Transportation: Let's Keep Texas Moving!
Transportation issues are one of the greatest challenges facing the state of Texas. If we do not address these issues, our roads will continue to deteriorate, congestion will continue to rob Texans of hours spent waiting in traffic, and trade and economic growth will be stifled. The time to act is now.
Governor Perry has continually misled our state on this issue and has followed a foolhardy path that subsidizes foreign corporations, tolls every road in sight and ultimately doesn’t even address the critical issue. Senator Hutchinson has correctly taken to task these policies, yet she promises to solve them without ever answering the question “Where will the money come from?” and worse, her plan promises to continue some of the same disastrous privatization schemes that have become the cornerstone of Governor Perry's plans. We must create a comprehensive plan that actually solves the problems our state faces and holds our leaders accountable.
Farouk Shami’s Plan to Get Texas Moving
Reform TXDOT and the Texas Transportation Commission (TTC)
1) Create an elected Transportation Commission with 14 members elected by State Board of Education District and one statewide Chairman, all elected to four year terms (with the Chair limited to two terms). Elections to the Commission and of the Chair will be held during Presidential cycles.
2) All bidders on TXDOT projects must fully disclose all political contributions by senior management and lobbying by management and the company.
3) Neither TXDOT nor the TTC may lobby the Legislature, any statewide elected official or the general public on behalf of a particular project, TXDOT or the TTC.
4) The TTC will directly appoint TXDOT's CFO and an Inspector General, both of whom will report only to the TTC.
5) Improve interaction between TXDOT and the public and involve local government in plans that affect them.
Change TXDOT's focus to concentrate on repair and replacement
1) Immediately focus on repair of deficient bridges and overpasses in the state.
2) Focus on long-term improvements and maintenance.
3) Cut waste, fraud and abuse especially on life of facility estimates (where the estimate of the life of a road is artificially and fraudulently lowered to overstate maintenance costs).
Focus on mass transit that makes sense
Work with Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPO's) to create real mass transit solutions and secure funding for them.
Repeal HB 3588 and finally kill the Trans Texas Corridor
And end the threat of Comprehensive Development Agreements to Texas taxpayers.
No new toll projects
With improved finances and bonding ability, as well as flexibility through a reformed Transportation Commission, there's no longer a need for the state to build any additional toll roads.
Expand and rebuild roads within existing right of way.
Change planning to focus on alternate routes instead of building entire new roads to relieve congestion in innovative ways. This solution will prove especially effective in the 35 and 45 corridors.
End Eminent Domain Abuse
Texas needs a constitutional amendment with:
1) A strong definition of public use limiting eminent domain for any economic development and tax enhancement purpose.
2) Language requiring good faith negotiations to prevent entities to from low-balling landowners and forcing them into expensive and protracted legal battles.
3) Requirements for compensation for diminished access to a landowner’s property.
4) Limits on the granting of eminent domain to any further entities without a public vote.
5) Financial relocation assistance for displaced landowners.
6) Mechanisms that allow landowners the ability to buy back any land at the original cost after 10 years if it isn’t used by the governmental entity.
Farouk Shami: The Only Candidate Who Has a Plan to Pay for Texas Roads
Index the Motor Fuels Tax
Farouk Shami proposes a one time increase in the gas tax of 8 cents and implementing automatic increases in the gas tax annually from 2012 forward based on increases in the Highway Cost Index (HCI), with a four percent cap on any annual increase. Should the HCI increase by more than 4% in any year, the balance would carry forward to the next year and be added to any increase for that year. In years where there is a zero or negative increase in the HCI, revenue generated from carryovers would go toward reducing TxDOT’s existing debt.
Give the Commission Authority to Issue Bonds Backed by the Gas Tax
In order to quickly build the roads and infrastructure we need, the Commission would be granted the authority to issue bonds guaranteed by the future earnings of the gas tax. These bonds would give us the flexibility we need to undertake capital intensive projects that will make a significant impact on our transportation infrastructure in the short term, providing a much needed boost to our economy. Further, they will dramatically cut the time to complete projects, giving TXDOT the ability to complete projects with the same speed of private developers, eliminating a key advantage of CDA's.
Encourage Electric Cars and Cars Powered by Compressed Natural Gas (CNG)
Since these cars do not utilize gas, they would not be subjected to the tax. This will encourage people to buy cars powered by these technologies, which will help clean up Texas air and bring us into compliance with federal standards while also decreasing our dependence on foreign oil.
