Legislative Update: May 24, 2019
FROM WASHINGTON D.C.
What goes up, must come down – and that was certainly the trajectory of our hopes for a bipartisan infrastructure bill this week. Last month’s meeting between President Trump and congressional Democratic leaders had left us starry-eyed after it yielded handshakes and an agreement to work toward a sweeping $2 trillion bill. However, the evening before the Wednesday meeting, Trump sent a letter informing Democrats he wanted them to pass his North American trade deal (to replace NAFTA) before he would shift his focus to infrastructure. Then, in their meeting the next morning, he informed Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer he is unwilling to work with congressional Democrats on infrastructure while the House is actively investigating his administration, then left the meeting.
In the days since, Pelosi and Schumer have doubled down on their promises to pursue major infrastructure legislation, with or without the President’s help. But, congressional transportation leaders are taking a more pragmatic approach. With the FAST Act set to expire in September 2020, Senate leaders say they are still preparing to mark up a surface transportation reauthorization bill by August. House Transportation Chairman Peter DeFazio (D-OR) says the House is aiming for next winter, since without new revenue, they will have to agree on billions in spending cuts.
Also this week, the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation and Housing approved a draft bill for FY 2020 appropriations. Details are in the committee summary below.
FROM AUSTIN
Today is the final day for the members of the House of Representatives to confirm amendments added to their bills by members of the Senate. That means if a House member has a piece of legislation that passed through the Senate and a Senator attached an amendment, the House must either agree to the changes or meet in a “conference committee” to come to an agreement.
Saturday, 5/25, is the deadline for the House to distribute all conference committee reports and the Senate must do the same, but tax bills get more time in the Senate. Sunday, 5/25, is the last day for the House to adopt conference committee reports or the Senate to agree with House amendments or adopt conference committee reports. The final day of the 86
th Regular session is on Monday, 5/27, but this day is mostly ceremonial and only any needed corrections can be made in the House and Senate.
APPROVED BILLS AS OF 5/24/19 – WILL BE SENT TO GOVERNOR
SB 282 Buckingham, Dawn- Relating to the allocation of money associated with delays of transportation projects.
SB 282 amends Transportation Code to require TxDOT to track damages and other road user costs associated with delayed transportation project contracts. Under the bill, each TxDOT district with transportation projects will determine the amount of liquidated damages and TxDOT must transfer the amount to the affected district. TxDOT may also determine damages allotted to each district affected by a project spanning multiple districts. This codifies the TxDOT policy to return contract penalties from late projects to districts that were injured by delays.
SB 282 has been sent to the Governor.
sb 962 Nichols, Robert- Relating to the determination of the sufficient balance of the economic stabilization fund for purposes of allocating general revenue to that fund and the state highway fund.
Extends the transfer of funds from the Rainy Day Fund to the State Highway Fund for Proposition 1 from 2024 to 2034.
SB 962 has been sent to the Governor.
HB 969 Hancock, Kelly- Relating to the operation of personal delivery and mobile carrying devices.
Implements statewide regulations on personal delivery and mobile carrying devices. These delivery devices can be operated remotely to transport cargo and are approved to travel on the shoulder of a roadway or on a sidewalk no more than 20 miles per hour with an operator nearby.
HB 969 was approved in the Senate and House, the Senate has concurred with House amendments and a conference committee is not needed. Approved.
HB 1631 Stickland, Jonathan- Relating to prohibiting the use of photographic traffic signal enforcement systems.
HB 1631 as amended would outlaw the use of red light cameras by political subdivisions. Entities which already utilize red light cameras would be grandfathered in and allowed to remain until those contracts expired.
HB 1631 has been sent to the Governor.
HB 2899 Leach, Jeff- Relating to civil liability and responsibility for defects in the plans, specifications, or other documents for the construction or repair of roads, highways, and related improvements.
The bill would amend the Transportation Code to specify that a contractor who enters into a contract with certain governmental entities for construction or repair of a road or highway is not civilly liable or responsible for project specifications and any damage caused by a defect in project specifications or certain faults of the governmental entity related to the project specifications.
HB 2899 has been sent to the Governor.
