OLYMPIA, Wash. — State Senate transportation leaders released a proposed transportation budget Tuesday with fewer fee increases than put forward by their counterparts in the House.

Both plans fell well short of Gov. Chris Gregoire’s call last month for an infusion of $3.6 billion in transportation funds over the next decade. The centerpiece of the governor’s plan was a $1.50 fee per barrel of oil refined in the state.

“We need to get our economy stronger before we ask for more revenue,” said Senate Transportation Committee Chairwoman Mary Margaret Haugen, D-Camano Island.

The Senate’s transportation package would raise about $212 million in fees over the next three years – $50 million less than what is proposed in the House – through increased charges for car dealership licenses, replacement motorcycle license plates and copies of drivers’ records.

Under the Senate plan, driver’s license fees would also increase by 80 percent and the cost of a title application would spike from $5 to $12.50.

In addition to the Senate-approved fees, House transportation leaders are pursuing increased fees on learner’s permits from $20 to $25, on driver’s license exams from $20 to $35, and on DUI hearings from $200 to $375. The same hikes were approved by the House last year but didn’t survive in the Senate.

House Transportation Committee Chairwoman Judy Clibborn, D-Mercer Island, said that the additional fees she is seeking are modest and necessary.

“The more we can get the better off we are, because we’re plugging holes all over the budget,” Clibborn said.

Haugen said that lawmakers have prioritized funding preliminary work on a variety of infrastructure projects that will be ready to go when the Legislature seeks a more significant transfusion of transportation cash. This would likely be through another gas tax increase within the next two years, she said.

Over the next year, the Senate plan would increase funding for such priorities as highway preservation and maintenance, the State Patrol and ferry operations by about $52 million, or $11 million less than what is proposed in the House.

The Senate’s plan also includes a proposal to cut up to 7 percent of the Department of Transportation’s

Article source: http://feeds.stateline.org/~r/StatelineorgRss-Transportation/~3/ByNqvuT7Bq4/wa-senate-proposes-lower-transpo.html

House and Senate bills that would require an ignition interlock device for first-time offenders convicted of driving under the influence — bills that recently passed their respective chambers — might be hitting some speed bumps on their road to Gov. Bob McDonnell.

Senate Bill 378, sponsored by Sen. A. Donald McEachin, D-Henrico, would require interlocks for at least six months for first-time offenders who test above the legal limit of 0.08 percent blood alcohol content. House Bill 279, sponsored by Del. Salvatore R. Iaquinto, R-Virginia Beach, does the same. Fifteen states have similar laws.

Currently the law requires judges to impose the interlocks — which prevent a car from being started when a driver is under the influence — for a first-time offender who has a blood alcohol content of 0.15 percent or higher and for second and subsequent offenses of the DUI law.

But Republicans in the House Courts of Justice Committee, including the chairman, Del. David B. Albo, R-Fairfax, have voiced concern over the lower threshold for first-time offenders — including, but not limited to, the logistical issues of accommodating what they believe would be a dramatic increase in the demand and waiting time to have the devices installed.

Senators in the Senate Courts of Justice Committee, including its chairman, Sen. Thomas K. Norment Jr., R-James City, have expressed similar concerns, particularly over the impact the cost and the wait for the device could have on the ability of offenders to maintain employment by getting to and from work legally.

When House Bill 279 came before the Senate Courts committee Monday, the panel amended Iaquinto’s bill to raise the threshold for mandatory first-time interlock installation to 0.12 percent blood alcohol content. The measure cleared the committee and now heads to the full Senate.

Albo is expected to seek a similar amendment to Senate Bill 378 if it emerges from a House subcommittee. Meanwhile, McEachin said he will seek to have the amendment to Iaquinto’s bill removed on the Senate floor when it comes up this week. Passage of that bill would send it to McDonnell, who could sign, amend or veto the legislation.

“I do

Article source: http://feeds.stateline.org/~r/StatelineorgRss-Transportation/~3/1Qupq-laCQs/

A bill that would allow motorcycles, mopeds and bicycles to run red lights legally in some instances crashed Tuesday, but lawmakers may allow it to get back up and try again.

