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Senate Banking Committee Markup of of SAFETEA 2005 Bill - March 17, 2005
for more information, visit http://www.calinst.org/transpo.htm

The source for much of this information is the "Federal Formula Grants and California" project, a joint venture between the California Institute for Federal Policy Research and the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC)

Senate Banking Committee Marks Up Transit Reauthorization Bill

On Thursday, May 17, 2005, the day after the EPW Committee marked up provisions to reauthorize federal highway programs, the Senate Banking Committee met to mark up the transit component of transportation renewal. Like the EPW session, the transit mark up also featured bipartisan grumbling over inadequate financing and support for speedy completion of a bill before the May 31st deadline. In the end, the bill was reported favorably out of committee unanimously.

Some Democrats on the committee objected to the disproportionate cut in transit spending in the committee bill, noting that the Senate-approved 2004 bill had apportioned 18.8 percent of that total to transit spending whereas the 2005 bill, cuts the transit share to 18.1 percent, a disparity of $1.7 billion. Opting to not offer an amendment in committee, Ranking member Paul Sarbanes (MD) stated that he may propose a more balanced highways-transit split once the bill reaches the Senate Floor.

During the EPW mark up, Sen. Bond insisted that without additional funding drawn out of the transit budget, SAFETEA would not be able to guarantee the 10 percent growth floor in the reported bill.

Sen. Charles Schumer (NY) representing the state with the highest national share of transit receipts expressed support for the effort to boost transit funding to $53.3 billion, "We cannot let these ratios erode, " said Sen. Schumer, "Mass transit is the life blood of our economy." California receives the second largest share of transit grants, 14.8 percent of total spending throughout the course of TEA-21. Sen. Schumer also warned panelists of the dangers of underfunding transit in a time when transit popularity is growing at overwhelming levels. According to Sen. Schumer, transit ridership grew 28 percent nationally between 1992 and 2002, making it the fastest growing mode of transportation.

The bill's highway safety provisions have yet to be addressed before the bill may be debated on the floor. Transportation advocates predict that floor proceedings will commence on the week of April 18th to give members enough time to report a bill and move into conference negotiations.

For more information on the SAFETEA transit mark up, visit the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs website at: http://banking.senate.gov/index.cfm?Fuseaction=Hearings.Detail&HearingID=143 .

More information regarding transportation reauthorization and its potential effect on California, visit http://www.calinst.org/transpo.htm , which presents analysis made developed under the Federal Formula Grants and California project, a joint venture between the California Institute for Federal Policy Research and the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC), at http://www.ppic.org/main/series.asp?i=22 . A 2004 report on federal transit programs and California is available at http://www.ppic.org/main/publication.asp?i=550 .

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