that Amtrak was proposing a federal grant request of $1.798 billion for FY 2005 to continue rebuilding and stabilizing the national passenger railroad system. This request would fund $791 million in capital projects, provide $570 million for operations and repay a $100 million federal loan obtained in 2002. The remainder of the request would be dedicated to debt service and working capital. The Administration has suggested to Amtrak that while the numbers are realistic,the budget is too tight to support the request.
Internet Access Tax Moratorium
Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and Senator Thomas Carper (D-Del), joined by Senators Dianne Feinstein (D-Cal) and Kay Bailey Hutchinson (R-Tx) announced their introduction of the "Internet Tax Ban Extension and Improvement Act." Their bill would extend the expired moratorium on new Internet access taxes for two years and provide protections for high-speed Internet access services. The bill was offered as an alternative to legislation (S. 150) introduced by Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore) and Senator George Allen (R-Va) last year that would make the Internet tax moratorium permanent and for the first time exempt certain telecommunications services from state and local taxation. Negotiations to broker a compromise on S. 150 failed late last year over issues related to the duration of the moratorium and the definition of Internet access.
$71 Million in Endangered Species Grants Available for States
The Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) is seeking proposals from states and U.S. territories interested in acquiring land or conducting conservation planning for endangered species. A total of $71 million in grants is available under the Cooperative Endangered Species Conservation Fund, which is authorized by the Endangered Species Act. The FWS is seeking proposals for the following grant categories: Recovery Land Acquisition Grants, Habitat Conservation Planning (HCP) Assistance Grants, and HCP Land Acquisition Grants. The grants are expected to be awarded in summer 2004. For more information, please visit: http://endangered.fws.gov/grants/