Jim Riley, Director, Government Affairs
John Boling, Director, Government Affairs
Joe Colaneri, Director, Government Affairs
Patricia Maeder, Division Coordinator
www.nssga.org
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e-Digest
- HIGHWAY PROGRAM EXTENSION AWAITS PRESIDENT'S SIGNATURE; CONFERENCE COMMITTEE BEGINS WORK AFTER THIS WEEK'S RECESS
- TRIP ISSUES URBAN ROADS REPORT
- JUDICIARY COMMITTEE APPROVES ASBESTOS BILL
- HOUSE FUNDS ARMY CORPS FOR FY 2006; SEEKS STRICTER CONTROLS
- WETLANDS JURISDICTION BILL INTRODUCED
HIGHWAY PROGRAM EXTENSION AWAITS PRESIDENT'S SIGNATURE; CONFERENCE COMMITTEE BEGINS WORK AFTER THIS WEEK'S RECESS
President Bush is set to sign the "Surface Transportation Extension Act of 2005," the seventh extension since the law expired Sept. 30, 2003. The current stopgap measure expires May 31. This legislation authorizes an additional $3.1 billion in contract authority for the Federal Highway Administration, an additional $643 million for the Federal Transit Administration, $43.6 million for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, and $47.7 million for the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.The conference committee on the full bill now faces the task of completing its work before Congress goes home for the Independence Day recess under the latest extension deadline of June 30. There are 63 House conferees and 30 Senate conferees, including the entire Environment and Public Works Committee, negotiating the shape and scope of the final bill that Congress will send to President Bush for consideration.
While your Senators and Representative are home this week for the Memorial Day recess, please be sure to contact them, even if they are not on the conference committee, and urge them to complete work on the bill at the highest possible funding level before the next extension expires.
TRIP ISSUES URBAN ROADS REPORT
The Road Information Project (TRIP) has released its Urban Pavement Conditions Report and found that approximately one in four miles of the nation's major metropolitan roads - Interstates, freeways and other critical local routes - have pavements in substandard condition, resulting in rough rides and costing the average metro area motorist $400 annually in additional vehicle operating costs.
TRIP's study, "Rough Ride Ahead: Metro Areas with the Roughest Rides and Strategies to Make Our Roads Smoother," found that the metro areas (defined as having 500,000 people or more, including city and suburbs) with the highest percentage of major roads and highways with unacceptable pavement quality are: Kansas City, San Jose, St. Louis, Los Angeles, San Francisco-Oakland, San Diego, New Orleans, Boston, Sacramento and Oklahoma City.
Pavement conditions on the nation's major urban roads and highways have worsened in recent years, according to this study, from 22 percent in poor condition in 1998, to 26 percent in poor condition in 2003. Continued increases in urban traffic cause significant wear and tear on the nation's urban roads. Overall travel on urban roads increased by 41 percent from 1990 to 2003; urban travel by large commercial trucks grew at an even faster rate, increasing by 58 percent from 1990 to 2003. Large trucks place significant stress on road surfaces. Overall vehicle travel is expected to increase by approximately 40 percent by the year 2020 and the level of heavy truck travel nationally is projected to increase by approximately 47 percent by the year 2020.
While state and local governments have as a generally desirable goal to maintain 75 percent of its roads in good condition, only three metro areas -- Atlanta, Orlando and Phoenix -- achieve this goal and only 11 major metro areas even have at least 50 percent of their major roads in good condition. A complete copy of the report can be found here.
JUDICIARY COMMITTEE APPROVES ASBESTOS BILL
By a 13-5 vote, the Senate Judiciary Committee on May 26 passed the "Fairness in Asbestos Injury Resolution Act" (S. 852), which would create a $140 billion trust fund to compensate workers who were exposed to asbestos. The bill that emerged from committee favorably disposes of the definitional issues that NSSGA has worked with committee staff to identify, but also includes a study NSSGA continues to work to refine.All Republicans on the committee joined with Ranking Democrat Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Herbert Kohl (D-Wis.) in voting for the bill. However, three Republicans -- Sens. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.), Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), and John Cornyn (R-Texas) -- expressed reservations that they said were significant enough to cause them to withhold support from the bill on the Senate floor. Committee Chairman Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) stated after the markup that he and Leahy intend to accommodate all lawmakers' requests to change the bill as it moves to the floor, as long as their changes do not affect the "core principles" of the measure.
With the establishment of the asbestos trust fund, the legislation would bar all lawsuits alleging injury from asbestos exposure unless the fund runs out of money. Businesses and insurers would pay into the fund for an estimated 30 years. Workers who were exposed to asbestos would be paid by the trust fund under a no-fault system based on the severity of their conditions. The highest award under the bill, at $1.1 million, would be given to workers with mesothelioma, a lethal form of lung cancer linked directly to asbestos exposure.
The bill is unlikely to reach the Senate floor until July at the earliest. Although Specter described Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) as anxious to get the bill onto the floor, the reservations expressed by the three committee Republicans indicates that the bill requires additional negotiation before it is ready to be brought to the floor.
HOUSE FUNDS ARMY CORPS FOR FY 2006; SEEKS STRICTER CONTROLS
On May 24, the House voted 416-13 to pass the FY 2006 energy and water appropriations bill that includes $4.7 billion for the Army Corps of Engineers. This is 9.6 percent more than President Bush had requested, but $294 million less than was appropriated for FY 2005. The House bill seeks to limit the agency's ability to shift money between projects to no more than $2 million or 10 percent of a project's total funding, whichever is less. Sen. Pete Domenici (R-N.M.) and others have expressed concern over this restriction on account of the limitations it would place on flexibility and the efficient use of funding. NSSGA will continue to monitor this bill as it makes its way through the Senate.
WETLANDS JURISDICTION BILL INTRODUCED
Last week, U.S. Representatives Richard Baker (R-La.) and Marion Berry (D-Ark.) introduced the "Federal Wetlands Jurisdiction Act of 2005" (H.R. 2658) in order to clarify the jurisdiction of the Federal Government over waters of the United States in light of the decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in the SWANNC case. The Federal Wetlands Jurisdiction bill is expected to be referred to the House Transportation & Infrastructure Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment for consideration. The legislation only covers the Section 404 program.NSSGA has endorsed this much-needed bill as it draws a sensible jurisdictional line between the federal government and states; promotes regulatory consistency; and helps end the often confusing duplicative requirements of two federal agencies. Click here to read the letter to Rep. Baker from NSSGA. You can read the reason why Rep. Baker introduced the bill in the upcoming July / August edition of the Stone, Sand & Gravel Review. NSSGA will actively support Reps. Baker and Berry in their common sense attempt to clarify the jurisdiction of the Section 404 program. For more information, please contact John Boling.