The House Transportation Committee voted to hold HB327 by Rep. Johnny Anderson, R-Taylorsville.

Motorcycle and bicycle groups supported the measure, arguing sensors at traffic lights cannot detect them, so they “are trapped and held hostage” by lights until forced to eventually break the law and run through red lights anyway.

Anderson proposed to let them legally run red lights if they wait at least 90 seconds at the intersection first, then proceed only when traffic is clear. He said 13 states currently allow that.

Opposing it was the Utah Highway Patrol, the Utah Department of Transportation and auto insurance companies, which warned it could lead to confusion.

Rep. Janice Fisher, D-West Valley City, moved to hold the bill in hopes that the groups could find a compromise.

Lee Davidson

Article source: http://feeds.stateline.org/~r/StatelineorgRss-Transportation/~3/Gv-s0VDXdGU/lights-red-run-bill.html.csp

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School districts should take over the operation of the school buses that serve their students, Gov. Nikki Haley said Tuesday in Greenville, but she couldn’t say where they would get the money to do it.

And after talking about bullying with students at Alexander Elementary School, Haley insisted that her proposed state budget doesn’t reduce funding to schools, although the Greenville County School District says it will face a reduction of $4.7 million if the Legislature approves her plan.

Haley said she wouldn’t use any of the $913 million that the state expects to come in through tax receipts above what had been projected for the year for “recurring expenses” – including buying school buses or toward “base student cost,” a calculation of how much state money goes to educate each student for one year.

In response to a question from GreenvilleOnline.com, Haley noted that South Carolina is the only state that operates a statewide school bus system and said the money now going for that should go for classroom purposes.

“We need to let the local districts decide how they want to maintain school buses,” she said.

“But when no other state in the country is doing it we should understand those resources are wasted on school buses that are old, that aren’t working, and it should be focused on teachers, students and education in the classroom.”

Greenville County students ride to school on 358 state-owned school buses, plus 11 district-owned magnet buses and eight buses for students who transferred under the federal No Child Left Behind Act. The school district provides transportation for about 25,000 students, riding routes that, if laid end to end, would circle the globe daily.

Asked how the school districts would be able to pay for taking over the transportation system, Haley said they could “contract out to the private sector.”

Greenville County School Board Chairman Roger Meek said the board hasn’t discussed the issue lately,

Article source: http://feeds.stateline.org/~r/StatelineorgRss-Transportation/~3/nRqiCqMI1bU/Haley-says-school-districts-should-responsible-buses

With action on a new St. Croix River crossing stalled in Congress, Gov. Mark Dayton issued an urgent warning Tuesday that time is running out on federal approval for the long-sought project.

Setting a March 15 deadline, the DFL governor wrote to U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann, the Republican House author of a bill granting the necessary environmental clearances, requesting “immediate action.”

After speaking with Dayton, Bachmann issued a statement noting that while the project remains her “top priority,” Congress is scheduled to be in session only eight days between now and Dayton’s deadline.

While Bachmann gave no assurance of a time frame, she said she remains “confident we will face this challenge and move forward in a bipartisan fashion to complete this critical and much-needed project.”

Bachmann, as well as several congressional aides, noted that GOP House leaders’ attention is now on a major transportation and infrastructure bill. The so-called road bill has sharply divided Republican and Democratic lawmakers, and itself faces a cloudy future.

Republican sources familiar with the bridge legislation see little chance that the road bill will be resolved soon, leaving open the question of what path might be available to Bachmann, who needs to win a controversial exemption from the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act.

Meanwhile, under a redistricting plan announced Tuesday by a panel of Minnesota judges, the bridge would pass from a congressional district represented by Bachmann to one represented by DFL incumbent Betty McCollum, who opposes the $690 million project.

“It’s doubtful this flawed bill will pass the House on the governor’s timeline,” McCollum said.

The day’s events threw the bridge project into confusion. While the U.S. Senate cleared its version of the bridge bill by unanimous consent Jan. 23, a companion bill in the House has gone nowhere lately.

