Editor’s Note: This week we included a whole series of articles that speak to some of the early legislative efforts to deal with funding or change how funds are collected in a number of states. For most states the legislative sessions have either just begun or will soon begin. I am sure we will see more stories emerge in the next few weeks and we will follow them through the sessions in each state.

There is discernible improvement in the state and local budget scenes which means many entities are having to make choices about how they spend money. Transportation advocates will have to make compelling cases in order to get in line for the scarce funds that will be available. It’s not an impossible task but it will take work. TW

Toll Road and Truckers Benefit from Discount

AUSTIN, Tx. – The Texas Department of Transportation has found a win-win solution for a tolled bypass of downtown Austin by offering an incentive to get more truckers to use the route. A trial run of the discount between December 21 and January 4 was so successful that the agency has extended it through January 25. During the trial, TxDOT lowered the toll rates to $9 for truckers who would normally be charged $29 for cash tolls or $25 for TxTag payment on the SH 130 toll road.

“We’re pleased to see more through traffic choosing to use the tolled bypass around Austin, skipping some of that traffic in the Austin metro area and hopefully getting to their destination a little bit faster,” said TxDOT spokesperson Karen Amacker. She said the agency is going to look at the numbers and look for a compromise after January 25 that will keep traffic using the toll road and still charge enough to generate revenue to pay for the roadway.

“We’re going to continue to monitor the number of transactions and the revenue that comes in at this toll-rate level. We’ll try to determine what our path forward is from here, what combination of incentives we can offer the trucking community or regular passenger-vehicle traffic to get to that revenue sweet spot but also increase the amount of traffic on the tolled bypass and relieve some congestion through central Austin,” Amacker said.

Hawaii plans $500M in Bond-Financed Construction Projects

Hawaii state senators are looking to increase jobs by giving the construction industry a boost, through an ambitious through infrastructure projects financed through up to $500 million in bond financing. The lawmakers intend to aggressively seek the plan with emphasis on small repair and maintenance projects that can be launched right away to put people to work.

“We have under spent on infrastructure, just like the rest of the country, for decades and decades. And so there’s things that need to be done. You need roads fixed,” said Carl Bonham, executive director at UHERO , who also serves on the state Council on Revenues. “So it’s not a really tough decision, and at the moment we still have very aggressively low interest rates.”

Gov. Neil Abercrombie has already requested lawmakers approve $300 million in new bond-financed construction projects in the supplemental budget as part of a $1.2 billion boost in construction spending. If it passes, the state’s capital improvement project plan will be $2.2 billion next fiscal year. The senators said their $500 million proposal could include items on the governor’s list or trade projects that are lower priorities or that are not ready for construction.

In November, the Abercrombie administration finished a record-high $1.3 billion general obligation bond sale, taking advantage of very low interest rates. This brought the state’s bond debt to $4 billion.

Washington Transportation Work may stall after 2013

The Southwest region in the state of Washington has a busy construction season for 2012 with a $182 million budget, and with some of those projects continuing into 2013. But starting in 2014, the future of state projects is in jeopardy, according to WSDOT regional administrator Don Wagner. A big boost in public funding is about to run out if nothing is found to replace it, he said, both on the local and federal levels. That spike came from a pair of state gas tax packages approved in 2003 and 2005, which officials used to front-load the work schedule so borrowing costs could be repaid by long-term gas tax collections.

“We’ll be done with that work in 2014,” Wagner said, adding that construction activity is reaching its peak. “We’re going to pay for that work for the next 30 years … It was not a pay-as-you-go system.”

Lawmakers have mentioned the possibility of a transportation funding package in the 2012 legislative session, but discussions will likely focus on the $3 billion Columbia River Crossing project.

Missouri

Missouri legislators are rapidly pushing legislation to bring the state in compliance with new federal standards for commercial truckers and drunken driving penalties to avoid losing about $30 million in federal transportation dollars. The State Transportation Committee showed the urgency of the legislation this week by hearing testimony and approving the legislation in the same day.

Wyoming

Several road funding measures are up for consideration during the upcoming budget session. One would eliminate a 40-cent-per-gallon ethanol tax credit, which would add about $3 million to the transportation fund. Another measure would divert nearly $14 million annually from general government fines and penalties from the education fund to highways. This and several other proposals have been adopted by the Joint Interim Committee on Transportation, Highways and Military Affairs to raise a total of $50 million a year for state roads and bridges.

Pennsylvania

A transportation funding package was unveiled in the first days of the Pennsylvania legislative session, which mirrored the recommendations of a governor-appointed advisory commission issued this summer. The report included recommendations for ways to raise about $2.7 billion in new funding within five years, in order to address the expectation of transportation funding needs tripling by 2030. Bills include removing a cap on the tax on wholesale fuel prices, increasing vehicle and registration fees. Another bill would route money from the Pennsylvania Turnpike for mass transit, moving $450 million from the roadway to transit.

Florida

An effort in Florida would repeal the authority given to state communities 18 months ago to implement automated traffic enforcement cameras. The Governors Highway Safety Association reports that 21 states have laws allowing at least one type of automated enforcement, and 12 states have laws prohibiting such cameras. Florida violators currently face $158 fines, and the revenue is divided between the state, city and county where the road is located.

California

A California Democratic lawmaker has proposed a measure to reduce congestion by ensuring transit projects in the Los Angeles area have funding through 2038. The proposal would give voters in Los Angeles County the option to extend Measure R, which increased the county’s sales tax by one-half cent to help fund transportation projects. Initially approved in 2008, the extension would raise up to $40 billion for traffic relief and transportation improvements through 2038.

Indiana

Lawmakers in Indiana used the first week of the legislation session to focus on funding for local roads and bridges. One bill package would route two-thirds of 1 percent of the state sales tax to localities based on the share of local road and street mileage, which funding currently goes to the general fund. The transfer would amount to about $94 million for local road projects over the next two years. A separate bill would create a highway loan fund to provide financing to counties and municipalities for construction projects. The Indiana Department of Transportation would be responsible for distributing the $1.5 million appropriation for the fund. A third bill would give counties the flexibility to use property tax funds and other revenue in the local general fund to help pay for maintaining county roads.