State Rep. Joe Pickett Talks: Texas Transportation Needs, Proposition 1 & TxDOT
"The dynamics that got us into this transportation funding situation are two-fold - one is very positive, and the second is not really a negative, but more of a reality check by the general public,"
State. Rep.
Joe Pickett tells
Texas Insider's Jim Cardle.
"The positive is, that everybody wants to be in Texas. This is where businesses what to be, this is where people are moving their families
... and they usually bring a car, or two cars, so now we have, in fact, almost as many registered vehicles in Texas, as we do total population.
"
Second, the revenues that come into the state's coffers, that we dedicate to Texas transportation & infrastructure, have not increased in decades and decades. Most people don't realize that when they go to the gas station, the tax they're paying is not based upon a percentage of the sale, its a flat .
20 cents per gallon, and it has been .20 cents per gallon for 23 years, since
1991," Pickett said.
"So the perception for the public is, when they see the gas prices go up, when gas goes from $3.29 a gallon to $3.89 a gallon you'd assume that we, the state government, is collecting more tax based on that increase in price. But we don't, and we're not collecting any more in taxes when prices increase, none whatsoever.
"So there's a real education process to all this to make sure the public knows that that .20 cents per gallon, with all our growth, and the need for roads that results from that tremendous growth, is just not sufficient anymore to meet their needs," said Pickett.
"The facts also show that people are driving less, and the vehicles they're driving, there's no question, are getting better gas mileage, which means the average Texan is paying less today in gas taxes than they were 20+ years ago. There's less gas tax revenue coming in to keep up with our state's transportation needs.
"
Proposition 1 is asking the public, before, before we make a deposit into your savings account (the
Rainy Day Fund,) because the money that is coming in now is so much higher than it ever has been in the last 20 years from the oil & gas activity that we're blessed with today, let us split it . That is a wise use of their money," says Pickett.
"So not only will the Rainy Day Fund be constitutionally protected, but in
Prop 1 the legislature is going to have to ratify every
Session what is a minimum necessary for transportation, and how much should go into the Rainy Day Fund.
"If or when somebody says, 'Well, they should have enough money there already, what are they (state agencies or the
Texas Department of Transportation) doing to cut costs or become more efficient?' We said, that's right.
The Department of Transportation is required in this legislation to find at least $
100 million in savings ... not funny money, not just on paper. They have to come up with real saving, which will be applied to transportation debt.
"If you're somebody who is conservative, who cares about the debt, that is a big
point or plus. That was something we did to make sure the proposal was right, and to make sure Prop 1 was as good as it could be," Pickett said.