Along with over $34 million in revenue aligned budget authority (RABA) for specific transportation projects, there is some additional funding included in the Senate FY 2002 defense spending bill for the essential air service program, along with funding for transportation security under the $20 billion homeland security package that has been attached to the bill.

The Senate passed its version of the FY 2002 defense appropriations bill on December 7, after Republicans successfully thwarted Democrats' attempts to insert an additional $15 billion in funding on top of the $20 billion already attached to the bill. The bill will now go to conference, where there are continued disagreements over the composition of the $20 billion in homeland security funding.

In the defense bill, Senate appropriators sought to restore funding for some projects that were slated to receive no RABA funding. (AASHTO Journal, December 7) The action was taken as a result of the FY 2002 transportation spending bill, in which appropriators shifted funding among the allocated highway programs, and in the process eliminated over $237 million of RABA funding for special projects.

The defense bill includes a restoration of over $29 million in RABA funding for the Wilson Bridge, along with $5 million for Interstate 405 in Washington state and $300,000 for a highway project in Mississippi.

The Senate defense bill includes funding for other transportation program. Inserted into the bill is $57 million for the Essential Air Service (EAS) program, which would be in addition to the $63 million already approved in the transportation spending bill for the program.

The language in the defense bill states "it is the sense of the Senate that funds provided under this paragraph shall be used to provide subsidized service at a rate of not less than three flights per day for eligible communities." The House version contained no additional funding for the EAS.

According to the National Association of State Aviation Officials, the Department of Transportation has maintained that without the additional funding for the program, the number of EAS cities may have to be cut by up to 50 percent.

Senate Plan for $20 Billion Includes Transportation Security Funding

With Senate passage of the defense bill, appropriations staff will spend the next few days readying the bills for conference next week. How the final $20 billion in homeland security funding is spent is expected to be among the most contentious issues that will be addressed during the conference.

The $20 billion included in the House defense bill provides $7.3 billion for defense, $7.1 billion for New York and other states that were targeted in the Sept. 11 attacks, and $5.6 billion for homeland security. The House proposal includes a total of $734 million for transportation security, including $144.9 million for the Coast Guard and $291 for increasing airport security.

In the Senate, Democrats were unsuccessful in attempting to tack on an additional $15 billion above the $20 billion package, forcing Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Robert Byrd (D-WV) to revamp the proposal. As passed by the Senate, from the $20 billion, $2 billion is provided to the Department of Defense, $9.5 billion for New York and other states, and $8.5 billion for homeland security.

At press time the FY 2002 transportation appropriations bill (H.R. 2299) still awaits the signature of President George W. Bush. The bill has drawn the ire of House and Senate authorizing committees due to the fact that $423 million in RABA funding was shifted from the states' formula distribution to specific projects. (AASHTO Journal, December 7)

The action spurred a response by the leadership of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, who released a "Dear Colleague" letter on December 7 lamenting the unprecedented use of RABA funding. The letter was signed by committee chairman and ranking member Don Young (R-AK) and James Oberstar (D-MN), along with Subcommittee on Highways and Transit chairman and ranking member Thomas Petri (R-WI) and Robert Borksi (D-PA).

"In the near future, each state will receive a notice from the Federal Highway Administration telling it to disregard the October 2001 notice it received regarding its share of highway funds for fiscal year 2002 provided under TEA-21," the letter states. "The bottom line of the FHWA notice will be simple - the Appropriators rewrote the law and now every state loses, generally more than 10 percent of its RABA funds."

"The Appropriators have skewed the highway formula, through project earmarks at the expense of every state, to the select few," the letter continues. "We strongly encourage you to contact Speaker Hastert and Democratic Leader Gephardt and urge them to restore the funding to each of our states."

Airport Projects Also Earmarked

Similar to last year, the appropriators also included specific airport projects to receive funding. A list of 102 specific airports in 32 states is included in the bill, according to an analysis done by the National Association of State Aviation Officials (NASAO). The bill directs the Federal Aviation Administration to use discretionary dollars to fund the projects, and unlike last year, state apportionment funding "may be construed as discretionary funds" to implement the projects.

The bill also directs the FAA "to ensure that the airport sponsors for these projects first use available entitlement funds to finance these projects."

