Senate Transportation Committee – June 23, 2014 Hearing

Below is the HillCo client report from the June 23 Senate Transportation Committee hearing

The committee met to hear agency updates from the Texas Department of Transportation, the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles and the Texas Department of Public Safety and to consider the following interim charges:

Evaluate the Texas Department of Transportation and Metropolitan Planning Organization's progress on reducing congestion on the 100 Most Congested Roadway segments and make recommendations to advance the development of the remaining congestion relief projects.

Evaluate Comprehensive Development Agreements (CDA) and Design/Build project delivery methods and make recommendations for their future role in reducing congestion and continuing the state's economic growth.

Agency Updates

Lt. Gen. Joe Weber, Executive Director, Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT)

Weber discussed TxDOT dedication to safety and innovation
TxDOT is one of the nation’s cutting edge departments of transportation
Without actively seeking solutions to transportation needs, TxDOT could easily fall behind

John Barton, Deputy Executive Director, TxDOT

Barton discussed safety related statistics and initiatives within the department
Working under MAP 21 which is set to expire in September; there may be a short term series of resolutions to move funding forward which is an uncertain way of doing things
As early as July or August the highway trust fund will be so low that payments will slow down
HB 1025 (83R) and SB 1747 (83R) provided additional funds for a grant program to Texas counties; 191 counties applied and were approved for grants so far
Moving forward with $25 million granted to TxDOT by the legislature to maintain state owned facilities impacted by the oil and gas industry
Moving forward with development of Federal Environmental Process Approval with the federal transportation department for improving categorical exclusion documents; will make the environmental reporting process more effective and efficient with the state responsible for the entire process
Looking at a program to manage variable speed limits in certain weather situations; a pilot program has begun to help with congestion
Chairman Robert Nichols asked what percentage of fatalities are alcohol or drug related
- 35%
- Distracted driving, including eating, cell phones, grooming, etc., accounts for about 20%
Nichols asked if permission is required for borrowing on a short term basis for the department
- There is no permission required; short term borrowing has been used as recently as three months ago; usually only borrow for a few days at a time

Whitney Brewster, Executive Director, Texas Department of Motor Vehicles

Department oversees nearly 23 million registrations and 7 million title transactions every year; up 2.7% from last year
Department issues over 800,000 oversize and overweight permits per year; up 6.6% from last year
These and other fees bring in over $3 billion every year through DMV services
The agency is funded primarily out of GR due to fund consolidation in the 83^rd session
Sen. Kirk Watson asked for more information on that subject
- HB 2202 (83R) allowed certain administration of fees to go toward the DMV fund but HB 6 (83R) directed those fees to GR; in passing HB 2202 there were discussions about efficiency of having the DMV fund; the appropriation process is the only way to fund the agency at this point
A study is being performed to determine costs to local governments in handling vehicle title and registration duties; rules have been proposed on those lines as well; public comment period ends today
HB 2305 (83R) discontinued the inspection sticker and allows the registration sticker to serve both purposes
State revenue should double from MyPlates.com due to new contract provisions
Houston facility is being relocated and a new facility has already been decided on; main headquarters will also have to be relocated which is a much bigger issue
National database of vehicle title information is being rolled out; Texas has sent information to the database for a long time but new capabilities are being installed
- Consumers can access the information and perform title checks through independent providers on vehicles they may purchase
Sen. Kelly Hancock asked how much that costs
- Roughly $2-5; fee is required by federal rules to sustain the program
New e-title system is being made available to the public in order to reduce the use of paper titles; available in Austin, Waco and Dallas regions but should be available statewide by the end of the year
In the process of updating the registration and title database to be more secure and user friendly

Steve McCraw, Director, Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS)

Reducing the amount of fatal crashes by 15% would mean saving over 500 lives every year
Would require education and engineering solutions to implement changes
Maximizing enforcement actions with limited resources requires good data in order to deploy enforcement activities in the most needed areas
Eagle ford shale area is a big problem area currently; reductions in incidents have been attributed to strike teams being deployed; still do not have sufficient troopers in those areas
Nichols asked about legislation related to driving schools
- Allowed to leverage the private sector to perform skills tests for drivers licenses; program is helping the department focus on distracted driving

Major Chris Nordlow, Commercial Vehicle Coordinator, DPS

Last session legislation allowed for heavier axle weights on timber trucks; since November 1, 40 permits have been issued
Trucks are twice as likely to receive a citation without the permit

Congestion Reduction

Mark Williams, Director of Planning, TxDOT

TxDOT has obligated over $9 billion in funding toward the 100 most congested roadways in the state
Unified transportation program includes an additional $6.5 billion to the same end
TxDOT has identified $24 billion in unfunded projects that would assist in reducing congestion even further

