Members:
Attached you will find the House Fiscal Agency Analysis of the Senate-passed package that is now before the Governor for his signature. The Governor has said he will sign the bills into law, unless any problems arise during the legal review process of the legislation. The plan, after 2017, will provide an additional $62 million into the CTF which, as you know, distributes the majority of its funding to bus operations and bus capital. Once law, MPTA will be focusing our lobby efforts on MDOT to make sure the money is distributed to greatest advantage of our public transit agencies each year during the Appropriations cycle, just as we do now with existing funding. Although the plan isn’t perfect and certainly doesn’t provide new funding as quickly as we might wish, it is important to acknowledge that public transportation was kept in the plan for our fair share of new funding through the full formula, as we requested. This represents a major victory with many House and Senate Republicans who, previously, were willing to overlook us, and it was only accomplished through YOUR great lobbying efforts with your own legislators and through the work of our lobbyist Dusty Fancher. A note of thanks from you to your legislators is always in order.
I am also including in this email below an update from Scott Bogren at CTAA on the status of federal transportation funding and note that Scott’s message includes a call-to-action for phone calls to your Washington, DC representatives.
We will be continuing to monitor both funding issues and provide you with further pertinent details as necessary.
I wish to personally thank each and every one of you who made phone calls, sent emails and talked in person with your legislators and I wish to thank and recognize Dusty for her persistent, relentless, positive action on our behalf over the past several years.
Now…onward to the next challenges that await,
Clark
ALERT: Dedicated Bus Capital Amendment Set for Vote on House Floor Today
Dear CTAA Members & Transit Advocates,Thanks to your work and the support of key leaders in the House of Representatives, the Herrera-Beutler/Schrader amendment to the STRR Act to dedicate bus capital funding to the Section 5339 program has passed the Rules Committee and is headed for a vote of the full House of Representatives today.
We urge you to contact your House Member's D.C. office today and encourage them to support the Herrera-Beutler/Schrader amendment. Every member of the House will have the opportunity to vote on this measure crucial to the long-term stability of community and public transportation across the nation.
If you have any questions on the amendment, bus capital investment or contacting your House member, please do not hesitate to contact CTAA's Communications team of Scott Bogren (bogren@ctaa.org, 202.247.1921) or Rich Sampson (sampson@ctaa.org, 202.415.9666). Full details on all federal legislation, regulations and policy can be found at our Fed Central page.
Contact
Scott Bogren, Director of Communications
202.247.1921
bogren@ctaa.org
