Transcripts For CSPAN3 Hearing Focuses On Highway And Transit Infrastructure Funding 20170410

It system. Well go ahead and call the subcommittee to order. And id like to say good morning and welcome all of our witnesses here today to the hearing. By now weve seen reports last weeks fire in the resulting collapse of section i85 northeast of atlanta. This is a critically important piece of our infrastructure system which carries 400,000 cars a day. But that volume of traffic, its amazing that there wasnt a any loss of life in this incident. I commend the state and local officials for responding so quickly to the crisis. I also want to commend the u. S. Department of transportation for acting quickly to release funds, emergency funds and provide assistance. Were here to examine the fast act. This is the first Long Term Service transportation reauthorization bill in a decade and its an Important Foundation for building a 21st century infrastructure. As a fiveyear bill provides very much needed certainty and funding so that our federal, nonfederal partners can make smart long term investments. The fast act is a forward looking tlau puts an emphasis on projects of national significance, the movement of freight, streamlining project delivery and Innovative Solutions to transportation challenges. Local entities have the tass to being deliver projects to the kmunlts. As they care why you ott prot jekts, the witnesses have a firsthand view of how federal transportation policies are being implemented by the u. S. Department of transportation. We look forward to building a 21st century infrastructure with our state and local partners and were going to very much welcome their input today. I now recognize Ranking Member of the subcommittee for your opening statement. Thank you very much, mr. Chairman. Chairman graves, im very grateful for this subcommittee hearing. I think it indicates that our subcommittee wants to get beyond all of the interest that we heard on infrastructure and see what we can really do. We know that a large infrastructure package idea, the idea of a large infrastructure package which is on the minds of many in the administration and our minds is not going to magically appear. We did a lot of im going to say, i think, deservedly so a lot of self congratulation whether we passed the first Service Transportation bill in 10 years. And i must say, im very grateful, mr. Chairman, that it was a good bipartisan effort and i know you share with me the disappointment that in order to get any increase whatsoever after ten years, we had to make a sixyear bill a fiveyear bill. I dont know how long we can keep that din disinvestment going on. If youre not investing in a state of good repair much less the new infrastructure we need, youre not investing, we are disinvesting. When i say disinvesting, remember how we built this country. Ever since this idea of the federal transportation infrastructure package was created by president eisenhower, the country has understood that you cant be a great country unless you continuously invest in infrastructure. The Congressional Budget Office said we face 139 billion short fall in the Highway Trust Fund just over the next decade. If were trying to continue to fund the fast act funding levels. And it says we need 700 sorry, 17 billion more a year than fast act levels at the federal level to improve our infrastructure and to maintain a state of good repair. Reducing that backlog. Im very pleased that president has said good things about infrastructure. So i hasten to get ahold of the skinny biblgt a skinny budget and was very disappointed to hear of really unheard of cuts to popular Transportation Programs. So instead of investing after my hopes had been raised, for example, in trans it, urgently needed to alleviate congestion, the president wants to stop all new investments sn in trans it by cutting off the new starts program. Im grateful for the continuing bipartisan on this committee. I was pleased to sign a letter with chairman grachz and the leadership to urge the Appropriation Committee to fully fund all Fast Act Programs as thorded for the remainder of 2017 and in the upcoming 2018 budget. Im still banking on a president that talks about a trillion dollar proposal at least supporting us as we fight to maintain the meager funding levels we v and we know that budget im not terribly im not terribly pulling my hair out that the president s cuts will go through because no matter who is president , the appropriators always rewrite the budget. Im concerned theyre pushing more financing and they would make them more expensive than traditional funneleding mechanisms and regulatory reforms than making Real Investment. And investors senate approach doll little to improve infrom struck stur across the nation. You simply cannot build your infrastructure and expect that toll roads will somehow pay for it. There must be a revenue stream and for the modern era in american life, its always begun with this committee and subcommittee. Nor can we streamline our way out of inAdequate Funding. Secretary chow said recent lit problem is not money. Imagine saying that about roads and transit. The problem is always money. Its delays r lays caused by the government that hold up processes for years and decades making them risky investments. But in, fact, if you check the data, only 4 of all Infrastructure Projects are nationwide undergo any rigorous Environmental Review. Most of it is what you and i see every day. 90 of projects receive from categorical exclusion through the categorical exclusion process and are exempt from rigorous levels of review. Recent Inspector General report also refutes the notion that more streamlining now is the prunlt cost of action. Additional streamlining provisions are actually slowing down the department of u. S. Department of transportations ability to implement the project delivery accelerations put into map 21. In other words, piling streamlining measures on top of each other before they can be implemented simply does not help and frankly did not happen. Ive always defended opportunities for participation and continue to believe that it helps us to improve the ultimate projects. Community input and buy in are crucial to the successful and expeditious advancement of transportation projects. Getting Public Participation sorry, gutting Public Participation in the name of cutting red tape will harm our roads and harm the constituents who use our roads and infrastructure. I dont believe we can reinvent the wheel whether it comes to transportation. I just think there is no way around our obligation as the congress of the United States to provide states and local government w governments with the funding and flexibility that they alone know what to do with to produce smart and efficient projects allowing the states who have the wisdom once we get give them the none go ahead. I very much look forward to todays witnesses. I read the headlines about atlanta and ill be interested to see what can you do about that unforeseen circumstance. Thank you very much. I look forward to the testimony. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you, mr. Chairman, thanks for this important hearing. Ill just restate a few things because they do need replace ment. Over 90 billion just to bring existing trans it up to a state of good repair let alone buildout new transit options for people and we have not incruised the user fee in washington, d. C. , in a quarter century. Over the past few years, 17 states have raised their gas tax and nobody has been recalled, nobody has lost their reelection. And it has not been a controversy. The American People get it. Theyre tired of sitting in traffic. Theyre tired of blowing out tires and potholes. Theyre tired of being detoured around weight limit or closed bridges. Theyre tired of the decrepit state of our mass transit. And they want to see action. You know, that is today im sending secretary chow a letter urging her to come down and work with congress to create a consensus around Real Investment and Real Solutions for the nations infrastructure problems. Im hearing a lot of talk about, well, its going to be p3s, infrastructure banks, private tax credits. And were going to streamline the federal approval process. Lets address that briefly. First off, most p3s are projects a billion dollars or larger. Youre going have a rast return. You have to to attract the investment. They have to be told of some other way, you know, to recoup the investment. And theyre generally five to one public money to private money. Now the speaker is saying that he wants 401 private money to public money. That means no more p3s l is no investors out there are going to put up, you know, at a 401 ratio and do a p3. They generally put up 10 to 15 at the most, 20 and the rest comes from local bonding or state bonding. Minus pal bonds, whatever. So thats myth number one. Now infrom structure banks, private activity bonds, you know, those are new forms of local borrowing. Again, they require a revenue stream. Hence, willing to or some other way of you know, of recouping the investment. Of course, they do increase the costs. Now secretary chow unfortunately was given some alternate facts by somebody. She stated investors say there is Ample Capital available waiting to invest in infrastructure products. Its delays caused by kmigt process thats hold up projects for years and decades making them risky investments. No. No. That is not the problem. In fact, we made 42 major policy changes for streamlining and n. Map 21. Not all of those have been implemented yet. In fact, some of them have run into conflicts with the fast act. So we did streamlining. Question more streamlining on top of streamlining. Lets get all that implement aend sand see if there are still any issues. More than 90 of the projects go forward under categorical exclusion which is basically filling out a few sheets of paper and it might take you a month or two months at the most. So that isnt the issue here. You cant streamline your way out of lack of funneleding. 4 of projects, 4 require Environmental Impact statements and as Ranking Member norton noted, most of those are head up held up at the local or state level because of controversies surrounding those projects, redesign and other things which came out in hearings which are required under the process. Fwhaut is but that is 4 of the projects. 96 dont have to go through a rigorous Environmental Review. And a recent report about it treasury looked at 40 economically significant transportation water projects whose completion has been slowed or in jeopardy. Proof positive about streamlining. No. The report found that a lack of public funding is the major factor hindering the completion of the projects. Plain and simple, there is a provision that says if Congress Appropriates more money to transportation, it flows through the policies in the fast act. We dont need to spend a year or two rewriting the policies, arguing over transit highway split, arguing over enhancements, arguing over how much goes to freight. We dont have to go through any of that. They have the guts to put up a little bit of money. And thats why introduced a penny for progress. As i said before, if anybody around here thinks theyre going to lose their election, theyre going to vote on something that caps the indexation increase at 1. 