Appropriators Respond to Criticism

In their own "dear colleague" letter on Thursday, House appropriators maintained that only four percent of the total $33 billion highway program appropriation has been used for "specific projects identified as high priorities by te Congress, at the request of its members." The letter notes that nearly 2,000 projects were requested, more than four for every congressional district. Projects were requested by four-fifths of the members of the House, including four-fifths of the member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. "So while some members apparently believe that 100 percent of federal highway dollars should be controlled by state officials or federal bureaucrats, apparently four-fifths of the House do not. Nor do we," the letter states.

By a 6-5 vote the Amtrak Reform Council (ARC) on November 9 approved a resolution finding that Amtrak could not achieve self-sufficiency by the congressionally-mandated date of December 31, 2002, as required by the Amtrak Reform and Accountability Act of 1997. The finding started a 90-day clock in which Amtrak is to draft liquidation plans, while the ARC develops for Congress an action plan to restructure and rationalize national rail passenger service.

The ARC decision was not well received in the Senate, where 21 members wrote President Bush that it was "the wrong decision at the wrong time." (AASHTO Journal, November 21) In the letter the senators note that while ridership has increased in response to Sept. 11, the ARC decision has created doubt in the investment community, raising concerns about the company's ability to access the short- and long-term bond market.

Sens. Joseph Biden (D-DE) and Ernest Hollings (D-SC) managed to insert an amendment into the FY 2002 defense spending bill that would withhold funding for activities related to drafting liquidation plans until after legislation to reauthorize Amtrak, which expires next year, is completed. Biden and Hollings received assurances from Sen. John McCain that he would not oppose the language, although at McCain's request they dropped an attempt to insert language preventing the ARC from proceeding with reorganization plans, according the CQ Daily Monitor.

It is unclear at this time whether conferees from the House will support keeping the language in the final defense bill.

The bill, titled the "Over-the-Road Bus Security and Safety Act of 2001" was introduced Wednesday by leaders of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee including Chairman Don Young, (R-AK), Ranking Min;ority Member James Oberstar (R-MN), Tom Petri (R-WI) Chair of the Highways and Transit Subcommittee, and Robert Borski (D-PA), ranking minority member of the subcommittee.

The bill would establish a $200 million fund which would allow the Secretary of Transportation to make grants to private operators for security improvements to operations. In future years, the bill establishes a 25 cent per passenger surcharge for security programs on tickets costing more than $5. It is estimated that the surcharge would collect between $50 million and $100 million annually to be held in a fund for security grants in future years. Grants could be used for the following purposes:

• To train employees in recognizing terrorist threats and evacuation procedures;
• To establish and implement passenger screening procedures and baggage inspection;
• To expand the hiring of security officers;
• To install cameras and viedo surveillance equipment and establish emergency communications systems linked to police and emergency personnel'
• To construct or modify garages, facilities or buses to assure security; and
• To upgrade, purchase, or install ticketing systems designed to increase security.

Magaw is now the acting executive director of the Office of National Preparedness at the Federal Emergency Management Agency which puts him in charge of FEMA's response to terrorism. He has previously served as director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and as director of the U.S. Secret Service. Magaw, 66, was selected to head ATF following the organization's difficulties stemming from the Branch Davidian compound incidents in Waco, Texas and the Oklahoma City bombing tragedy.

Mineta's office, in a release, said Magaw "directed a thorough review and overhaul of the entire organization, and restored morale to the ATF workforce." Magaw is a native of Columbus, Ohio; he has received the 1991 and 1999 Presidential Rank Meritorious Awards for federal service and, in 1995, received the Presidential Rank Distinguished Award.

The New York Times reported that Magaw began his law-enforcement career as an Ohio state trooper in 1959, then joined the Secret Service in Columbus in 1967. He eventually headed the detail protecting the president and his family. He rose to head that agency in 1992, but in 1993 was tapped to move over to ATF as chief to help rebuild it.

According to the CQ Daily Monitor, the Bush Administration requested that the new position be created in order to consolidate all of the policy functions of the Department of Transportation. The bill (H.R. 3441), which was introduced by Reps. Don Young (R-AK) and James Oberstar (D-MN), was passed without debate.

If approved by the Senate, the new Under Secretary would be responsible for policy development at DOT, including supervising policy activities of the modal administrations. The person will be third in the hierarchy at DOT, and will act for the Secretary and the Deputy Secretary if they are absent or unable to serve. The position requires Senate confirmation.

The U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works has outlined a hearing agenda for the re-authorization of the Surface Transportation Program.

The committee has broken the agenda down into eleven topics. They include:

1.) Partners for America's Transportation Future, lessons learned from TEA-21 and perspectives on reauthorization from the Federal, state and local level.