Despite Bachmann’s assurances of bipartisan support in the House, Republican leaders have shown little urgency in bringing the legislation to the House floor. A technical funding change required to win approval in the Senate now requires action by the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

Bachmann’s staff has been pressing Transportation Committee Chairman John Mica, R-Fla., to move the bill, but a committee source

Article source: http://feeds.stateline.org/~r/StatelineorgRss-Transportation/~3/c9rh8zYodck/139926583.html

In California, where tribal casinos have been approved on hard-to-reach reservation land, tribes and investors have spent up to $100 million to improve access, including construction of highway interchanges, said William Eadington, professor of economics and a casino specialist at the University of Nevada, Reno.

Article source: http://feeds.stateline.org/~r/StatelineorgRss-Transportation/~3/j2t7QwWVhB4/

BOISE, Idaho — Idaho drivers would have to keep their thumbs on the steering wheel and off their cellphones after state senators on Tuesday advanced a proposal that would make it illegal for drivers to send text messages while on the road.

If the bill sounds familiar, it should.

Lawmakers have pursued similar legislation aimed at making roads safer through limiting the use of smartphones by motorists for three-straight sessions. But the trick has been striking a delicate balance in a government-wary state.

Legislators are seeking to write a law that keeps people safe from themselves with a plan that isn’t seen as too intrusive – or unenforceable.

“I previously argued we don’t need this bill, because we have statutes that deal with inattentive driving,” said Sen. Jim Hammond, R-Coeur d’Alene, who voted in support of the measure. “But we are in the business of guiding the citizens of Idaho, and protecting them.”

At least 35 states and Washington D.C. ban text messaging for drivers.

By comparison, the Idaho measure that advanced 29-6 is not as strict as others. The law in neighboring Washington state, for example, bans all but hands-free devices.

But Idaho’s bill would make texting while driving an infraction punishable with an $85 fine, including court costs. And people who drive inattentively while texting could also be charged with a criminal misdemeanor.

Lawmakers have felt pressure to take up the legislation in the wake recent traffic deaths linked to smartphone use. An 18-year-old Caldwell woman died in January after smashing into a slow-moving tanker truck on the highway. Taylor Sauer had been using her phone to look at a social networking website before the crash, authorities said.

Sauer’s parents were in the gallery Tuesday for the Senate vote.

Sen. Patti Anne Lodge, R-Huston, said that if legislators couldn’t text safely, younger drivers definitely couldn’t.

“How many times has somebody bumped into you in the hallways of the Capitol when their total attention was on their smartphones?” Lodge asked.

Article source: http://feeds.stateline.org/~r/StatelineorgRss-Transportation/~3/Ql2TRZG3lq4/senate-sends-texting-while-driving.html

Families and friends of young people killed or seriously injured in vehicle crashes are pleading with Iowa lawmakers to tighten teenage driving laws, but their effort appears unlikely to succeed this year.

The Democrat-led Senate last year passed a bill that would add to the restrictions in the state’s graduated driver’s licensing program for teenagers, but it hasn’t been considered this session in the Republican-controlled House. The measure, SF 184, is unlikely to win approval this year, said Rep. David Tjepkes, R-Gowrie, chairman of the House Transportation Committee.

“We try to move slowly, methodically, so that everything that we do and pass is strongly supported by the public as a whole,” Tjepkes said.

Tjepkes was summoned to hundreds of vehicle crash scenes as a trooper, and he said he could not recall an accident in which a traffic law hadn’t been violated. “It gets to a question of how many laws you need,” he said.

Activists who support the proposed legislation said that motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death among teenagers in Iowa. Forty-eight percent of fatalities in the 14-to-17 age group are linked to vehicle accidents, they said.

“We can prevent those deaths. We can do more,” said Dr. Ken Cheyne, a pediatrician at Blank Children’s Hospital in Des Moines and president of the Iowa Academy of Pediatrics.

Cheyne spoke at a news conference Tuesday at the hospital with other supporters of the graduated driver’s licensing system, which allows young drivers to gain experience before receiving full driving privileges. The bill’s supporters include the Iowa Department of Transportation, medical groups, some insurance industry officials, school administrators and others.

They propose two key changes in the law:

Extend the instruction permit phase from six months to one year to allow teens more supervised driving time, especially in winter weather.