5 cents a gallon, then you dont belong here. Thank you, mr. Chairman. The Oklahoma Department of transportation, he is testifying on behalf of the American Association state highway transportation officials. There is gary thomas, president and executive director of the rapid trans it. He is testifying on behalf of the american puckly Transportation Association and id like to recognize ms. Johnson of texas to make a formal int formal introduction. Thank you very much. Im very proud to introduce not only a friend and partner but a good executive who is mr. Gary thomas, president and executive director of the dallas area Rapid Transit which we call dart. He and i Work Together for many years to cultivate our great city of dallas into an interconnected transit hub that it is today. As the largest growing metropolitan area in the country. The nations longest and largest at 93 miles long. Under his leadership, dart is a leading example of how to infectively manage and grow a flourishing public trans it network. I happen to know that dart also has very strong working relationships with our federal partners at usdot and the federal Transit Administration thanks to mr. Thomas. Hes also very effective at cultivating Strategic Partnerships with local stake holders to meet the needs of the robust Transit Network in the dallas metroplex. And with that, mr. Chairman, im proud to introduce mr. Thomas to the committee with great anticipation to his testimony and his plea for money. We have sam reid testifying on behalf of the conference of mayors. I now recognize mr. Johnson of georgia to make a formal interduction. I thank you, mr. Chairman. Its my pleasure to recognize and welcome my friend, mayor of atlanta to this hearing. As we convene this hearing this morning, i can think of no better witness to offer than the honorable reid. Mayor reid when he first came into office he balanced atlantas budget and he took care of the challenge of the unfunded Pension System which had been languishing for many years. Thats been taken care of successfully six years ago or seven years ago, actually. He has invested in hiring more Police Officers in atlanta. Our crime rate continues to go down. Mayor reed is the 59th mayor of the city of atlanta, serving in that capacity since 2010. Mayor reid is known for building relationships and working in a bipartisan way with local, state, and federal stait stake holders. Atlanta experienced significant economic develop ment and a population boom. For instance, his work with governor nathan deal and the Obama Administration to obtain federal support for the part of savannah expansion project has resulted in much economic develop ment for the atlanta region and for the state of georgia. The city has responded by undertaking an ambitious agenda to upgrade roads and bridges and improve the it citys transportation infrastructure. It is yif atlanta and mayor reeds leadership undergoing a historic 2. 6 billion expansion of metropolitan atlanta Rapid Transit authority or marta and expanding and completing unique projects such as atlantas belt line which is a 22mile stretch of trails and trans it around the city on an band onned railways. This project has opened up a lot of economic develop ment in terms of new housing, rehabilitated housing, New Residence coming in. H. , businesses opening up communities being created that are walkable, bikable, and interconnected and also at the same time he has presided over the opening of the International Terminal at the Atlanta Airport as atlanta matures into a world class city. Hes overseeing currently a 6 billion expansion of the hearts field jackson airport, an international airport, the worlds busiest airport. Same time building a state of the art stadium for our dear falcons. It nears completion, world class facility with the retractable roof. So much that we can talk about. Mayor reeds leadership, hes leveraging with university ands the private sector to build an innovative transportation infrastructure that ensures mobility and creativity for atlantas residence, businesses and visitors all taking place while atlanta remains an affordable city where every day working people can afford to live, work, and play. With that, im proud to introduce to this committee mayor reed. Thank you, mr. Johnson. I ask unanimous con sent that our witnesses full statements be included in the record. Without objection. That is so ordered. And since the written testimony will be made part of the record, we ask that you limit the sum troy five minutes. With that, mr. Patterson, we start with you. Is. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Members of the committee, my name is mike patterson. Im the executive director of the Oklahoma Department of transportation and im here today to testify on behalf of odot and the American Association of state highway and transportation officials. First we want to thank you, mr. Chairman and other members of your committee, for your leadership and efforts to increase the efficiency of delivering transportation projects n cooperation with the federal government, the state dots continue to seek opportunities and create solutions to solve the deteriorating National Transportation system. All of us have come to realize that additional funding is important and serves as a partial solution to the problem. The fast acts authorization of 305 billion for federal highway, highway safety, transit, passenger real programs from 2016 to 2020 could not have come at a could not have been timelier in spurring our Economic Growth and investment in our multimodal transportation infrastructure. But equally important to initiating and completing transportation investments in a timely manner involves major problematic and policy reform contained in the fast act and map 21. It is our hope that congress will feel comfortable in seeking additional reforms that will provide further opportunities to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of Transportation Programs and project delivery while remaining responsible stewards of taxpayer resources a in both human and natural environments. We must develop a modern revenue model for funneleding our surface transportation invest ments. The day of total reliance on consumption tax for a fleest ever increasing fuel efficient vehicles is nearing the end. What we consider what we consider innovative funding today must and will become a new normal for funding transportation. Until that time, it is imperative that the annual Obligation Authority and the fast act be fully honored, the structural cash flow deficit and Highway Trust Fund be resolved and the schedule of rescissions of Contract Authority be abolished. Even in todays environment of financing solution, it remains imparity theyve direct funding of transportation and investments remain the primary focus. The reality remains thmost transportation projects cannot genera generate revenue to return the investment on the equity holders. Everyone recognizes that the fast act provides only a near Term Solution to the federal surface transportation funneleding. That is because the Highway Trust Fund continues to remain at a cross roads. Height way trust funneled has provided stable, reliable and sometimes substantial highway and transit funneleding since the inception in 1956. It has been sustained through a series of general Fund Transfers now amounting to 140 billion. According to the january 2017 baseline of congressional of the Congressional Budget Office, the highway trust funneled Spending Fund is growing to about 24 billion by 2027. Furthermore, the Highway Trust Fund is expected to experience a significant cash fall in 2021 since they cannot incur negative im sorry. Since it cant incur a negative balance. We estimate the states may see a 40 drop from fy2020ed to the following year from 46. 2 billion to 27. 7 billion. And the past such a similar short fall situation led to the possibility of reduction in federal reimbursements to states on existing obligations leading to a serious cash flow problems for states and resulting in project delays. Based on the federal surface Transportation Programs long track record of efficiency and flexibility, we recommend that any increase in federal funds should flow through the Fast Act Program structure rather than through untested approaches that require more time and oversight. Though the certainty certainly significant benefits from investment and transportation infrastructure goes well beyond short term construction jobs created, a well performing Transportation Network allows businesses to manage inventories and manufacture goods more cheaply across a variety of suppliers and markets for their products and get employees reliable work. Congress should encourage the u. S. Dot to implement the provisions of map 21 and the fast act fully consistent with leg legislative intent. An example of the problematic regula regulatory action is the requirement of metropolitan Planning Organization mpo coordination. Although state dots and mbos already xlem my fi the coordination sought, the new regulation add a significant leel and administrative requirements that would serve as barriers to constructive and flexible approaches to planning and programming being implemented by states and mpos today. Along with the senates recent passage of companion legislation to repeal this rule, we appreciate your committees prompt action last week to bring this before the house floor. Mr. Chairman, thank you for conducting this important hearing to bring a greater awareness of transportation infrastructure needs of the nation and thank you for the opportunity to provide testimony. We will be happy to answer any questions the committee may have. Thank you, mr. Patterson. Mr. Thomas . Thank you, mr. Chairman. My name is gary thomas. Im the ceo of dallas area Rapid Transit. I certainly appreciate the work this committee does. And thank you congressman johnson for your kind interduction. But more than forly, enthusiastic for what do you in our region. You have been the stallworth congresswoman for our region for many years. We certainly appreciate the impact you h im grateful for the tublt to taopportunity to t the impact of the fast act is having on our community. Dart was created in 1983 when north texans voted to tax them receives a 1 sales tack to create a transportation Transit Agency that quite frankly they didnt know what was going to do at that point in time. Today dart say multimodal Transit Agency operating north americas longest light rail system in the fourth largest metropolitan area in the United States. The 2. 