7 Key Measures of California’s Transportation Challenges

1. CA’s gas taxes are the 4^thhighest in the nation.

According to the American Petroleum Institute, California’s 61-cent-per-gallon gas taxes are the 4^th highest in the nation, behind only Pennsylvania, New York and Hawaii. This does not include the recent addition of extra cap-and-trade taxes resulting from bringing fossil fuels under California’s AB 32 law.

2. CA’s gas prices are the nation’s highest.

According to AAA, the current national average price for a gallon of ‘regular’ gasoline is $2.63. California’s current average price is $3.69 per gallon (as of 8/5/15).

3. CA’s gas tax & transportation fees yield $10.6 billion annually.

According to the State of California, Department of Transportation, Division of Budgets, 2014/2015 Fiscal Year estimates, the State brings in at least $10.6 billion in taxes and fees “dedicated to transportation purposes.”

4. Caltrans spends just 20% of that revenue on state road repair & new construction.  

Last year, Caltrans spent $1.2 billion in state road maintenance & repair, and $850 million in new construction.  Similar amounts are planned for the 2015/2016 CA State budget.

5. Caltrans wastes half a billion $$ annually on extra staffing.

The Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO) report on the review of the Caltrans’ Capital Outlay Support Program found that the agency is overstaffed by 3,500 positions at a cost of $500 million per year.

6. CA’s roads rank near the bottom in every category, including:

• 46th in rural interstate pavement condition
• 49th in urban interstate pavement condition
• 46th in urban interstate congestion

7. Poor road conditions cost Californians $17 billion yearly in vehicle repairs.

34% of CA’s major roads are rated to be in “poor” condition. Driving on roads in need of repair costs California motorists $17 billion a year in extra vehicle repairs and operating costs – $702.88 per motorist.

Originally published by Fox and Hounds Daily

John Moorlach is a California State Senate, 37th District

Via: California Politcal Review

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Obama signs highway bill, scolds Congress for 'seat of our pants' fix

President Barack Obama says the U.S. government can't keep funding highway and transit projects "by the seat of our pants."  

Obama's comments came as he signed a three-month bill to keep transportation money flowing to states. The patch is the 34th short-term transportation measure since 2009.  

The Senate passed the measure Thursday, one day before the deadline for a cutoff of funds.  

The president says that while it's good news projects will continue to be funded, Congress needs to stop leaving business until the last minute. He says that's not how countries like China or Germany operate.  

The Senate also passed a sweeping, long-term transportation bill that sets up discussions with the House this fall on the future of transportation policy and how to pay for programs.

Via: Fox News

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Republican Weekly Address, Saturday July 25, 2015

WASHINGTON, D.C. – In the Weekly Republican Address, Senator Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma says that after years of unsatisfactory short-term spending bills to fund America’s roads, bridges and highways, the Senate is now considering a long-term solution that will allow states to pursue critically needed transportation projects throughout the country.  With 54 percent of America’s major roads rated poor or mediocre, and one in four bridges requiring significant repair, states need the certainty that federal funds will be available to tackle long-term transportation and infrastructure projects. “With the DRIVE Act, we can rebuild Eisenhower’s vision, fight growing congestion, and maintain the mobility of good and services necessary to move our economy forward,” says Inhofe, chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.
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House, Senate heading for showdown on highway funding

Senate and House Republicans are heading to a showdown over transportation spending.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) wants to pass a six-year highway deal before Thursday to give the House time to take it up before the August recess, according to a Senate GOP leadership source.

But opposition to the Senate bill is growing on the other side of the Capitol.

House Republican leaders want the Senate to instead pass a five-month highway patch and won’t say whether they would give the Senate transportation bill a vote in their chamber.

McConnell is betting that House GOP leaders will relent once they have the bill in their laps, with the Highway Trust Fund due to expire on Aug. 1.

The House adjourns for the August recess at the end of next week.

“The House will have to make a decision. The temporary bill is just another patch,” said Senate Republican Whip John Cornyn (Texas).

McConnell tried a similar gambit in May when he attempted to jam the House with a clean extension of the National Security Agency’s surveillance authority. It blew up when he failed to muster the 60 votes needed to pass it out of the Senate.

The Senate leader was still mulling his legislative options on Thursday, but senators and aides said the most likely scenario is that he will offer the six-year highway bill as a substitute amendment on the floor Friday to get the ball rolling and then fill the amendment tree to limit the debate.

Senators and aides then expect McConnell to file cloture on an amendment to reauthorize the Export-Import Bank, setting up a vote on Sunday or Monday on the controversial agency. 

A Senate aide said McConnell could file cloture — the motion to end debate and proceed to a vote — on the highway bill and the underlying legislative vehicle on the same day he does so for the Ex-Im Bank amendment. That maneuver would allow the Senate to wrap up work on the highway measure and get it to the House by Wednesday.

Don Stewart, McConnell’s spokesman, said Thursday afternoon that no decisions had been made on how to proceed and cautioned there are a variety of paths under consideration.

But other Senate aides said other routes require unanimous consent, an unlikely proposition given strong conservative opposition to the Ex-Im Bank.

Lawmakers and aides said a vote on the bank may be postponed until Monday, but that could push a final vote on the highway package until Thursday unless all 100 senators agree to yield back procedural time.

Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said he would wait to see what legislation McConnell can push through the upper chamber.