2.) FY 03 Budget and the Highway Trust Fund, which includes trust fund forecasts, firewall principles, the RARA mechanism and the Administration's FY 03 budget proposal.

3.) Mobility, congestion and intermodalism, which will address fresh ideas on transportation demand, access, mobility and program flexibility.

4.)Operations and security in metropolitan areas, including improving system security and performance during emergencies and periods of peak demand.

5.) Transportation planning and smart growth, which will examine promoting economic growth and suitable development in connection with regional, state and local partners.

6.) Innovative finance, which will address building on transportation's trail-blazing role in public/private partnerships.

7.) Transportation and air quality, which will touch on the CMAQ program, conformity and the role of new technologies.

8.) The state of infrastructure will discuss current and future highway conditions and performance.

9.) Project delivery and environmental facilities, will address progress on environmental streamlining under TEA-21.

10.) Freight and intermodal facilities, which includes logistics, efficiencies and the economics of goods movements.

11.) Rural transportation, which will examine roadway safety, ITS access, weather and other rural changes.

In a letter to Mineta on December 12, Mallory, Secretary of the Pennsylvania department of Transportation, expressed AASHTO's commitment to work with the U.S. Department of Transportation on such issues as streamlining the enivronmental prlanning and permitting process to ensure that needed transportation projects are not unnecessarily delayed. Mallory adds his commitment "to promoting environmental stewardship, which I believ is essential if we are to realize true streamlining."

However, Mallory reiterates the states' "strong belief that U.S. DOT should defer any rulemaking option, and avoid diverting scarce staff resources away from reauthorization efforts." Mallory states that "there are non-regulatory actions the department could take, which we believe would immediately help advance the environmental review and project delivery process." A copy of the letter is enclosed for members of the AASHTO Board of Directors.

Other airlines were said to be watching the petition closely because it may set precedent for other loan-guarantee applications by airlines to a panel created by Congress to aid carriers struggling with reduced travel volume and high costs following the September terrorist attacks in the United States.

America West has the first application to go before the panel, known as the Air Transportation Stabilization Board. It is made up of representatives from the U.S. treasury and transportation departments and the Federal Reserve.

"What we have learned in the process is that the board is very diligent about ensuring that airlines that had a viable business plan before Sept. 11 (the date four U.S. commercial jets were crashed in New York, Virginia and Pennsylvania after being hijacked by terrorists) have a viable business plan going forward," said W. Douglas Parker, chief executive of Phoenix, Arizona-based America West. "They are intent upon ensuring that the taxpayers receive an adequate return for the risk," Parker added.

Parker has recently stated that his airline is recovering following some operational difficulties in 2000; shortly after the Sept. 11 attacks, he told Congress that his carrier could run out of cash within days if the government did not act to assist the industry, which faced plunging passenger counts following the attacks.

Some industry analysts have said they expect America West's problems to force it into Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization, or that the new federal board should not grant loan guarantees to the carrier on the grounds it was not in strong financial condition even before Sept. 11, the Times reported.

During its December 2 meeting in Ft. Worth, Texas, the AASHTO Board of Directors adopted PR-15-01 - Implementation of the Recommendations of the Transportation Research Board's Future Strategic Highway Research Program (F-SHRP) Study. The resolution supports the implementation of the Future Strategic Highway Research Program (F-SHRP) as a policy and legislative priority, including the enactment of a $75 million per year funding level in the reauthorization of TEA-21. The resolution provides recommendations on the development of research plans, and establishes an AASHTO F-SHRP Task Force.

The Board also approved PR-13-01 - Comments from AASHTO to FHWA Regarding the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on Design-Build Contracting. The resolution endorses comments developed by the Standing Committee on Highways regarding the Notice of Proposed Rule Making on Design-Build Contracting. The comments have been sent to the Department of Transportation docket.

Other resolutions passed by the Board included:

AR-3-01- ITS System Specifications
Expresses support for the representation of the AASHTO Subcommittees on Construction and Maintenance on the Task Force on Facilitating ITS Deployment and on any other appropriate task force or committee to develop consistent guidelines for intelligent transportation systems.

