Date: 09/09/2014

Final
Presentation on State Transportation Funding and Finance

TRANSPORTATION LEGISLATION REVIEW COMMITTEE

Votes: View--> Action Taken:
<none><none>





11:52 AM -- Presentation on State Transportation Funding and Finance

Jaime Rall, Transportation Program Manager, National Conference of State Legislatures, introduced herself to the committee. Ms. Rall distributed a presentation (Attachment F) and a handout (Attachment G) and discussed the chronic funding gaps in transportation funding. She said that as of April 2014, 16 states had not raised their gas taxes in more than 20 years, including Colorado. She noted that Colorado has not increased its gas tax for 23 years. She explained that in Colorado, recent funding for infrastructure has come from fees because the Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR) requires new taxes to be approved by voters. She said that Colorado funds transportation through the following sources: fuel taxes; registration fees; license fees; title fees; truck weight fees; traffic camera fees; impact fees; tolls; high occupancy traffic lanes; congestion pricing; interest income; and general fund revenues.

14TLRC0909AttachF.pdf14TLRC0909AttachF.pdf 14TLRC0909AttachG.pdf14TLRC0909AttachG.pdf

12:05 PM

Ms. Rall discussed what other states are doing to address funding shortages, and noted that at least 748 relevant bills were considered in states in 2013 and 2014. She discussed different mechanisms that states are using to fund surface transportation, including a variable-rate gas tax, fees for alternate fueled vehicles, per mile fees, and a weight-to-distance tax. She said that 15 states and the District of Columbia now have variable-rate gas tax. She discussed how Rhode Island recently passed a similar tax. Representative Tyler asked how much the gas tax increased in Rhode Island after it passed a variable-rate gas tax. Ms. Rall responded that the gas prices are influenced more by the global oil market than the tax. Ms. Rall continued to discussed financing mechanisms, recent trends, and new financing mechanisms. Ms. Rall responded to questions from the committee.