On April 10 the House Committee on Economic and Small Business Development heard testimony regarding public private partnerships (P3). Texas was a national leader when the P3 legislation was passed in 2011, said Rodney Moss with the Association for the Improvement of American Infrastructure. However since then, several witnesses testified that the state has fallen behind and establishing a Center for Excellence, something other states have done, would take away some of the uncertainty surrounding the P3 process and lessen the industry's concerns of political interference. The committee also heard how similar P3 models have been implemented at the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) which have helped as the agency faced extreme challenges from the lack of funding and an exponentially growing population. Russell Zapalac, TxDOT Chief Planning and Projects Office, noted that comprehensive development agreements (CDA's) were helping to fund needed infrastructure statewide. Texas has about $22 billion worth of projects currently.
Click on the link to view the full HillCo Client Report – on this committee hearing.