3 million residence of our 13 cities, 700 square mile service area count on darts network of bus, light rail, Commuter Rails and services to give them a choice to get them where they need to go every single day. Ive been part of the Public Transportation industry now for 30 years. And ceo since 2001. Public transportation is changing the way American Communities grow. Equally importantly, were seeing a significant return on the Public Investment. Transit or into develop ment along dart lines generated more than 7 billion in Economic Impact from new or planned construction. Additionally in, 2014 and 2015, there were 43,000 jobs that were created as a result of this development resulting in nearly 3 billion in wages, salaries and benefits. Now our region customers insist on being mobile and being connected. Our go pass mobile ticketing app was one of the first in the industry to respond with that demand with a multimodal fare pay system. Two years ago we began working with car and Ride Sharing Companies like lyft, uber and zip car to allow our customers to provide a more complete trip. In other words, first mile, last mile opportunities. Now were using a federal sanld box or mobility on demand grant to make it easier for car and ride sharing customers to connect with transit through that app. Our congressional delegation knows the federal funds invested in dart will generate Significant Impact and Higher Quality of life in our region. Were pleased tone joy consistent bipartisan support. We also believe that we need to bring money to the table. Voters in our 13 cities decided that to dedicate a pofrgs the sales taxes to help fund trance it in their communities. We use that to leverage federal dollars to fast act and predecessors are difference makers in north texas. So you can imagine the disappointment we had when we heard the details of the administrations 2018 budgets. Darts success is prompting calls for more service as you might imagine. Were advancing plans for a second light rail line in Downtown Dallas that we hope will be partially funlt funded by a core capacity grant. The Budget Proposal will will stop this so despite local invest ment, the project would be delayed at least ten years without federal support. Yet we need the capacity today. Were also bringing in an old Railroad Corridor to life with the new Commuter Rail line adding a new rail collection to Dfw International airport. In response to local demand, we were able to accelerate that project by more than a decade with the help from a loan through the federal railroad administration. Federal support has helped us complete the conversion of our bus fleet to compress natural gas and in addition were using federal funds from the low and no Emission Bus Program to purchase seven electric bus thats will be in operation next year. We have been aggressive and intentional in seeking creative ways fund and deliver our projects. It certainly doesnt hurt that weve been able to develop a reputation for consistently being under budget and ahead of schedule on our projects. Our mobility challenges are difficult but certainly can be solved. People in communities everywhere are working on solutions that meet their unique needs. They have the vision and the desire. They need help with the funding. We believe there say role for local communities to partner with the federal government to Work Together to support the visions with sustainable substantial and predictable funding that fast act provides. I cannot impress upon the committee strongly enough how important it is to keep the fast act intact and that commitment intact as we move forward. Thank you very much, mr. Chairman and members of the committee. I look forward to answering your questions. Thank you, mr. Thomas. Mayor reed . Hit your mike. Thank you. Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, wanlt to thank you for the opportunity to be here today. I also want to thank my congressman from georgia mayor, you could pull that mike closer to you . I want to hear every single word you say. Thank you. I also want to thank my friend congressman hank johnson for that kind interduction. Im very hopeful that my wife was watching. That made me feel good about myself. I thank you, congressman johnson. I also want to thank the administration and this committee for your help with regard to the crisis that we have faced with the collapse of the i85 interstate in atlanta, georgia. The level of cooperation from our federal partners could not have been stronger. And i wanted to take this opportunity to express my personal gratitude. I come here today as the mayor of atlanta and the chairman of the Transportation Committee for the u. S. Conference of mayors. The challenge that were having in atlanta with interstate 85 and its collapse really points out that an overall Transportation System is needed now more than ever. In fact, since weve been facing this challenge with i85, the use of marta, the ninth largest Public Transit sfystem in the United States, has increase bid 29 as we work through the challenge were facing. So alternatives including resilient models we think will be increasingly important in the 2 21st century. Were also investing in roads which is an issue that i know is very important to members of this committee as well. In 2015, the state of georgia passed hb 170 under the leadership of governor nathan deal which raised the gas tax in order to fund nearly 1 billion annually for bridge and road repair. So were working hard to keep our own house in order in addition to having a strong relationship with our federal partners. The city of atlanta is also moving full speed ahead and leading in our own way. Last november the city moved forward with a half a penny sales tax referendum which will generate 2. 6 billion for marta and this item passed with 71 voter support. We also had a second ballot measure, a tee splice for. 4 of a penny which will raise estimated 300 million for Infrastructure Projects and it received 68 support. So i think its important to realize that in georgia and in the metro area were focusing on roads and partnership with the state but were also not leaving our trans it responsibilities and capabilities behind. City residents are indeed voting with their pocketbooks and businesses are voting with their feet. In the last 42 months after we have made these investments, improving our road infrastructure and transit infratru infrastructure, we won 17 regional or u. S. Headquarters in the city of atlanta. They include businesses like ncr, honeywell, ge digital, ups. We have had the largest net increase of jobs into the city in more than four years 40 years after making these investments. This would not have been possible with the stability that was provided by the fast act and your leadership in making that legislation possible. So i wanted to thank you for that. The last two years, atlanta taxpayers have focused increasingly on making sure that we funneled our share of infrastructure and i think its important to note that we ask this committee as you develop future legislation to always keep in mind what the local community has invested in the fast track grants and federal support. Were fixing roads and bridges, engineering more than 30 miles complete street projects including buy siblg lanes and traffic light sin crow niization. As a result of all the items, it is yif atlantas Credit Rating has improved seven positions to aa plus as rated by standard and poors, moodies and fitch. The point were making is that when you invest in these Critical Infrastructure items, the market responds and the Business Community responds. The expansion needs and is veryl and existing heavy rail in the atlanta street car systems. None of this would have been possible without your committees support. Mr. Chairman, that concludes my testimony. Thank you very much, mayor. Ill now turn to chairman shuster, the full committee. Sorry im late. I did make it to hear all your testimony. I want to thank you all, mr. Patterson, mr. Thomas, thank you for bringing your expertise andic that mayor reed for being here again. Outside of the ninth congressional district, i think youre my favorite mayor in america. You really understand the infrastructure. So sorry for what happened down there on the bridge at 85. But from what theyre telling me thashgs going to rebuild that bridge in 80 days. This is certainly a tragedy. Thank goodness and thank god nobody was killed. But we ought to pay very, very close attention to how fast this moves because we need to learn from. This as we did by the interstate 35 bridge several years ago. They built that bridge in about shy of 400 days. You know, these are the kind of things that we should learn from and as we move forward. Its going to be critical to do that. I was late because i spent an hour just an hour with secretary chow. She came and briefed about 45 members of congress. We talked about the infrastructure build, how important it is to the president and, of course, 40, 45 members were there asking a lot of great questions. And theres a federal component to it, obviously. We have to figure that revenue out, how we get more revenues. Publicprivate partnerships are a tool in the toolbox. Its a good tool. We need to make it better. And then figure out how to unleash the private dollars a talk to people around the country, there is a 200 billion road project in california right now. 2 billion, 50 million is federal money, the rest is california money. And state, local, private sector dollars, they want to get abo 5 or 600 million in a loan. These are things we have to get out of the way of the states and locals to move the projects forward. I really appreciate the three of you being here today. Thank you so much. But i would be remiss if i didnt introduce and welcome to the committee the dean of the secretarys of transportation and the dean of the secretaries of transportation from oklahoma, gary ridley, dean ridley. Good to see you. Just you being in the room were all learning through os moes is by you being here. I really always appreciate you being here. I say it again, thank you for being here. Thank you chairman graves for having this hear. Aboutwith that, we open it u questions. As most of my colleagues know, i grew up working in the Road Construction business. And that experience showed me how difficult it can be for state and lol governments to move forward with projects when they are uncertain about federal transportation spending. And not only that experience, i was a former mayor as well. So i saw it on both ends. And that uncertainty trickles down to private industry. My family would not hire more workers or purchase more equipment without knowing what the future might hold. Without knowing what kind of work would be out there. And for how long. Now under the fast act, federal transportation funding runs in and out 2020. Can any of you speak how this deadline affects your ability to move transportation projects forward . Congressman, thank you for the opportunity to address that question. From a Transit Agencys speshgtive, we do a very detailed long range Financial Plan. A 20 year Financial Plan that identifies, assumes in some regards and identifies all of our revenue and also identifies all of our expenses. So our projects are very specific. We make sure that we know what we can build, when we can build them and operate and maintain them once we can build them. Not having the certainty yonlt 2020 certainly pro hiblts us from that certainty and knowing what we can do in that 20 year plan and so that it limits us as we look at the one of the fastest or as congressman said, the Fastest Growing regions in the country. We cant always predict out and solve some of the transportation challenge thats we need to be doing now to make sure that those projects are in place. At that point in time. So the long range funding is certainly critical for trans it as we move forward. Thank you. As a follow on to my colleagues comments, one of the things that we could absolutely do right now which would be to smooth out the process around continuing resolutions even under the fast act that we have right now. Whenever we have that tension period when were waiting for the continuing resolution process, it affects our ability to budget and our state dot, for example, is in a position where it cant adequately prepare to get projects out waiting for that process. So thats something that is within the fast act structure right now that could help us push a great deal more dollars out to businesses to get folks working. Thank you. One of the biggest complaints i hear from people back home is that red tape and bureaucracy consistently hamper investment and innovation. The fast act called for greater environmental streamlining to get projects to completion faster. Can any of you speak to the success of this attempt . Is it actually happening . Or