Via: The Hill

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CA Holds Services Hostage to Push Tax Increases

All agree that the roads desperately need revenue yet new funds from the increased budget were not directed to the roads. It’s been that way for some time – transportation infrastructure pretty much ignored by general funds instead relying on shrinking targeted funds. Shorting revenue for a vital service can set up a play for more taxes for that service. It’s happened before in California.

Two years ago, Bloomberg Business ran a lengthy, celebratory piece on Jerry Brown and his governorship. In essence, the writer argued that Brown found a solution to California’s funding problem by cutting programs until it hurt so that voters felt they had to raise taxes.

One gets the sense a similar approach is building support for transportation funds through fees and/or taxes.

Here’s what the article argued:

To get tax-hating Californians to vote to raise their own taxes, Brown became Governor Gloom. If the tax-cutters’ theory was to cut taxes so much we’d have to shrink government, he was going to shrink government so much that people would raise taxes. In addition to schools and community colleges, he would cut medical programs, aid to the disabled, and child health care. “Our breakthrough came because of the breakdown,” he says. “There were more layoffs, more pink slips, more agitation. Cutting was very conducive to the success of Prop 30.” In short: Jerry Brown scared the crap out of people.

Concluding the piece, the author wrote:

So that’s his theory: cut, cut, cut until the people can’t take it anymore. Then inspire them with stories of what government can do.

Let’s be clear that ignoring transportation funding needs goes back much farther than Brown’s current governorship. The deficit for transportation infrastructure is so great that it is not a case of cutting that caused the crisis. Over the course of many years, transportation funding was not adequately met even in good budget years. In essence, this situation amounts to a similar situation as described in the Bloomberg piece, although it certainly extends prior to Brown regaining the governor’s office. This crisis falls on past governors and legislators, too. The government did not fund the transportation system while often putting monies into new programs.

Not adequately funding the roads has led many to call for new taxes despite record budgets. Deprive, deprive, deprive transportation infrastructure instead of cut, cut, cut until the people can’t take it anymore.

The idea of moving current revenues to roads has been argued for a long time. In fact, 27 years ago Paul Gann and I were co-proponents of Proposition 72, which, among other things, directed state sales taxes on fuels to roads and highways. It was defeated.

The need for more transportation money is even greater now than it was when we tried to direct money for that purpose in 1988. Current proposals in the special session also would require certain funds to be dedicated exclusively for transportation purposes. But, a fair question to ask: Will an echo of Prop. 30 strategy as described in the Bloomberg article end in a like result of a tax increase?

(Originally posted on Fox and Hounds Daily.)

Via: California Political Review

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Amid military cuts, Obama urges $300B for roads and railways

Just two days after the Pentagon outlined major cuts to the U.S. Army and other military programs, President Obama is calling for a whopping $300 billion commitment for America's roads, bridges and mass transit systems -- though as much as half comes from a tax plan that has bleak prospects on the Hill. 

The president talked about the stimulus-style plan during a stop Wednesday afternoon in St. Paul, Minn. Officials say the money, as proposed, largely would come from "pro-growth business tax reform." But aside from the challenges in pushing tax reform, Obama could have a hard time making the sell when his military leaders, just days ago, were complaining about the budget crunch. 

Moments before the president took the podium, the Republican National Committee also questioned whether new transportation spending would be the jobs engine the administration claims. 

"President Obama claimed that the $830 billion stimulus would spend money on shovel-ready projects that would repair our country's infrastructure," RNC spokesman Jahan Wilcox said in a statement. "If the president couldn't fix our economic problems the first time, then why would we trust him with another blank check?" 

On Monday, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel proposed shrinking the Army from its current level of 522,000 to between 440,000 and 450,000, which would be the lowest level since before the World War II build-up. He called for a range of other cuts including retiring the A-10 fleet for a savings of $3.5 billion. Military officials said they need to cut $75 billion over two years, to comply with congressionally mandated reductions. 

The $302 billion infrastructure fund Obama is talking about would last for four years, but more than eclipses the budget shortfall the military is grappling with. 

Via: Fox News

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Motor City Mayor Gives Obama Mixed Reviews

 Still Has Not Visited the City as President

Detroit Mayor Dave Bing gave Barack Obama mixed reviews as president in his first term when asked about it during taping of “Michigan Matters.” “I don’t give grades, but it’s been mixed,” said Bing, 68, a Democrat who runs a city with an 80 percent African American population on the weekly CBS 62 show. He added Obama came in amid high expectations but some issues now dogging him and his effort to win re-election against Michigan native son and GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney aren’t all of his doing.

“He inherited a mess, just as I did,” Bing said of Obama. “The areas he has been good at are in healthcare, autos and education,” Bing said. When pressed on how Obama has treated his city, Bing said: “Certain departments have been helpful like HUD and Transportation and Labor.”

Of Vice President Joe Biden who was in Detroit on Wednesday and talked to Bing during his campaign visit, he said, “Joe was a few years ahead of me (at Syracuse University where they both attended college). I didn’t know him then. But over several years we have connected and built a good relationship.”

Bing, who played basketball at Syracuse and with the Detroit Pistons, is an NBA All-Star and was voted one of the 50 greatest players of all time. Obama made mention of Bing’s career during a 2009 campaign visit to suburban Warren where the mayor was among those sitting in the audience. “My game’s a little like Dave Bing’s, except I don’t have the jump shot or the speed or the ball handling skills or the endurance. I also don’t have the Afro — don’t think I forgot that Dave. I remember!” Obama said at the time. Since taking keys to the White House, Obama has visited Michigan 11 times.

Via: CBS Detroit

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