July 25, 2008
State Legislators Vote to Make Transportation A Top Priority
New policy calls on Congress to revamp ailing federal transportation program
NEW ORLEANS -- The nation's state legislators collectively told Congress Friday that they are in the driver's seat with transportation policy.
At the Legislative Summit in New Orleans, the National Conference of State Legislatures approved a new Surface Transportation Federalism policy that calls for a narrow, focused vision for the next federal transportation bill.
"Our current method of collecting revenue and paying for transportation projects is broken, especially at $4 per gallon gas prices," said Oregon state Senator Bruce Starr, who helped draft the policy and leads NCSL's Surface Transportation Reauthorization Working Group. "Our policy calls on Congress to maintain the Highway Trust Fund, which is depleting at a rapid rate, and to do this they will have to increase the federal gas tax."
The federal gas tax funds the nation’s transportation system, but has been diminishing in value in recent years as alternative fuels enter the marketplace, hybrid vehicles sales increase, and people are driving less. In turn, that decreases the revenue generated by the per-gallon gas tax.
The gas tax was last increased in 1993. In the short term, an increase will ensure the Highway Trust Fund remains solvent, but the NCSL policy encourages Congress to move toward new funding strategies. One such concept is a vehicle miles traveled (VMT) fee that charges a vehicle based on the number of miles driven in a state. An Oregon pilot program proved the concept viable and NCSL encourages Congress to explore VMT, including the necessary vehicle-based technology to realize it, as a new user fee to fund federal highway coffers.
NCSL calls on Congress to focus on transportation priorities that affect interstate commerce, interstate movement of people, national defense and homeland security, safety, environmental protection, and research and innovation.
In a letter to leaders on Capitol Hill sent earlier in the week, Senator Starr and New Mexico Representative Dan Silva, Chair of NCSL’s Transportation Committee, asked the federal government to work closely with states to develop a shared, long-term vision for financing and funding surface transportation systems that will enhance the nation's prosperity and the quality of life for all Americans.
"The time has come for policymakers at all levels of government to take a serious look at transportation funding," Sen. Starr said. "An underfunded transportation system threatens our nation's economic growth and global competitiveness as well as the safety, and quality of life all across America."
NCSL's annual legislative summit is an opportunity for state lawmakers from around the country to exchange ideas and debate issues being considered in Washington that will affect state public policies. The resolutions enacted will guide NCSL’s lobbying activity in Washington over the next several years.
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