permits still slow to be developed by stake holder agencies . Congressman, i as i mentioned in my comments, i really appreciate what has happened with streamlining and the effects that came out and the fast act in map 21. We still have challenges. There are rulemaking processes that are still underway. That we still dont have the rules in place even after five years. But its important that the rules come out right. We dont want them just to be expeditious expeditious expeditiously drawn up and be wrong. We havent felt all of the effects of your efforts and the rest of Congress Efforts to provide that streamlining. But were hopeful that it does come to pass. Thank you. And just finally, theres no question, we need to find a sustainable funding source. We cant keep pulling the rabbits out of our hats or whatever we want to call them in washington. We need a sustainable funding stream. I support a user fee. I think its one way we can do that. What solutions do any of you have maybe for a sustainable revenue stream that we can put in the Highway Trust Fund to hept Highway Trust Fund . Congressman, oklahoma is a member of what we call the western road users consortium. Theres a group on the east coast. Sorry. Oklahoma is a member of the western road users consortium. There say group on the east coast that is looking at what you call user fees. Some sort of way to Fund Transportation beyond the consumption tax that i mentioned in my oral testimony. We see that something has to be done. I appreciate the federal government and congress providing some grant opportunities for our western route to look at different funding mechanisms. I know that oregon has a test underway and california just entered into that similar kind of test model. So states are looking at that and we hope that the federal government and congress looks at our success and our failures to develop something for the future. Last month we also have visits with representative shuster to talk about the penny for progress proposal as a guide. Additionally, we really strongly believe that local governments and state governments that really put skin in the game ought to have a process where they can where they have an advanced position in attracting federal capital. So how you all structure that on a long term basis, we would leave to the wisdom of this body. But when a local jurisdiction or a states citizens raise their hands and say were going to be first in on dealing with our own problems, we believe that we that municipality or state should be in an advanced position and that significant points should be awarded to whatever pool of money you all ultimately make available for us to deal with some of these tough challenges. Thank you. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thanking member norton . Thank you, mr. Chairman. Id be interested in knowing if any of your states have raised the state gas tax and what the effect what Public Opinion, what the effect on Public Opinion was and what do you think would be the effect of raising the federal gas tax now that perhaps some state gas taxes have been raised if you had both gas taxes. Id be interested in what you all have to say about that. Yes, maam, Ranking Member. Texas has not raised the gas tax since 199 it 2. So it is much the same case. But when you watch gas prices every day swing 10, 15 cents a gallon, im not sure how much a penny and a penny and a half and two pennies is noticed. Certainly there is conversations in austin about gas tax and about vehicle miles traveled. There is a lot of suggestions being made. We recognize as a state that something needs to be done. But much like what is happening across the country. A lot of conversation and just havent made that decision yet. Mr. Patterson and mayor reed . Oklahoma is not raise our gas tax since 1987. Governor fallon proposed to increase our fuel tax. Its estimated that by june we vlt lowest fuel tax in the country at 14 cents for diesel. How is that working out for you . Its not working out too well. So grofrn fallon made that proposal to increase it to 24 cents for each diesel and gasoline and its going through the legislative process at this point. Mayor reed . Yes, maam. Our governor nathan deal in 2015, a republican governor, near constitutional majorities in our house and in our senate in georgia with republican majorities in both raised the gas tax and raised 1 billion as a result of that. In the city of atlanta, we passed 2. 6 billion for the largest expansion of our trans it system in history. It passed about 71 local support. We also had a tee splice funding measure that passed with 68 local support funding more than 3 300 million in infrastructure. We had a local referendum for a 250 million infrastructure bond. It passed with more than 80 support. So my state, im from the state of georgia. We have a very conservative state. And all of these measures have been passed with broad majority. The legislative majority was in the General Assembly for the 1 billion in road money. And then the other item thats i referenced regarding marta, our Transit System and our infrastuck tour funds have been done within the city of atlanta. I think its a nice mix of urban and rural showing that whether you focus on rural folks or urban folks, people get that we need significant Infrastructure Investment. Very instructive. Conservative or republican, nobody found a way to build roads and bridges and Transit Systems without money. And im interested in the in what the states have done. Half the states have taken the initiative seeing the federal government is stuck and has been stuck for a generation. One more question. Id like to i got into the fast act actually it was the idea of a number of us funds for alternatives we dont just criticize the fact that Congress Wont or your states with those two states for that matter continue to continue to ignore the need for funds. We look for alternative funds and note that some states have found alternative ways or suggested alt entive ways, actually experimenting. And there is 10 billion in the fast act for such experimentation. Looking at the notions to come forward recently about private investment as a way to funneled roads and the investors getting back their investment through i suppose fares or tolls or the rest, id be interested in knowing whether you think relying more heavily on private investment would help us, in fact, hasten the work that needs to be done on our roads, bridges and infrastructure . In oklahoma and in many states we have seen reliance more on private investor n oklahoma, we have the Turnpike Authority created back in the late 40s to develop a high speed, safe transportation facility between Oklahoma City om point it has expanded on. Its clearly a tolli authority. The private investors are the moms and pops around the country that buy bonds so we cant forget that is a private investing opportunity. Could you build most of the roads using tolls with the public tolerate that . No, maam. We cant. And we realize that. We understand that at this point many states are relying on some sort of tolling to make up the difference between Adequate Funding at both the state and federal level. Could i just get answers from the other two witnesses, please . Congresswoman, i think that it depends as long as you keep your focus on project models versus tax credit models. So i think that the conversation has to be around real projects. Probably the most successful Publicprivate Partnership we have is a project called the atlanta belt line. We reclaim 22 miles of old abandoned railroads and now the 400 million in 400 million in public support has triggered 3. 8 billion in private capital attracted to renovating that entire corridor and creating about 1,200 acres of green space. That is a project model where Everybody Knows where the focus is going to be and everybody is tracking the jobs that are being created. The concern that were experiencing is moving to a tax credit model for the Financial Services community or financeers. Thats the distinction that i think is going to be important as we have this conversation. The most striking and most successful Public Private partnerships that i have seen have been project specific with very borrowed community buyin. Mr. Thomas. Yes, maam. From a transit industry perspective its a little bit different. Transit p3s are great opportunity, perhaps, as long as you understand going into it that that money is going to cost you more than what you could typically borrow other places. There are levels of Public Private partnerships, certainly in one case where we work very closely with uber and lyft. Thats a Public Private partnership of sorts. On the other hand when we do a design build project thats a partnership at the lowest level, but no funding or financing involved. When you get to that level, and of course the associated risk sharing opportunities, those cost more money. The private sector is going to expect higher Interest Rate on the money that they put into a project than what we can typically get through the federal funds or even a loan. Thank you very much. Five minutes. Thank you. Mayor, sorry about the braves on opening day. Not an easy thing especially after the falcons. I havent gotten over the falc falcons, abobut i appreciate it we dont want to remind you of bad things happening to atlanta sports, but as a braves things myself its always good to have the mayor of atlanta here. I want to ask you about funding set aside under the block grant program. Is the most Flexible Funding available to states to improve federal highways and bridges. I was pleased that the fast act took important steps to graduallily increase allocation to closer levels. Mayor, can you explain for the committee the importance on increasing the suballocation for these funds on local communities like yours to be able to address your transportation and infrastructure problems . Congressman davis, i think theyre absolutely vital and they will encourage local munn palties to deal with our infrastructure challenges. The one point i would make is that i do believe that local governments that really step up and start solving these problems on their own should have a dynamic competitive advantage and that is not in my opinion enough of the consideration as a part of this process, but i believe that the steps that were already taken have been vital, but i do believe that our federal partners could encourage us to do more on our own in order to be rewarded for that good behavior. Well, i appreciate hearing that, mayor. Also im pleased that the fast act does gradually increase that local control by increasing the suballocation, but i would have preferred for actually a larger increase and thats why i, along with my friend from nevada, advocated for language that would have gradual increased that to 60 by 2021. Why we were unsuccessful, i believe we should look at ways to increase local control of these transportation dollars. Do you have any suggestions additionally to what you responded to my previous question with that congress could take to further promote local control and helps communities better address your priorities . I think holding up National Models that congress has confidence in for other governments to see would be very helpful. In other words, having some form playing a clearhouse function where the answer isnt always additional money or capital, but the answer may be that these are governments that are taking on these challenges and handles them well from a financing standpoint and execution standpoint and a value of the dollars generated because everybodys going to come here and ask for more money, but if youre a local leader or a mayor, you have an end date. To the extent that a body like yours held projects out as molds after you verified them and theyre prepared to put your stamp of approval on it, i think that it would make it much easier to scale these projects around the country in communities large and small. Thats great advice. Do you have any projects that you might want to mention here to the committee that working well as maybe approximapublic p partnerships in atlanta . Absolutely. I believe that the atlanta beltline is as successful a Public Private partnership as anywhere in the country. If youve been to new york and enjoyed their highline, the atlanta beltline would be the equivalent of extending that to west chester county. Its 400 million in public money. It connects 45 neighborhoods that used to be separated by freeways. Its caused the city to connect just socially in a way that it had never connected before. That would be one example. The other example would be the atlanta street car where we had 98 million in Public Investment and weve had 2. 