News Release                                                                             Sept. 16, 2015
Good Roads group endorses Constitutional Amendments 1 and 2
Measures would improve transportation with no new taxes
The Louisiana Good Roads and Transportation Association, the state's top transportation advocacy group, has endorsed passage of Constitutional Amendments 1 and 2, which would dedicate existing state dollars to badly needed road and bridge projects without raising taxes.

Kenneth Perret
Voters across Louisiana will get a chance to approve the measures in the October 24 election.

Constitutional Amendment 1 would direct some existing state mineral revenues into an account to be used only for transportation improvement projects. The amendment would create the Budget and Transportation Stabilization Fund, which would contain some of the funds that currently are being directed to the state's "rainy day fund."

Constitutional Amendment 2 would allow the state treasurer to invest existing, idle state funds into the Louisiana State Transportation Infrastructure Bank. The bank then could make low-interest loans to local and parish governments to plan and complete local and regional transportation projects. The Louisiana Legislature created the bank in the 2015 Legislative Session, and Constitutional Amendment 2 creates the mechanism to allow existing funds to go into the bank.

"These amendments will force state government to make transportation a higher priority without raising taxes," said Kenneth Perret, president of Good Roads. "Voters want state government to spend money on basic services, and that means using existing dollars to build and maintain our roads and bridges."

A "yes" vote on both amendments also will "send a strong message" to candidates for governor and legislative seats that voters support using existing funds on transportation projects, Perret said.
About Good Roads...
Louisiana Good Roads and Transportation Association is a statewide, non-profit organization dedicated to fostering and promoting a program of planning, design, construction and maintenance of an adequate transportation system, sufficiently financed, which will conveniently and safely serve the transportation needs of the people of Louisiana.

For more information, contact:

Mark Lambert | Lambert Media | 225-937-8113 | [email protected] | www.lambert-media.com