AR-4-01 - Privatization/Commercial Use Of Public Rights Of Way
Directs that an ad hoc group be formed to study the evolution of legislation, regulation, and policies regarding the use of logo signs, privatization and commercial use of public rights-of-way; and assess future demands and considerations in this infrastructure asset area. The task force should be comprised of members of the Maintenance, Rights of Way, Advanced Transportation System, and Traffic Subcommittees, as well as stakeholders including the FHWA. Recommendations by the task force should be made to the Standing Committee on Highways by April 2, 2002.

AR-5-01 - Support The Initiative To Establish A National Pool Fund Project To Support The Transportation Curriculum Coordination Council And The Development Of Core Training
Supports the National Transportation Curriculum Coordination Council's proposed pool funded project for the production and development of the core training and qualification materials. The resolution encourages member departments to consider pooled funding for the production and development of the core training and qualification materials as identified by the National Transportation Curriculum Coordination Council.

PR-8-01 - Future Federal Transit Bus Safety Proposals and Activities Noting that there are already numerous mechanisms in place regarding transit bus safety, the resolution maintains that there is no need for a mandated national transit bus safety oversight program. It further recommends that FTA implement a voluntary model transit bus safety program, such as proposed Model 4, that provides states with the needed flexibility in regulatory authority in the area.

PR-9-01 - Adopting 511 Launch Guidelines Adopts the 511 Launch Guidelines that were developed in 2001 by a 511 Deployment Coalition. The Coalition included representatives from public and private associations and organizations, and includes developing guidelines for the information content, establishes consistency guidelines, and determines cost and recovery mechanisms. The resolution encourages the various states to use the 511 Launch Guidelines in deploying 511 traveler information services.

PR-10-01- Transportation Systems Management and Operations Directs the Standing Committee on Highways establish a new Subcommittee on Transportation Systems Management and Operations. The new Subcommittee is to have a mission focused on: Developing policy proposals on system operations; Emphasizing the deployment of ITS and other new technologies; Responding to federal-aid policy, regulations and legislation; Increasing support for transportation systems management and operations among other subcommittees of SCOH; Developing needed research proposals and sharing best practices.

PR-11-01 - AASHTO Accreditation Program (AAP) Expresses AASHTO's continued support for the AASHTO Accreditation Program (AAP), which was established in 1988 with the support of FHWA for the purpose of providing a detailed evaluation of testing equipment and procedures. The resolution requests that the FHWA mandate the same requirements as the AAP as a minimum for other accreditation programs.

PR-12-01 - OSHA Standards on Requirements to Field Install Shear Studs on Structural Steel for Highway Bridge Construction States AASHTO's belief that structural steel for highway construction should be excluded from the requirement to field install shear studs, as mandated under new OSHA Steel Erection Standards. The resolution directs AASHTO to work with OSHA to revise the requirement.

PR-14-01 - Use of Recycled Materials Expresses AASHTO's support for the use of recycled materials where engineering, environmental, and economic conditions warrant their use. The resolution further directs AASHTO to: Establish a joint task force of FHWA, AASHTO, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), and the Association of State and Territorial Solid Waste Management Officials (ASTSWMO), to provide overall leadership for a coordinated national recycling program; Encourage each member agency to appoint a recycling coordinator; Foster technology sharing of recycled materials through the establishment of joint training efforts among the member agencies; Communicate and acknowledge current recycling efforts; Encourage continued recycling initiatives, excluding mandates and earmarks, in the next transportation reauthorization bill.

Joint Committee Statements Approved

The AASHTO Board of Directors also approved four proposed AASHTO-Association of General Contractors-American Road and Transportation Builders Joint Committee Statements, including:

JCS-1-01 - Electronic Bidding in the Highway Construction Industry Provides characteristics that should be considered as the Department of Transportation begins to utilize and refine electronic methodologies for bidding.

JCS-2-01 - Quality in Construction Lists joint commitments by AASHTO, AGC and ARTBA to improve program and project delivery, including greater emphasis on innovative contracting, outsourcing and quality initiatives.

JCS-3-01 - Roadway Work Zone Safety Encourages cooperation and coordination between contractors and state departments of transportation to implement good practices that may assist in achieving the goal of improving work zone safety, and encourages activities to increase work zone safety as a higher priority among industry and the public.

JCS-4-01 - TEA-21 Reauthorization Includes basic principles that reauthorization proposals from Congress and the Administration should reflect.

The program recognizes extraordinary efforts of individuals, companies, public agencies and industry related associations that serve to enhance the image of the U.S. transportation construction industry. Programs, projects, media and publications can be submitted in the following categories: community relations, safety, work force development, public-media relations/education, and other.