5 billion in new Construction Activity within a five minute walk of that line. Okay. Im not as familiar with that first project you mentioned. How are you paying back the private portion as a return on investment . What method . Its the use of tax credits for investment. For example, when you invest in the atlanta beltline, the public went in and did all the spending that it took to clean and prepare it and then the private sector came in after the Public Sector went in and identified the line. So for example, there was a 1 million square foot building that had been boarded up. Its not attracted 500 million worth of investment that used to be owned by my government. I sold it to the private sector for 27 million. The private sector came in and invested 500 million. Its built on the atlanta belt line. Thank you very much for your responses and thanks for being here. Thank you for the question. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Mr. Patterson, your written testimony complies that the fast act authorization levels rise faster fo are transit than highways. In fact highway and transit funding increase 3 over the five years of the act. This committee has stood by the 80 20 trust fund split for decades. Do you support maintaining this split between highway and transit funding in future transportation bills as we did in the fast act. Yes, we do. We do believe that the 80 20 split is appropriate and should be maintained. Thank you. Also, your testimony makes a compelling argument that direct funding is essential for highway and bridge projects. You have made the case that Public Private partnerships state infrastructure banks, Credit Assistance and local bonding issues are helpful but will not replace direct dollars. Can you explain why most transportation projects cannot sufficient revenue to provide a return on investment for private sector investors . When you typically look at a transportation project across this country, when youre talking about rural or urban situations, theres no opportunity in most cases to toll that facility. Additionally theres no Economic Economic way to capture the dollars that are generated along the route. An example in oklahoma we have seen where in a small town in southern oklahoma they grew out and annexed out to interstate 35. They did that because of the Economic Development the interstate provided to them, but we as a d. O. T. Cant capture that. There was benefit to the city. Thank you. I have one more question for you, sir. Earlier this year Speaker Paul Ryan suggested that an infrastructure package should consist of 98 private funding. Specifically the speaker said there should be a 401 ratio between private sector and Public Sector funding. Your testimony discusses the importance of direct federal funding for transportation which accounts of 43 of highway expenditures nationwide. Double that a package that relies on 98 private funding can address the needs of oklahoma and other states . I dont understand how you get to that perspective. Its something that i would have to learn more about. The perspective is basically that you have some sort of tax credits with federal funding that amounts to 2 and the other 98 comes in from p3s or something. You dont think that works . I dont think that works in oklahoma. But you do think it works elsewhere, just not in oklahoma . I cant speak for the other states, but i would imagine not. Thank you. Mr. Thomas, do you agree that Public Private partnerships, Credit Assistance and local bonding issues are helpful, but cannot real direct dollars. They give us tools in the toolbox, but it needs to be a complete toolbox otherwise you cant get the project done. Its an incomplete toolbox without the right federal funding. Yes. Mayor, double that private investors will be able to Fund Projects or do they require federal funds to complete. I dont believe the private market will do that because they will cherry picks which will leave central projects that we need that are just not as attractive. The answer is i dont believe that i believe that the Public Private Partnership Model is important, but it will not replace the need for our federal partners to bear the lions partnership of the load because the incentive to do the deal is to make a profit for the private sector. In summery for all three witnesses, the proposal that we have heard, the administration has not made a formal proposal, but what we have heard may be coming from the administration that they will do a i think an 82 tax credit for private partnerships and that will fund 1 trillion in infrastructure. Do any of the three of you believe that would work to fund 1 trillion in infrastructure if the only federal money basically is an 82 tax credit . I did not. I believe you have to have a project model, not a tax credit model. What do you mean . I mean specific projects that youre identifying that the federal government is investing into in order to create jobs as opposed to a tax credit model. There has to be a federal investment in addition to tax credits. Yes, in addition to a state and local investment. I agree with the mayor from atlanta that theres got to be the direct investment and that the tax credits wouldnt do it all by itself. Thank you. Mr. Patterson . I agree with the other two. Thank you. So in summary all our witnesses think the proposal that ive outlined would not generate 1 trillion for Infrastructure Investment or anything near it, is that correct . Yes. Yes, sir. Okay. Thank you very much. My time is well expired. I thank the chairman. Mr. Ferguson, five minutes. Mayor, right over here. Glad to have a fellow georgian in today and thank you for taking time. I know in atlanta is if i can get there. Its been tough, but i want to thank you on behalf of the rest of the state for your diligence and working with the governor to help mitigate what is a very difficult situation for not only atlanta, but the southeast and it goes to show how important that transportation is that one break down in the system can have ripple effects throughout an entire region. Can you speak briefly to the coordination needed between local, state and federal officials and most importantly on the planning process as it relates to transportation projects and also a little feedback on how the response was from the federal department of transportation with the emergency on i85. Thank you. Your accent was music to my ears. I felt right at home when you said hello. I think that the most important fact has been that the governor and i have always had a strong working relationship and so whether it was when the state of georgia was competing for funding or we were competing for a number of grants to work to deepen the port of savannah, we have always partnered. When you have an emergency like we did having the bridge collapse, when you Work Together all the time you get through this challenge the way you get through others. The bulk of the credit belongs to our first responders. In a tragic event we had no loss of life. And i think the credit to that goes to our firefighters and our Police Officers and our state patrol officers. They coordinated and shut down the highway expeditiously and then we coordinated in deploying resources, which included phone, fire trucks from the airport, which were essential in putting the fire out so that less damage would have been done. Our federal partners have been exampleary. They have worked in the best tradition of the federal, state and local relationship. And i have been in multiple meetings because we had we were at the state capital when this crisis occurred and we instantly began working together and i think thats why were going to get the highway up and operational as soon as we possibly can. And i also think thats why you havent seen us playing typical political games of blames personship. Mr. Johnson. Thank you very much. Thank you, mr. Chairman for this hearing. It has been one that has brought a great deal of frustration for me as i sit here and look at that quotation up there on the wall. The section of the constitution article one section eight speaks to the federal governments responsibility toward post offices and roads. We have privatized the post offices and i dont know what were getting from it, but i just dont see how we can privatize transportation. Nevertheless, im one of these people that will try to find a way to work with any philosophy that i can to try to get a job done, but this is a tough approach to attempting to address the essential transportation problems in our country. So im going to ask mr. Thomas, how detrimental will these cuts be, if theyll be detrimental, to the city of dallas and drchl d. A. R. T. And the cities across the country, we have a lot of needs to accommodate the area as im sure every other major city does, but when you read the president s budget, what is your reaction . Where do we go from here . We have three projects well into the process in the dallas area alone. Two are core capacity projects and one is a small starts project. One is a second alignment through downtown. Again, when people think of transit in the United States, they dont always think about dallas, texas, but as i said earlier we have the longest light rail in the United States for that matter. All of those lines come through a single corridor through downtown right now. If theres anything that happens on that corridor, an accident, a fair, we had a fire a few years ago. When the firemen laid their hoses across the tracks they dont want trains to run across those hoses and we appreciate and understand that. So we desperately need that second alignment through Downtown Dallas. Were proposing a 50 50 split. In other words, bringing 50 of funding for that project from local funds with a 50 match from the federal government on the core capacity. The other project that were working on is an extension of our older platforms, which would allow us on 28 platforms to extend those 100 feet, which gives us just by that alone 30 capacity increase on those two lines, the red and blue line, again, looking for a 50 50 split. Tdot has come to the table with half of that so were looking at the Core Capacity Program for the other half. The third project is an extension of our street car project. The street car program that we just opened not too long ago is unique because it uses American Made street cars. Street cars that actually are dual mode. Theyll operate with an overhead wire and without an overhead wire. We intend to extend that through