05.04.09
Local option for transportation is going statewide
On Saturday EOW posted about a possible deal on the local option tax and fee bill that’s making it’s way through the legislature. Essentially House Transportation Committee chair Joe Pickett (D-El Paso) wants to move the responsibility for the decision to put a tax and/or fee hike on the ballot, from a city or county to an areas Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO).
Today Peggy Fikac has more on this issue, Lawmakers discuss local-option gasoline tax.
If a state agency affecting just about everyone told lawmakers cash problems would soon start putting the brakes on its work, you might think lawmakers would rush to address the problem.
Not if that agency is the hot-button Texas Department of Transportation — at least, not yet.
But with just weeks to go in the legislative session, state leaders have met on the issue, and Texas House Transportation Committee Chairman Joe Pickett, D-El Paso, is hoping to jumpstart a proposal to allow communities to raise money to fund local transportation projects.
Pickett’s proposal likely would give all communities the option of deciding whether to raise gasoline taxes locally. The idea is a broader version of legislation that earlier passed the Senate to allow voters in certain areas, including San Antonio, to raise taxes or fees for local projects.
Rep. Pickett stated a couple of weeks ago that he would prefer a statewide option to a local option for funding our transportation in Texas. Which shows he’s recognized the huge problem were facing on this issue, and this is likely his attempt at a statewide solution. This local option plan, which Sen. John Carona initially brought forward, was only intended for North Texas and has since been expanded to include, or exclude in Williamson County’s case, several other urban areas. It’s also hard to see how this type of provision won’t be seen by Gov. Perry, and those like him in the state that want to continue neglecting transportation funding, as a statewide tax.
It’s becoming more and more obvious, sometimes painfully so, that what’s needed in Texas to fix this problem is just not possible with our current state leadership.
The legislative margin required for a constitutional amendment gives Pickett’s broader idea a big hill to climb. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Steve Ogden, R-Bryan, said when asked why an earlier push to directly raise the gasoline tax statewide hasn’t gained momentum: “Raising taxes in the near future is out of the question, not because the money’s not needed but because the economy can’t take it.” Lingering distrust of TxDOT in some quarters due to past disputes with lawmakers also has affected sentiment for agency funding increases.
While it’s understandable that very few, if any, in the legislature trust TxDOT right now, that can change. And it can change right now. TxDOT is under Sunset review this session, and the legislature has it in their power to restructure TxDOT so that everyone can be held accountable on this issue. But that would take courage.
What this make clear once again is that there are two sides on this issue. One side is against the most fair and economical way to fix transportation in Texas, a minimal increase in the statewide gas tax, and would rather let expensive corporate toll roads be the future of transportation in Texas. That includes Gov. Perry, Sen. Ogden and many others on the far right. The other side is beginning to gain some traction with Rep. Pickett and Sen. Carona beginning to step forward, however tentatively, by stating that a statewide option is the best way to proceed.
“There’s no question this is a transportation crisis,” Carona said late last week. “The Legislature continues to not focus on it.”
Maybe the focus will come soon.
“We can’t leave the session without starting something different,” Pickett said. “We can’t.”
Neglect is what we’ve had on this issue for close to twenty years. It’s what has brought about the toll everything, something for nothing, plan Perry and others have been trying to sell us for the last ten or so years. It’s just not realistic to think Perry will let anything counter to his vision proceed no matter how much it’s needed. More neglect just helps him justify the need for more corporate toll roads. While Pickett and Carona coming around on this issue is welcomed, they need to start playing hardball, if they can, or nothing is likely to change and more nelgect is all we will get.