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The House Committee on Transportation met to hear testimony from state agencies under their jurisdiction as well as other invited testimony

Ashby Johnson, Texas Associations of MPOs

  • Overview given of MPO
  • Funding of MPO is federal dollars but TxDOT does help address gaps which there have been
  • Role of MPO in transportation planning reviewed
  • Rep. Israel asked how many staff does he have?
    • 13 staff – would like more but can’t afford it
  • Positions are technical and complex
  • Chair Pickett points out MPO has a say in the development of transportation plans
  • MPO does not receive toll dollars
  • Rep. Burkett – how do projects get on and off the list
    • Mostly how quickly they can go to letting

Bryan Cassidy, Locke & Lorde

  • TRZ formation discussed
  • City TRZ can pledge revenues to incur debt
  • Counties do not have that authority – more pay as you go approach  
  • Pickett noted he filed legislation to get counties under similar structure as cities – but public had a hard time with it thinking it was a tax increase
  • Witness said only way to solve this problem is with a constitutional amendment
  • County Energy TRZ was one result of the energy transportation funding last session – but AG opinion has come out to determine if that TRZ is permissible may possibly cause problem with equal and uniform
    • May need to revisit that statutory language
    • Counties are in difficult position – many have already formed those County Energy TRZ’s
    • Burkett inquired more about the opinions
    • Pickett said he thinks an updated can be gotten from TxDOT
  • Most important to get in discussion when projects are being planned
  • Pickett noted there is a lag time in creating the zones and when project is complete 

Dennis Christiansen, Director of Texas Transportation Institute

  • Overview was given of the Transportation Institute
  • Research is all applied
  • On cusp of revolutionary change in transportation
  • Now have contracts underway with 30 state departments of Transportations
  • Do contract work with all levels of government including MPO’s
  • They will get back to the committee how many former members of TxDOT work for the institute, per Rep. Simmon’s request
    • They have about 500 non-student employees
    • They do partner with some consultants but do not routinely have independent contractors
  • In regards to questioning of their independence or encouragement of results witness said independence is vital and they have no value if not independent

Texas Department of Motor Vehicles (TxDMV) Whitney Brewster, Jeremiah Kuntz and DPS 

  • Single Sticker discussion – dependent upon passing vehicle inspection
  • Implementation is tri-agency effort
  • Media campaign is in full swing – includes unique website 
  • Discussion on the challenges of implementation
  • Pickett asked about the first person at the tax assessor’s office who doesn’t know – what is being done for them?
    • Witness reviewed all of the outreach efforts from informative flyers to brining in the tax assessor’s office into the conversation
  • Further discussion on preparations such as call centers, website that allows for contact, etc
  • Actively pursued and educated local law enforcement, courts, etc – outreach will be continued
  • Outreach to inspection stations started in January and will continue

TxDMV discussion

  • Recreation of TxDMV fund
  • Funds consolidation did not protect fund so the fund was abolished
  • Revenue lost was over $120 million
  • Pickett clarified that all the monies being brought in by the agency will be going to transportation
  • Appropriated $150 million annually
  • Almost 100% of registration fee will now go to Fund 6
  • Agency contracted with TTI to perform in-depth analysis on expenses for registration services – field work completed and expectation of publication is March 2015
  • Now funded 74% of GR and 26% in Fund 6
  • Pickett asked if they wanted to talk about “TxDOT throwing you out of your buildings?”
    • They have not received appropriation for rent
    • Recently TxDOT looking at facilities and selling some that DMV are housed in
    • There are some lease back options being offered
    • Continue to work with Texas Facilities Commission

Texas Department of Transportation – James Bass, General Weber, John Barton

  • Weber thanked committee on passage of Prop 1 , gave overview of transportation system, noted fatalities are increasing, projection costs are rising and declining purchasing power
  • Burkett asked about how much funding was needed so we don’t need toll roads anymore
    • Barton – $5 billion a year was once the amount given for maintenance need– question is what would be needed to provide all that is provided without a tolling component but thinking it would be billions more per year
    • Barton – Would be in order of magnitude about $3 billion
  • Pickett – what would we have to come up with to remove toll from SH 121
    • Would need to be able to retire debt for complete portion – just over $2.6 billion
    • If paid early there would be a bit of penalty because it is not callable
  • Pickett – we need to find out what can be done that would re-structure the debt, need a finite number and how it would work to remove tolls
    • TxDOT will pull together an analysis
  • Rep. Israel said she is working on this issue and would also like TxDOT to look at future projects
  • Further discussion on toll roads and modeling, but member said he is not even sure why SH 130 was built
  • Pickett refers to example of being told they must toll by TxDOT  
  • Pickett said there are still projects out there that make sense as tolls
  • Weber said he applauds committee for looking at I-35 as it is a state problem
  • TxDOT is working to finding efficiencies to pay down debt – goal is to pay down debt by $100 or more
  • Pickett states he did want TxDOT to find operational efficiencies that are ongoing savings – he did not intend this to be a “garage sale”
  • Rep. Phillips said once funding is in highway state fund that it is up for appropriation
  • In regards to selling of property – TxDOT has a real estate focus
  • Fleet is smaller so will be able to reduce maintenance cost and fuel costs
  • Other operational savings quickly reviewed in handout
  • There is a reduction request in FTE’s and those positions would not be replaces – total reductions
  • Turn back program was reviewed – including process when it began, noted it was voluntary
  • Phillips asked about gravel road and removing county road signs
    • Not part of the cost savings
  •  Phillips said he thinks there is more TxDOT can do to be efficient
  • TxDOT will prepare report of all things they are doing to pay down debt even those things they didn’t think would qualify – they did some additional things that were not on list being presented to the committee because there was concern if they qualify
  • Pickett asked about working with GLO to achieve facility reductions – TxDOT wanted to be more aggressive and engaging rather than cataloguing
  • Bander with TxDOT gave a brief overview of his time and changeover of personnel when Director’s come in – there are new staff that come in and older personnel retire
  • Phillips asked if Weber had level of confidence in higher up executives personnel with the amount of turn-over     
    • Something he is concerned about and looking at
    • Would like to look at succession phases
    • Comfortable with higher levels but getting more concern at mid-level and lower-level position
  • Commissioner Vandergrift testified about his time at TxDOT – he came to TxDOT from NTTA and details on TxDOT Commissioner’s position
  • Weber agreed that they want to look at projects and make sure they are not handled in such a way that drives up cost – further discussion elaborated on this concern such as looking as how they are being financed
  • Pickett said he has some concerns about the Unified Transportation Plan process – he feels more political pressure from Commissioners to do things that were not recommended by staff
  • Project selection was reviewed – everything does not come from General Weber and his team
  • Category 12 funds are discretionary – Simmons where does that money come from?
    • Some strings with funding
  • Simmons asked about funding decisions being made with “right priority”
    • Toyota and Ft. Bliss were given as examples of how categories with discretionary ability are helpful
  • Pickett said he does believe there needs to be some flexibility but wants to focus on those projects that were 100% politically motivated – would like to see TxDOT be tougher on projects that get in on the back side
  • Rep. Israel would like an update – they are not highway department any more, TxDOT is multi-modal – what about rail planning?
    • Will pull together presentation for the committee
  • Burkett asked for a review on UTP and how COG transportation projects are chosen – staff quickly reviewed
  • Pickett said he thinks there have been some blatant abuses of power and those abuses should not be allowed to happen

Not sure if bills will be posted for next week. TxDOT will b