Downtown Dallas. Were well into the process, the environmental process, working with the community, making sure we know where these projects should go, what the alignments are, building that support locally, all of those go away. They go away. Now, we still are having tremendous growth to the area. So if they go away, what do we go from there . Thats the good question. I think as we look in our region, but across the United States, the impact of the Capital Investment grants has been important, its been critical. As transit agencies have continued to provide choices for people in their communities to be able to get where they need to go, whether its to the doctor, to the Grocery Store and most importantly to jobs well over 80 of the people that are riding Public Transportation is going to their jobs. So its imperative that we continue to look for and continue to support the fast act. Its been incredibly successful to that point. Its imperative that we continue to support that through 2020, at least. Thank you, very much. Yes, maam. My time has expired. Thank you, mr. Chairman and panelist for joining us today. Mayor, ill start with you. First of all, thank you for being here and i wish the best to the braves so long as they dont have any cross interests with the giants. We have some commonality with our emergency situations here with you with that bridge and i85 here and i still harken back to when things went really well after the north ridge earthquake in california. This was back in 94 where it was projected it might be a year, year and a half having one of the biggest freeways in the country in the world knocked out due to the can do attitude from contractors and the state putting aside red tape they were able to get that back up within a few months and save much loss and Economic Activity and inconvenience inconvenience to the people in Southern California there, so i hope that is going well and youre getting all the corporation in the world from the federal government and others to see your bridge through. My understanding is that an original timetable from what i saw in the press yesterday moved up from the fall or winter to maybe june. I hope its moving fast for you. We have an immediate need in our own backyard in Northern California where you may have seen the story about the oroville dam and the spillway problem we the in december and it resulted in an evacuation of nearly 200,000 people down stream of that. Nothing really bad ended up happening with the emergency spillway there, but the potential for the erosion there due to a design that is indeed questionable made that necessary for Public Safety requirements. So infrastructure and the Public Safety are very intertwined as we see. Do you feel that the federal transportation infrastructure, the programs that support the locals and increasing Public Safety and being prepared as much as they need to be more emergency situations like im talking about my backyard or socal years ago, is the federal government doing a good enough job supporting the local levels in that safety aspect . Again, specifying emergency situations where you need quick action. My sense is yes. I share a group called ulocity which is our local disaster planning entity in atlanta and when it comes to emergency response, everything that i have seen shows a high level of professionalism and a high level of coordination. So that is an aspect of the government that i feel very good about. I do believe that were all going to have to change at the local level really to a posture of being resilient because without moving in to a debate about climate, weather patterns and emergency situations are coming with increasing frequency and so i think that this is a conversation were going to have to start having more aggressively with our federal partne partners. The things you experience in Northern California really have a great deal to do with being on a permanent resilient footing and as i sit here testifying right now, we are experiencing unusually bad weather in the city of atlanta and have been. So whats happening is local governments are having to be on a foot on an almost permanent footing of responding to crisis of one kind or another. Frequently weather related crisis. Do you think greater weight should be given to not only improve movement, but the flexibility in emergency situations that could come through the fast lane program . Theres no question about it. Flexibility is going to be is going to be either the order of the day or its going to be thrust upon us by circumstances. So i think that its a more thoughtful approach to have flexibility built in to the relationship as opposed to having good people have to make it up at the last minute. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Appreciate it and my experience your airport has also been very good. I take the red eye from the coast and end up there at about 6 00 a. M. Sometimes. The line at pop eyes is always too long. Thats the busiest pop eyes chicken in the world, by the way. I yield back. Thank you, mr. Chair. Mr. Thomas, i have a question in regard to Capital Investment grant. The trump administrations skinny budget calls for the elimination of the Capital Investment grant. D. A. R. T. Has two separate projects in this pipeline. Does it make fiscal sense to eliminate those programs potentially setting back billions of dollars of Infrastructure Investment . Theres certainly across the United States theres been a lot of work done in preparation of these projects. A lot of these projects as they are in dallas have gone through Extensive Community meetings, lots of planning efforts, lots of coordination. Certainly in our case were bringing a significant amount of money to the table, as we always have, as well continue to do in our Financial Plan. People have looked at the fast act as although it only goes to 2020 and we understand there are challenges beyond that, were appreciative of the long term bill. We would like for it to stay intact and move forward through 2020, so these agencies, including ours, that have anticipated that funding can go ahead and get these projects completed and provide those choices to people. Does it make fiscal sense to eliminate them. Certainly in d. A. R. T. s case it does not because were bringing money to the table. Theyre getting 50 sepcents on dollar for a project so it seems like it makes sense to continue to do that. Thank you. Another question i have has to do with possible train control. The fast act provided 199 million guaranteed for fiscal year 2017 to help railroads implement pct. Appropriations committee did not make the funding available however under the continuing resolution. This critical safety funding will lapse if the cr is extended for the remainder of the fiscal year. Can you elaborate why this funding is important to your agencies . Well, certainly the transit industry is hopeful that congress will complete the fy17 budget so that Grant Funding can be allocated to the properties throughout the country. Weve got a 2018 deadline for our computer rail system. To put that in place, that comes that requirement comes on top of operating and maintaining that system every day. Its already been extended once. Yes, maam. It its imperative to meet the deadline. I have been working on an amendment to faa reauthorization to prohibit faa from impacting state and local general sales tax. For 30 years faa has required exice tax has required to be built on airport infrastructure, but it has not interpreted this requirement to effect general sales tax and other products sold in the country or state. Now theyre changing their interpretation requiring state and local governments to account how much money is collected by the general sales tax on Aviation Fuel and sif oning the money back to the airport. Its a problem when state and local governments are told how to spend their own tax dollars by the faa. It will impact local transportation projects since most sales tax around the country provides for local transportation funding. It will take millions of dollars out of local control. Are you aware of the issue and do you have concerns with this new faa rule should congress fix press dense that allows state and local government to see spend their general tax revenue as they see fit. I dont have any knowledge i have knowledge, but i cant really comment on that. I think the mayor would be better suited for this answer. Im on your side. I dont think i could have said it better than you just said it. Its an infringement upon the local control as far as im controlled. Thank you. Thank you, mr. Chairman. As a Business Owner of a Construction Company for 25 years prior to serving in the state legislator and then here, i understand the importance of good highway bridge system and infrastructure to move goods and employees to job sites and the importance of infrastructure to our economy essentially. And then when serving in the state legislator we were one of the states that were able to pass a bill that provided for additional sustainable funding for or highway and bridge system and in our case it was a wholesale gas tax that had a cap on it tied to the price of gas and we essentially lifted the cap, but generated billions of dollars of additional funding for mostly for maintenance and repair of our Current System in some cases adding additional capacity, but we had the highest number of structurally deficiencies in the state. The reason i bring it up, it was really important for us let me back up. It was a republican legislator, both houses, and a republican governor at the time and i just mention that because you mentioned that in georgia, but i also mention it because at the same time we were able to gather support for that, we were looking at all aspects of our budget. In fact were cutting back in other areas because we really believe that we needed to focus on the Core Functions of government. And were able to make the case to the people of pennsylvania that infrastructure is not only a core function of government, its something you have to do at that level, but also was critically important to people who were caught in traffic, in congestion and critically important to the economy and it took a concerted effort, it took a lot of hearings and a lot of discussion with the public, to gain that support that was required to pass that and i think thats something that we will need to do here. I support finding a way for sustainable funding. I think the point was brought up earlier its so important to not only the state and local municipalities to have that dependable sustainable source of funding, but to all the businesses that rely on this, its critical for efficient delivery to know we can plan ahead. So, mayor, i guess to you, can you give us some insight i think if i understood your testimony correctly while you were you essentially passed a 1 sales tax that went to infrastructure and you said also georgia was doing that at the same time. What can we learn from that in terms of building the public support for investment in our infrastructure . Congressman, i think that what we can learn is that the public is ahead of us. I think that when we talk plainly and explain what the challenges are, the public will come on board as long as they believe that were going to make good use of their funds. I imagine you experienced that in pennsylvania. In georgia, our state is one of eight states in america with a aaa Credit Rating from all three ratings agencies. One of the reasons is tight fiscal management, but also the decision we made around transportation. Weve grown to be the tenth largest state in the union. The region is now the ninth largest metro in the region. Weve gone from a really low Credit Rating to aaa plus. So i think the arguments that you make is and weve had an absolute jobs boom. What were all concerned about is who is going to win the war for talent and i think that folks like you and i have to just get out and make the case. I thought it was really important that a republican governor or Republican House and Republican Senate passed the billion dollars that they passed because we just were our folks were stuck in traffic like you all. Then on the transit side, were doing the biggest transit expansion in the history of our system and it will be one of the seven largest transit expansions in earthquaamerica, but we did 71 voter support at the ballot. I think that was nice bipartisan collaborati collaboration. Thank you. I was hoping to get input from the other panelists as well as exhibit but i but im out of time. I apologize. You served in the georgia ed legislator for ten years, both in the house and senate, so you know how conservative and fiscally restrained the environment is among our legislative friends in georgia. But yet back in 2015 georgia increased its gas tax from 7. 