ROADS ARE EXPENSIVE. BUT DELAYING CONSTRUCTION WILL ULTIMATELY COST MORE IN DOLLARS—AND LIVES.
will authorize annual disbursements from the state’s oil and gas production tax collec- tions to the State Highway Fund. An esti- mated $1.7 billion will be transferred in to the State Highway Fund in the first year alone. The amendment shows significant progress toward meeting the funding needs for transportation projects in Texas. With 80 percent voter support, the
measure authorizes additional Texas trans- portation funding—without new taxes, tolls or fees—that can only be used for construction, maintenance, rehabilitation and acquiring right-of-way for public roads. These funds cannot be used for toll roads.
Currently, the state’s Economic
Stabilization Fund (ESF) receives 75 per- cent of the state’s annual oil and gas pro- duction tax collections that exceed the
amount collected in fiscal year 1987, when it was created. Under the amendment, half of the money currently destined for the ESF will be dedicated to the State Highway Fund. The remaining half will continue to build the unspent balance of the ESF. Related legislation passed in 2013
requires TxDOT to identify $100 million in savings, which it must use to reduce its long-term debt. These savings can come from operational efficiencies, cost reduc- tions or cost savings, but cannot reduce the amount of funding available for transpor- tation projects. The legislation also calls for the
Lieutenant Governor and the Speaker of the House to appoint five Senate members and five House members to a select com- mittee to determine a “sufficient balance” of the ESF for a state fiscal biennium. In
determining such a balance, the committee will consider the history of Fund balances; the history of transfers to the Fund; esti- mated Fund balances during that fiscal biennium; estimated transfers to the Fund to occur during that fiscal biennium; infor- mation available to the committee regard- ing state highway congestion and funding demands and any other information requested by the committee regarding the state’s financial condition. A special transportation committee of
Texas business and civic leaders—working with the Texas Transportation Institute—recently calculated Texas’s unmet transportation needs at $4 billion annually. The shortfall includes $1 billion for existing road maintenance and $3 bil- lion for mobility improvements. Roads in oil and gas regions of Texas
will cost even more; likely another $1 bil- lion per year just to maintain energy roads, many of which were not built to handle the truck traffic energy production requires. Texas is expected to add 18 million
people by 2040. That’s in addition to the 27
28 Winter 2015
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