HB 3082 Murphy, Jim- Relating to investigating and prosecuting the criminal offense of operating an unmanned aircraft over or near certain facilities.
The bill would change a person’s offense from "intentionally or knowingly" to "with criminal negligence" if operating an unmanned aircraft over or near prisons and detention facilities. A peace officer investigating an offense must also notify the Department of Public Safety if an offense occurs.
SB 2099 (Powell, Beverly) was amended into the bill, which restricts the operation of unmanned aircraft over military installations.
The House and Senate approved with amendments, House has concurred in Senate amendments on 5/24/19. No conference committee necessary. Approved.
Monitored Bills List
- US Congress
- A table of bills related to the RTC Legislative Program can be found here.
RECENT CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEE HEARINGS
- May 22: The US House Committee on Energy and Commerce held a hearing on “LIFT America: Modernizing Our Infrastructure for the Future.” The full committee met to markup HR 2741, the Leading Infrastructure for Tomorrow’s America Act. The LIFT Act seeks to rebuild and modernize the Nation’s infrastructure to expand access to broadband and Next Generation 9–1–1, rehabilitate drinking water infrastructure, modernize the electric grid and energy supply infrastructure, redevelop brownfields, strengthen health care infrastructure, create jobs, and protect public health and the environment. Much of the hearing focused on broadband internet access and power grid improvements, but there was discussion of diesel emissions reduction and electric vehicle infrastructure as means to slow climate change. Testifying on behalf of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, Mayor Brian Wahler of Piscataway, New Jersey, said state and local governments have been leading on EV initiatives despite a lack of federal partnership. For example, Piscataway changed its zoning laws to require all new building developments to have EV charging stations. The LIFT Act would also authorize funding to replace high-emitting diesel engines. Ms. Jessica Eckdish, Legislative Director of the BlueGreen Alliance, said modernizing the electrical grid was an important step to achieving zero emissions vehicle infrastructure. Representatives and witnesses expressed hope that clean transportation infrastructure would encourage job growth.
- May 23: The US House Appropriations Committee’s Subcommittee on Transportation and Housing approved the draft FY 2020 Transportation-HUD appropriations bill. The bill allocates $75.8 billion in discretionary budget authority to the two departments with $25.3 billion going to the US Department of Transportation. Funding for most USDOT programs will remain at FY 2019 levels, but the Federal Aviation Administration’s aviation safety programs will receive an increase. Other notable changes from FY 2019: BUILD grant program will increase from $900 million to $1 billion, and the Federal Railroad Administration’s State of Good Repair grants would decrease by $50 million. There were no amendments to the bill, but Ranking Member Kay Granger (R-TX) expressed doubts about riders that would prevent USDOT from rolling back fuel economy standards and de-obligating funds from California’s high-speed rail project.
UPCOMING CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEE HEARINGS
- Congress is in recess next week, so there are no committee hearings of note scheduled.
To view Committee Hearings for the Texas Senate click here:
http://www.senate.texas.gov/av-live.php
To view Committee Hearings for the Texas House click here:
http://www.house.state.tx.us/video-audio/
In 2005 Congress passed the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU) . This legislation guided surface transportation policy and funding through 2009. Nine short-term extensions passed since SAFETEA-LU expired in 2009. The final short-term extension of SAFETEA-LU extended surface transportation authorization through June 30, 2012.
On July 6, 2012, President Obama signed into law a two-year $105 billion surface transportation authorization, titled Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century (MAP-21). MAP-21 reauthorized the federal-aid highway, highway safety and transit programs that were last authorized by SAFETEA-LU. New programs and funding levels began on October 1, 2012, and continued through September 30, 2014. The final short-term extension of MAP-21 expired on December 4, 2015.
On December 4, 2015, President Obama signed the Fixing America's Surface Transportation (FAST) Act into law, which authorizes Federal highway, transit, safety and rail programs for five years at $305 billion. The FAST Act is effective October 1, 2015 through September 30, 2020.
2019 RTC Principles for Federal Surface Transportation Authorization
Resources
FAST Act
MAP-21
SAFETEA-LU