Election Results in States Highlight Funding Woes

This story appears in the Nov. 10 print edition of Transport Topics.

Those sifting last week’s state election results for clues about the future of transportation issues may find more contradictions than answers.

“I don’t know what to conclude except it’s obvious that it remains extremely difficult to increase revenues at any levels for investment in transportation,” said Emil Frankel, a transportation-funding expert and former federal transportation official.

“The public seems to want good transportation but [doesn’t] make a connection between . . . taxation and what they want,” continued Frankel, visiting scholar at the Bipartisan Policy Center in Washington and former assistant secretary for transportation policy under former President George W. Bush.

Massachusetts presented a rebuke to those trying to find long-term funding for transportation.

Voters in that blue state repealed a key funding provision — indexing the state gasoline tax to inflation — that was contained in the transportation-funding law hammered out last year by Gov. Deval Patrick and lawmakers.

Massachusetts voters also elected Republican Charles Baker to succeed Democrat Patrick, who did not run for re-election.

Louisiana voters soundly rejected a ballot measure — endorsed by the trucking industry — that would have created a state infrastructure bank to help finance road projects.

“We supported it as an effort to think outside the box and do something towards funding the infrastructure,” said Cathy Gautreaux, executive director of the Louisiana Motor Transport Association.

On the positive side, Wisconsin voters overwhelmingly approved a measure to keep governors and lawmakers from spending money in the state’s transportation fund on anything except roads.

But the fund has a $638 million shortfall over the next two years, and it is not clear from where new funding will come.

 “That’s what we’re waiting to see: What is that long-term fix?” said Neal Kedzie, president of the Wisconsin Motor Carriers Association. “It’s going to be difficult to do without raising fees of some type or assessing some sort of a tax.”

In addition, Wisconsin reelected Republican Gov. Scott Walker, who is anti-tax, and a legislature with Republican majorities not seen since Dwight Eisenhower was president.

“And it is going to be a more conservative majority overall between both houses,” Kedzie said, emphasizing the dilemma the election has posed for transportation advocates.

Like voters in Wisconsin, those in Maryland overwhelmingly approved a lock on their state’s transportation fund.

“That was a huge victory for us, and I think it speaks to the frustration that people have had with congestion in our area and then seeing money diverted out of the transportation trust fund,” said Louis Campion, president of the Maryland Motor Truck Association.

Unlike Wisconsin, however, Maryland’s transportation fund is flush with new money generated by last year’s adoption of a transportation-funding plan that included new fuel taxes.

Ironically, the party responsible for the funding plan, the Democrats, last week lost the governor’s office and legislative seats.

Campion said the loss by the Democratic gubernatorial candidate, Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown, was not due to the fuel-tax increases but rather to a cluster of issues, including other taxes.

Campion acknowledged that the Republican winner, Larry Hogan, campaigned as an anti-tax candidate and that the outcome of the elections nationally “could create somewhat of a cautious environment relative to tax increases of any kind.”

The governor of another state that raised fuel taxes last year, Pennsylvania, also was defeated. Gov. Tom Corbett lost to Democrat Tom Wolf, who ran ads attacking the higher fuel taxes.

James Runk, president of the Pennsylvania Motor Truck Association, said the higher fuel taxes do not explain Corbett’s defeat: that he was deeply unpopular in the state.

Wolf’s company, the Wolf Organization Inc., a family-owned building-products company specializing in kitchen cabinets, belongs to PMTA.

“He knows the importance of transportation,” Runk said.

Runk also said, however, that Wolf’s position on taxes may run afoul of truckers.

“He’s indicated he wants to take a look at the income tax,” Runk said. “There’s indications he’s going to put a surcharge on the gas drillers . . . but it’s going to require dealing with the Republican House and Senate.”

Texans overwhelmingly approved a ballot measure that could divert as much as $1.7 billion annually from the state’s rainy day fund to roads — though, specifically, not to toll roads. The rainy day fund is supported by taxes on the booming oil and gas industry.

Nevada truckers celebrated defeat of a ballot measure there that would have put a 2% “margin tax” on businesses that grossed more than $1 million annually.

“It would have been absolutely devastating to the trucking industry,” said Paul Enos, CEO of the Nevada Motor Transport Association.