The House Committee on Transportation has published their Interim Report to the 84th Legislature. See below for interim charges assigned to the committee and recommendations related to those charges:
Interim Charges
Evaluate actions by state agencies under the committee's jurisdiction to increase transparency, accountability, and efficiency. Consider the cost-saving outsourcing of technologies and recently developed practices, such as the conversion of roadways, used by the Department of Transportation designed to demonstrate savings. Identify and make recommendations on the credibility and effectiveness of these goals.
Monitor the usage of state funds by the Texas Department of Transportation for improving road quality in areas impacted by Energy Sector activities.
Evaluate the status of Texas's port system, including a review of the structure and operations of the Maritime Division of the Texas Department of Transportation.
Evaluate the status of passenger and freight rail in Texas, including a review of the structure and operations of the Rail Division of the Texas Department of Transportation.
Review the state of our current transportation infrastructure outside of the five most populous areas. Explore future needs of our infrastructure and make recommendations to ensure long-range sufficiency.
Monitor the implementation of the "Turn-Back Program" by the Texas Department of Transportation, specifically its fiscal impact to municipalities and taxpayers.
Examine county authority to utilize tax increment financing and transportation reinvestment zones to fund transportation projects.
Monitor and review the efforts of the Department of Transportation’s (TxDOT) Texas Technology Task Force (TTTF). The TTTF shall study emerging transportation, communication, and computing technologies and determine physical infrastructure and system components that TxDOT or other state departments would need to provide to enable selected technologies. The task is to be completed by TTTF as directed by SB 1 (83R), item 44, Article VII-31. (Joint charge with the House Committee on Technology.)
Conduct legislative oversight and monitoring of the agencies and programs under the committee’s jurisdiction and the implementation of relevant legislation passed by the 83rd Legislature. In conducting this oversight, the committee should:
consider any reforms to state agencies to make them more responsive to Texas taxpayers and citizens;
identify issues regarding the agency or its governance that may be appropriate to investigate, improve, remedy, or eliminate;
determine whether an agency is operating in a transparent and efficient manner; and
identify opportunities to streamline programs and services while maintaining the mission of the agency and its programs.
Recommendations
TRANSPORTATION INFRASTRUCTURE OUTSIDE OF THE STATE'S FIVE MOST POPULOUS REGIONS
- Explore funding solutions for future rural transportation needs.
- Identify legislative changes to ensure TxDOT continuously and efficiently carries out cooperative efforts with local governments and citizens.
- In addition to performing timely preventative maintenance, encourage TxDOT to explore advancements in the research and development of materials that are more highly durable to reduce the costs of constructing and maintaining roadways.
USE OF STATE FUNDS IN AREAS IMPACTED BY THE ENERGY SECTOR
- Explore options to continue to provide funding for energy sector roads.
- Encourage TxDOT to continue working with local governments and citizens to meet transportation needs.
- Reexamine formulas used by TxDOT for the distribution of funds through TIF grants to ensure that funds appropriately target areas most impacted by energy sector activity.
- Ensure TxDOT has the resources needed to identify future areas of energy sector growth in order to take preventative maintenance measures resulting in overall cost savings.
COUNTY AUTHORITY TO UTILIZE TAX INCREMENT FINANCING AND TRANSPORTATION REINVESTMENT ZONES
- Reevaluate legislation granting counties clear constitutional authority to utilize tax increment financing in transportation reinvestment zones.
- Provide counties with a means to evaluate the ways to most effectively meet local transportation needs.
TEXAS' MARITIME PORT SYSTEM
- Encourage and monitor the continued efforts of TxDOT's Maritime Division.
- Review replacing the locks on GIWW to increase ease of travel and decrease maintenance costs of the locks in the long term.
- Identify ways to increase efficiency of travel along the GIWW including dredging and additional mooring facilities.
- Monitor the WRDA bill and encourage its passing so long as it benefits Texas and does not burden the state's control of its waterways.
- Identify resources to fund the Port Authority Fund.
TEXAS PASSENGER AND FREIGHT RAIL
- Encourage and monitor the continued efforts of TxDOT's Rail Division.
- Identify any necessary legislative authority to allow the Rail Division to effectively promote the needs of Texas' rail system.
- Identify resources to fund the Rail Relocation Fund.
TEXAS TECHNOLOGY TASK FORCE
- TxDOT should monitor technological advancements in transportation and report those findings to the legislature.
- Ensure that Texas remains competitive, mobile, and safe by developing and utilizing technological advancements in transportation.
TXDOT "TURNBACK" PROGRAM
- The Committee would like to thank the local communities and entities that worked with TxDOT to resolve the confusion surrounding the Turnback Program and would encourage TxDOT and its local partners to continue to work together to find mutually beneficial ways to increase local mobility and efficiency.
- Any turnback program should continue to be voluntary.
- Explore alternatives for enabling legislation to allow local governments to utilize funding mechanisms which would provide the means of increasing local mobility and efficiency.
DMV OVERSIGHT
- At the interim meetings of the Committee representatives of the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) were asked to give updates on the status of the agency, their programs, and the implementation of relevant legislation passed by the 83rd Legislature. Reports on the Department of Motor Vehicles were made by Shelly Mellott and Whitney Brewster on April 14, 2014 and August 26, 2014 respectively. Additional testimony on the implementation of a single vehicle inspection/registration sticker was provided on August 26, 2014 by RenEarl Bowie for Texas Department of Public Safety and Les Findeisen for Texas Trucking Association. Additional testimony on the implementation of legislation related to oversize/overweight vehicles was provided on August 26, 2014 by William Harbeson for Texas Department of Motor Vehicles and Chris Nordloh for the Texas Department of Public Safety.