5 cents to 26 cents and increased the diesel tax to 29 cents and then indexed it so that every year its adjusted in accordance with the Consumer Price index. Can you comment about the conditions that existed in georgia that led to the passage of that gas tax increase . And also what political fall out, if any, occurred as a result of passage and then the benefits from passing that increase. Thank you for the question. I think the bottom line is that if you want to lose an election in georgia, you would be the person to lose the states aaa Credit Rating. Everybody was experiencing the same thing. We were all sitting in traffic. We had tried to pass a regional bill. You remember that, the governor and i worked to pass a regional transportation bill that was soundly rejected by the voters at the ballot. So the problem of traffic in atlanta, we have among the worst traffic in the United States. It was really starting to impact our ability to attract jobs and business when we were trying to fight our way out of the recession. Every meeting that the governor and i went to when we were recruiting businesses and working to keep businesses in georgia, they said you got to do something about the traffic. And so i think that it was a matter of having the right leader at the right time. He made the decision to move a bill through the georgia General Assembly and im comfortable saying that 95 of the people who voted in favor of the 1 billion tax increase were all reelected. I would probably be comfortable saying 98 were reelected at the ballot. So the risk were minimal, but we did a good job of explaining the need and then the city took the leadership on expanding transit within the city of atlanta. I want to ask you about that because atlanta has seen a number of fortune 500 and fortune 100 Companies Moving into atlanta as a result of our investment in transit. Can you elaborate on what weve done, how it has effected our economy . Sure. We have the Third Largest concentration of fortune 500 businesses in the United States of america and i think what the Business Community is doing is depoliticalizing transit. As opposed to it being a democrat republican issue, when state farm cited 8,000 jobs outside of atlanta, when pulty group homes moved to atlanta, so what were seeing is the Business Community and Millennials Want to be near transit so its lifting the transit conversation out of politics because everybody wants terrific jobs. We have a generation of folks unlike my generation and your generation who are not interested in driving automobiles. So if you want to be first to the future, youre going to have to be in the transit business. So republicans and democrats have gotten in line and i would suspect that mr. Thomas sees the same thing. When you put down transit and infrastructure, business comes to it because its a permanent investment. And when you put it to voters, these items pass overwhelmingly. So i think its really about being fast to the future, congressman. You just got to decide whether you want to have well paying jobs for your people or not. Now because of the business communities insistence on transit and how well transit investments perform in terms of the economy built around it, its helping us get out of this old argument of rural urban, democrat republican. Mr. Thomas, have you experience in the the same thing in dallas. Absolutely. We have a state Farm Development also and they looked for a rail station to be close to and the same developer in the development around that particular station is phenomenal. 28 new restaurants, thousands of New Residences. Millions of square feet of office space that occur around that particular station. So the developers certainly understand the advantage of that transportation infrastructure. Theyre looking at our communities understand it. The debate in north texas is where those federal resources end up going because they know when we go in and build that infrastructure, theres going to be development and job opportunities. There are going to be the benefit to the people. Not only from a transportation perspective, but also all the ancillary benefits that happen around those stations. Thank you. Im out of time. I yield back. Thank you. Again i want to thank and welcome all of you to the committee. I appreciate your testimony. I am going to yield my time to mr. Doug as we call him here. He has some more questions he would like to ask. With that i yield. Much appreciated. Again, i appreciate the discussion with the panel and mr. Mayor, youre talking about the collaborative process you had in georgia there with the governor and your city and others were aaa Credit Rating. Youre doing things the right way. Youre talking to people and doing what they wish to see happen. In california we dont have a good Credit Rating. The legislator i think in more well, total control terms ill leave it at that are forcing through at this moment this week a combined gas tax and car tax, which the people are against, especially in terms of im going to direct a question to mr. Patterson here if a moment, but we have a high speed rail issue in california that has shown to be 55 billion short of funding, but we dont know where its going to come from, yet we have crumbling bridges and roads down there that the people will be forced to pay a higher tax on their automobile registration and their gasoline thats probably going to mean to a two car middle income family around 500 per year additionally they dont get to spend on their kids education or whatever for crumble roads and bridges and theyre seeing billions being spent on high speed rail at a point in the state where nobody seems to want it and then the audacity in this new funding theres not any upgrades for new additional lanes or additional capacity for roads and bridges. I think whats going on out there is not a collaborative process and its tone deaf to the needs of the middle income families. I would like to see where we can do it here a much more stream lined process to get dollars to projects that do relieve traffic and do repairs. For mr. Patterson, in my own county up there we have state highway 70 that could have been done theres projects that could be done in the future or have already partially been done faster and less costly if the Environmental Review process didnt have to take as long for issues in the environment that are already well known. This isnt a brand new concept that when you add a lane on the next segment that youre going to have issues that are already well known on previous studies in the same type of terrain. So what can we be doing to assist local agencies without having to be held hostage for some of these habitat tradeoffs to have more efficient construction of transportation projects, whether its rebuilding of older infrastructure or the additional capacity that we all want and we all need as taxpayers . Thank you. One of the things that this congress did was provide for a Better Process when were talking about adding in your example adding lanes to or adding additional capacity to already identified transportation corridors. The intent of congress at the time was to go from fence to fence and that would be because its already cleared as a transportation corridor. Some of the guidelines that we have received from the federal Highway Administration dont allow fence to fence so its just pavement edge to pavement edge. So were having to work through some of those issues with the u. S. D. O. T. And their rule making process. I know the director in california is working very hard on that issue as well as many other of my colleagues from around the country. Thank you for that. Id like to look more into that fence to fence provision youre talking about there, but ill yield back the rest of my time and please follow up with my office if you get the opportunity on that. Thank you. Thank you. We heard earlier something about 45 members had a meeting with secretary chow. I would suggest we invite here to meet with all members of this committee so we can have a collaborative effort and continue to be bipartisan in our effort to put forward transportation policy. Maybe they wouldnt have the problems they had with the Health Care Bill if were all engaged from the beginning. Id like to acknowledge, and hes gone already mr. Davis from illinois. He brought out our bill that we worked together and became an amendment to the fast act where we send more money to the local government as opposed to the state for it to be distributed. I think we need to continue down that path because too often the politics in the state capital around the d. O. T. Entities play a good part in decision making. Id like to turn my attention a little bit though to another provision in the fast act that i worked on and that was to have complete streets planning put into the bill. This is the first time this has ever been done in a federal Transportation Program and i was very glad to see that and my district in las vegas weve just had an increase in pedestrian deaths so having a policy that begins with the planning through the construction through the operation of transportation that includes all users i think is very beneficial. I know a number of states and local governments are incorporating that kind of safe streets planning and i would like to ask you, mayor, under your leadership, i know atlanta is one of the stars in this area, could you comment on the benefits of it, how its working, some suggestions for other places to follow . I think that it has worked well and i think that its connecting communities and contributing to a sense of community that people that created and developed the concept had in mind. It is what we thought it is when well executed. So it is an approach that were talking. It is a part of the reason we had such success at ballot when we went to the voters during our recent referendum. Folks are asking for it and it also gives a significant boost to businesses that are on complete street corridors. So i think that the complete street approach is really bearing good fruit and it is what we thought it was and it needs to be pushed at every opportunity if you want your city or your community to be a leading one because its something that people want when theyre looking for a place to make a permanent home. Thank you. I believe its not just for safety, but quality of life. You see more people on bicycles now and more people walking. All kinds of uses besides just cars and buses. Mr. Patterson, would you talk about what some of the states are doing as they include this in their planning . Well, i know several states are working on complete streets. In oklahoma we are partnering with the city of Oklahoma City for a new downtown boulevard that includes bike lanes, walk pedestrian paths, as well as a new driving lane. It is where i40 used to go through downtown Oklahoma City and weve relocated i40 to the south of downtown and were putting in a boulevard that it has the complete streets concept to it. And if you want to talk about businesses, were seeing in downtown las vegas where they now have rent a bike and thats kind of part of that quality of living i was talking about. Would you like to comment how it relates to businesses and improves that aspect of things . Anybody. Well, i can tell you in Oklahoma City we have the rent a bike Program Going on there and its growing exponentially. We believe that once the new boulevard is in place, it will explode, much like you see here in washington, d. C. Mayor . Our Bike Share Program has been highly popular and were getting to expand it by 400 . Congressman, i think the benefit and you certainly are aware is how all the different modes of transportation Work Together whether it be buses, bikes, pedestrians, automobiles and that planning effort is what makes all that happen. So often the planning effort is skipped and bypassed so thank you very much for making sure its been included in the fast act. Thank you. I yield back. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I join others in thanking our witnesses for joining us and educating us today. Id like to raise an issue thats near and dear to my heart, an extremely important to my district, which starts off with the port of long beach, which is the second largest port in the United States. And that is freight funding, funding for the movement of freight. As you know, the fast act included dedicated freight funding programs for the first time. This included Competitive Grant Program dubbed the fast lane by d. O. T. Mayor, youve talked about the importance to your state and the city of Economic Development at the port of savannah which received a 44 million grant for multi modal connectors. Thats what youve talked about. Mr. Patterson, your department was granted 62 million last year for a us69 for road for rail grade separations. So youre Organization Also put out a report with the American Association of port authorities that showed the growing demand for multi modal projects. The report stated that in an absolute minimum need of at least 20 billion for projects, yet the fast act only has a total funding for projects of slightly more than 1 billion. 1. 13 billion and thats over five years. The question i for you is do you agree that theres a greater need for funding of multi modal projects . Congressman, absolutely. One of the things that we know is that as we have looked at the federal program over the years, since the completion of the interstate highway system, we really dont have a goal, something to hang our hat on, if you will. We were hoping and we believe that this Freight Program is the next goal. It is imperative that we be able to move freight across this country by rail, water i think you did great. I want to ask because i have one more follow up question and thats exactly what i wanted. Do you have anything more to add, mayor . The answer is absolutely. Okay. Now i have a proposal that i first introduced in the 114th congress and will be doing again that puts a user fee, which is paid for by the owners of the goods on the cost of shipping goods by road or rail in the United States to distrirectly f infrastructure. So a user fee paid by the owners of the goods to directly fund freight infrastructure. Would you support a similar proposal such as a user fee by the owners of goods to pay for the for freight infrastructure . Several years ago a group of us got together and we were looking at ways to Fund Transportation in the future. Congressman, thats exactly one of the things that we had come up with was an additional sur charge, user fee, however you would want to label it, for Freight Movements and dedicated to freight systems. So it has to be dedicated . It would be sustainable paid by the users, it would be in a dedicated funding stream to be used just for freight infrastructure. Would you support that, mayor . I dont know. Id have to have the full proposal to consider it. Okay. Were just talking about not so much a specific proposal, but just the concept that those that use the system would pay for the improvements in the system dedicated and some way to get an appropriate way of distributing that funds. Yes. Thank you. I yield back. Thank you. I thank all our witnesses for being here today as we talk about the fast act, which i want to thank all the members of this committee on both sides. We all worked well together in putting getting the fast act together and moved. I am hopeful that we can do the same thing on a new, big trillion dollar or more than trillion dollar infrastructure plan, things that have been talked about by the last few people members who have spoken about complete streets and transit. I think its important that those are included in a new infrastructure package importance of freight movement. I think thats also very critical to do. I want to ask a question about something that i dont think anyone has. So not only vtv, vehicle to vehicle, but vti technology is vital for maximizing the benefits of autonomous and connected vehicles. Benefits such as great safety improvements, less congestion on our roads and also increasing the efficiency of our vehicles. So we really need to find creative ways to incentivize investment in vehicle and infrastructure technology. We need to make target investments for capital if were going to be doing this big infrastructure package. The f. A. S. T. Act ensured that vti would remain eligible for funding but we also need to consider dig once policies that promotes insulation of advanced systems that enable vti during construction so were not going back and doing it all over again. Ive asked witnesses at previous hearings about the state of local about state and local investments in this technology and some have said that theyve been hesitant to make investment because of the lack of industry standards and federal guidance. In january, fhwa released new vti guidance document that can help transportation agencies understand the regional impacts of vti deployment and prepare for emerging technologies and leverage federal aid funds to deploy them. Id just like to ask mr. Patterson and reed if you could discuss your experience with vti technology and whether or not theres sufficient federal guidance to promote investment and what more can be done so we make sure that we do prepare the infrastructure for this. Mr. Patterson, you want to start . Thank you, congressman. I think i think from an overall perspective and given the advances in technology, its been good that the states have taken a slow, methodical approach to integrating vti into the system. When you look at technology doubles every year and you look back five years ago when we really got into the discussion about v2i, its changed. The guidance that came out was very helpful. We had several of our members who were very involved in leading the technology. I can tell you, in oklahoma, we are still learning, were not as far advanced as some other states are in the discussion, but it is something that we are beginning to understand and embrace. And it was that guidance and it is the support of ashto members that gets us to that point. Mayor reed, anything to add . We are developing a smart corridor along north avenue near georgia tech and by the Cocacola Company that will be really testing all of these technologies at once. So, much like my colleague, were in the very early stages of it. Candidly, we have been putting a great deal more energy in to selfdriven Vehicle Technology and we have been slower on v2i. Is there anything the federal government can do to help speed things along to make it easier for states and localities to do this . I think rules from the road from federal experts could shorten the learning curve for municipalities, because thats really the challenge for us when these new kinds of technologies and relationships occur, we have to come up to speed on that and we have to put in a good amount of person power for that. So knowing where the federal government is going in the future in that regard would send an important signal to where we should be going. I think that collaboration and cooperation is going to be very important as the mayor said, as we begin to develop our system in lahoma and as other states expand their v2i capabilities. This is a turning point for all of transportation. Its almost as extensive going from the horse and buggy to the model t. So it is something that were very interested in and our customers, the public, is going to demand that kind of reaction from us. Thank you. Yield back. Any other further questions . Seeing none, id like to obviously thank our witnesses for your testimony today and your contribution to todays discussion. Its obviously been very informative and very helpful. And with that id ask unanimous consent that the record of todays hearing remain open until such time as our witnesses have provided any answers to any questions that may be submitted to them in writing and the unanimous consent that it remain open for 15 days for additional for anything to be submitted into the record of todays hearing. Without objection that is so ordered, and if no other members have anything to add, then the subcommittee stands adjourned. Thank you all. Tonight on cspan 3, American History tv in primetime. Joseph ellis on the founding fathers, and studying the american revolution. The Los Angeles Times has been putting on the festival of books for more than 20 years. And it has become an institution thats part of the community. If, and its a way that we can celebrate with the readers of the paper, and with the city as a whole. The very notion of reading. And today, when the idea of there being something called fake news is out there, i think that books help us celebrate the way that words and facts are grounded in storytelling and history. Watch our live coverage all weekend april 22nd and 23rd on book tv, on cspan 2. Check out our cspan classroom website, its full of free teaching resources. The improved layout gives teachers access to ready to go resources, including short Current Events videos, constitution clips that bring the constitution to life. Social studies lesson plans, as well as on this day in history resources. Our bell ringers video clips are teacher favorites. Short videos paired with vocabulary and discussion questions. I love the bell ringers, a lot of times i dont use them as actual bell ringers, but ill use them as more of a wrapup. The new website is something thats just fabulous. My students use it regularly, and its so easy, right now theyre working on clipping videos and making questions that they can design and turn into their own bell ringers. Probably my favorite aspect is the deliberations page. Just a perfectly set up, ready to go classroom discussion on a variety of topics. If youre a middle or high school teacher, become a member of cspan classroom, register online. And if you register now, you can get a free american president s poster. Find out more online. The Senate Homeland Security Committee held a hearing on t