Tim Lomax, Research Engineer, Texas A&M Transportation Institute

In the 82^nd legislature, $300 million was set aside to study congested roadways in the state and develop projects to reduce congestion
In order to get support for these projects public engagement is key
Innovation is also necessary; evolving the way projects are funded and the types of projects is a big part of that
Watson noted that since passage of Rider 42, the process has been working very well

Cathy Stephens, Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization

9 of the 100 most congested regions in the state are in this region
Focusing on I-35 due to the urbanized nature of the region and right of way constraints
Rider 42 has allowed significant progress to be made in the region; implementation plans and project development are ongoing for I-35 projects
Environmental work is underway in order to add one lane in each direction to reduce congestion on I-35

Michael Morris, Director of Transportation, North Central Council of Governments

Would like to empower regions by reforming the one size fits all mind frame for metropolitan transportation
A majority of money going into congestion projects is coming from local governments, not from the state or Washington
The projects that are initiated need to focus on the areas where the most good can be done
40% of 100 most congested roadway projects in the region are in some form of implementation
37% of projects are CDAs and 50% are design/build; transitioning to more design-bid-build projects
$200 million in the Air Check Texas program needs to be released to allow communities to use those funds to add to congestion relief in the system
Nichols asked about the Air Check Texas program
- People pay $6 for emissions testing which is to be used for the repair and replacement of vehicles; could use a portion of that flexibly to reduce traffic times which would reduce the time a vehicle is emitting pollution

Alan Clark, Houston Galveston Area Council

Lack of funding available to invest in congested roadways prevents the most needed improvements
Operation improvements are a large part of the solution, not just improving facilities
Training responder agencies and collecting data helps reduce the time accidents congest roadways

Comprehensive Development Agreements (CDAs) & Design/Build

Russell Zapalac, Chief Planning Officer, TxDOT

Traditional transportation funding methods have left a large gap in available funding for necessary projects
TxDOT has successfully constructed and paid for large scale projects through CDAs over the years
$22 billion in active CDA projects
TxDOT can use non-CDA design/build agreements for up to three projects per year
- 4 projects valued at $1.2 billion currently under construction
Maintenance programs are a large part of the success of CDAs
The Attorney General provides sufficiency reviews for all CDAs; the LBB reviews financial aspects of projects as well
The industry is becoming more conservative regarding accepting risk; very few projects can be financed 100% by private funding
TxDOT has a mature program that is playing a vital role in delivery of critical projects in the state
Nichols asked the difference between CDA design/build and non-CDA design/build
- Statutes are very similar regarding selection and content; non-CDA projects require the state to pay a fixed amount stipend for work product; .25% for cost of project; not required for a CDA design/build

David Ellis, Researcher, Texas A&M Transportation Institute

Public private partnerships (P3s) are seen as a new transportation funding platform in the US when in reality they have been around for some time
Texas is seen as a leader in this field
P3s have many benefits including decreasing the time it takes to begin a project
P3 projects are completed more timely and cost effectively as well
The most important aspect of P3 is allowing public transparency
Better education efforts among smaller metropolitan planning organizations would help to bring more projects to the table in those communities
Nichols asked that any suggestions for changes to current programs be passed on to the committee

Bill Chapman, CFO, Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority

Two projects have been completed using design/build
For small agencies without taxing authority, innovative funding methods are a big help
The transfer of risk and guaranteed price and delivery date are other attractive aspects of design/build

Pete Havel, Director of Legislative Affairs, North Texas Tollway Authority

Design/build and CDA are both very attractive methods for financing projects
NTTA has more experience with design/build
NTTA has the ability to use CDA but has not yet; if it was the best method to complete a project it would definitely be used
Current regulations have worked well
Given population and economic growth in North Texas, all possible tools to complete necessary projects are welcome
Nichols asked if statutes need to be modified in any way
- Have been pleased with the process so far

Everett Owen, Northeast Texas Regional Mobility Authority

Design/build and CDAs are very important for RMAs and their communities
Design/build allows for a quicker delivery of projects
Risk transfer makes projects much more attractive as well

Public Testimony

Jungus Jordan, Texas Municipal League

Transportation is the tool the states need to further the prosperity of the United States

Elizabeth Frisch, Thrival Company

Launching a mobility campaign to drive behavior changes that can reduce congestion

Terry Hall, Texans for Toll Free Highways

CDAs are no less controversial today than they were when the trans-Texas corridor was considered
Taxpayers are bailing out privatized toll roads

Don Dixon, Citizen

Toll projects use tax money to fund projects and taxpayer money should go to projects the public can use for free, considering they have already paid for them once