APTA LEGISLATIVE COMMITTEE MEETING
I attended the APTA Legislative Committee meeting Friday. The agenda included a discussion of the following items:
Development of recommendations on the next authorization, an update on the national surface transportation policy and revenue study commission and the national surface transportation infrastructure financing commission. We received a status report on current rulemakings, and heard reports from subcommittees including the business member government affairs subcommittee, and the other subcommittees on commuter and intercity rail , federal procedures and regulations, finance and tax policy, intergovernmental issues and small operations. I received a packet with a number of position papers and when we can scan and upload same we will do so and send you selected excerpts of interest. (Some of that material is summarized here nonetheless).
Several hundred folks from transit operations across the country attended. Places I heard during the introductions included Utah, California, Los Angeles, , NY, Florida, RI, NJ, Ft. Worth, New Orleans and more and me from Kansas. Candidly not much representation from the heartland.
Regarding matters before the Congress, there was discussion regarding the appropriations process. We have reported on that earlier. Rob Healy who was at our KPTA meeting in Wichita, reported along with others as follows:
The approved conference committee transportation funding bill (approved by the House awaiting Senate action and threatened by presidential veto) is $50 million short of the Safetea-lu authorized funding. That $50 million came out of the new starts program. The energy bill may have some transit related measures in it as well. Heard on the streets: that the Safetea-lu corrections bill is moving again. It may include for those cities that have moved since the last reauthorization from under 200000 population to over 200000 a provision allowing them to use 50% of their funds as proposed by the 100 bus coalition. When Congress returns Monday, there will be three weeks left in session. Only 11 of the 12 appropriations bills have passed.
The National Surface Transportation Policy and Finance Commission will roll out in January a report. It is meeting next week for a final meeting, the report will reflect the strongly held opinions of its members. The report would be a blueprints for future years congressional actions.
There will be an Authozization Task Force whose mission will be to develop an APTA position on authorization by August 2008 which will maximize the ability of the public transportation industry to serve our customers. NOTE I HAVE USED THE WORD AUTHORIZATION AND NOT REAUTHORIZATION. THIS IS HOW TRANSIT PERCEIVES THE NEXT ROUND.
There will be a survey regarding authorization issues. KPTA as an APTA member will be polled so we will be asking our members for input and we will be soliciting same.
NY city, Philadelphia, Chicago, NJ, D.C. and San Francisco (among others) comprise an "old rail" group. Led by the CEO of the Chicago RTA, they have developed a "Set of Guiding Pinciples" they want considered in this process. These include:
That federal investments should help us be more competitive globally, that we should modernize and expand capacity, that metro areas should receive priority, that metro areas provide the best "bang for the buck" and "federal transit funding provided to major metropolitan area with rail systems should grow to support the increased demand placed on these systems." ~ they have 58% of ridership and are complaining about a declining share of the resources.
Actually everyone is complaining about reduced resources. There was after this presentation quite a discussion about once APTA came up with a policy that included rail, and small concerns, etc. it was important that all worked together. "Must grow the pie for all" was voiced by several folks. Other comments: "New authorization must take into consideration inflation."
I addressed the group and explained while I had heard about the demand side, there wasn't much talk of the supply side. I inquired about how will we create a political will for financing these programs. The response was that APTA will propose means by which to finance same. There was a consensus that nothing about funding will be done before the 2008 election. That is what the Kansas delegation has been telling me, too.
There was a commitment by APTA to continue the public education efforts in order to create support for transit that will translate into votes Work force training was discussed. Also commented upon was maximizing local support and security issues.
RULEMAKING: Comments by Jim LaRusch APTA Chief Counsel (who was at the SWTA Legal Seminar KPTA hosted in Overland Park).
PLANNING: FHWA - FTA circular out for comment, circular looks good
Final circular soon.
NEW STARTS SMALL STARTS: Submitted comments on draft regulations, about 60 pages of comments. Real problems with the rules, he said.
BUY AMERICA: Had a task force. Got a final rule in Sept. One correction was made already and there will be another correction to remove bus shells.
CHARTER BUS: Despite some efforts to avoid, significant issues on draft rule. A final rule will be issued in December Nothing to date on the content of final rule.
Jim says: On rulemakings always submit your comments. Numbers count.
You can find APTA comments at their website. Rulemaking comments now being solicited for: 1. Grants management, 2. Capital projects and for 3. Procurement.
There were questions about the Medicaid rulemaking status: 2 rulemakings at HHS, both unfavorable. 1st about reimbursement when city and county set up ride for Medicaid eligible folks. HHS wants to eliminate certain payments. 2nd rules relates to school transportation. Funding for medicaid eligible kids reimbursements would cease.
Subcommittee reports
Business Member Government Affairs:. Will work with APTA on authorization issues and are preparing for the March legislative meeting.
Commuter and Intercity They have been working on rail report for 18 months and APTA executive committee accepted the paper (as in the packet). We will scan and send to you later. They expressed concern for consistent guidance on ADA issues.
Federal Procedures and Regulations: see regulation comments above.
Finance and Tax policy: There is a need to start to look beyond the box. Need to think about carbon credits and other nontraditional forms of revenue. This committee will monitor the revenue commission report.
Intergovernmental Issues: They have talked about the statement of national purpose. A proposal was in the packet. We will send it later too. Transit research is import to the authorization process
Small Operations: They too have developed authorization recommendations which were in the packet.
So there will be more material to come. After the meeting I visited with several of my Southwest Transit Association board members who were present. It is their thought, and I concur, that SWTA should be actively engaged with the APTA Authorization Task Force.
I also went to Capitol Hill and stopped by Congresswoman Boyda's office. The federal offices were calm awaiting the storm to come as Congress returns after its Thanksgiving break, although some were giving thanks for the break.
Your wandering Executive Director, R.E. "Tuck" Duncan
WE CIOMMITTEE MEETING....