Limit the number of passengers under age 21 to no more than one nonfamily member. The current system limits the passengers to the number of seat belts in one vehicle. The risk of a fatal crash increases by 39 percent for a 16-year-old driver with one additional passenger and it rises by 86 percent with two additional

Article source: http://feeds.stateline.org/~r/StatelineorgRss-Transportation/~3/gaJSPcZh7RU/Bid-tighten-laws-teen-driving-seen-likely-stall-Iowa-House

THE Florida Senate will consider a bill this week that would unwind a half-century of smart transportation planning. The legislation would put the expressway authorities in Hillsborough and Orange counties under virtual state control, diminishing the ability of local communities to address their unique transportation needs. This is a power and money grab by Tallahassee that would hurt two of the most dynamic metro areas of the state.

The bill, SB 1998, would turn over toll collections from the Tampa-Hillsborough Expressway Authority and the Orlando-Orange County Expressway Authority to the state. It also would limit the discretion these agencies have to sell bonds to finance new road projects. The measure assigns the agencies under the authority of the state Department for Transportation for “administrative and fiscal accountability purposes.” While the authorities would keep their local governing boards and ostensibly remain independent, that authority would exist largely on paper. Local boards would lose expertise and autonomy, and decisionmaking would shift to Tallahassee.

This is exactly the wrong direction for two fast-growing regions that have made monumental strides in recent years in addressing long-term transportation priorities. And essentially centralizing operations under the state is contrary to the usual Republican clamor about smaller government and local control. The bill would give the state much more purview over how the local agencies spend money. It also allows the state to charge new administrative fees to process the toll collections. The net effect is that Tallahassee would have a much heavier hand in setting prices for local toll roads. And it would be easier for political leaders far from Tampa or Orlando to steer local money to pet projects in outlying areas.

State transportation officials say the move would not diminish the local authorities. But having local boards retain the power to set road priorities means little if the power of the purse shifts to Tallahassee. State officials have not made a convincing case the DOT can more cheaply process the tolls; in fact, Hillsborough has drastically reduced costs since farming out toll collection to a private vendor in 2009. If the DOT wants the job, it

Article source: http://feeds.stateline.org/~r/StatelineorgRss-Transportation/~3/Tvr07DZ_Pq0/1216426

A Senate committee today shot down a bill to ban red light cameras despite arguments the cameras don’t improve public safety and are hated by citizens.

Senate Bill 50, sponsored by Sen. Scott Renfroe, R-Greeley, would have banned the use of red light cameras as well as photo radar. The bill, however, would have allowed the use of photo identification on toll roads.

Renfroe pointed to a December audit done by Denver City Auditor Dennis Gallagher that questioned whether the cameras were making people safer or were just a cash cow.

“These programs were sold as public-safety enhancements but are widely viewed as a cash grab,” Gallagher said at the time. “It undermines public trust to maintain photo enforcement programs that are profitable but whose safety impact has not been conclusively shown.”

And Renfroe pointed to a study in Kansas City that showed T-bone accidents in intersections with red light cameras stayed steady after the cameras were installed while rear-end accidents in those intersections actually increased.

Renfroe said he had never personally gotten a red light camera ticket, but he had been the victim of vehicles running red lights, having his vehicle struck twice in such accidents.

Still, he said, he belived the evidence showed that traffic safety improvements like longer yellow light times and left-hand turn lanes did more to improve safety than red light cameras.

John Gaudio, an electrical engineer who has a patent on a speed-measuring system, testified in support of banning the cameras. Gaudio said he got a ticket in Denver for going 50 mph in a 40 mph zone, but his speedometer showed him going only 40 mph.

He said the red light cameras’ speed-measurement equipment is not always accurate, and when he confronted officials in charge of the equipment about it, they couldn’t even accurately explain how it worked.

“This is an atrocity,” Gaudio said. “This undermines the opinion of the people with regard to their courts, with regard to their law enforcement and with regard to the law in general. This is an abuse that needs to stop.”

But police departments and cities vigorously opposed the bill, pointing to their own

Article source: http://feeds.stateline.org/~r/StatelineorgRss-Transportation/~3/Dq3g2DOqZB0/ci_20015475