UPDATED AGAIN: In a 4:15 p.m. press conference, state Sen. John Carona, R-Dallas, recommitted to killing the TxDOT sunset bill with a multi-hour talkathon.
"For 250 pounds, I have a lot of energy, and I feel really passionate about this," Carona said.
He disputed the assertion of Sen. Glenn Hegar, R-Katy, that killing the TxDOT bill would mean no new road construction projects for two years.
Carona said the $2 billion in highway construction bonds might be attached to another bill, and even if it weren't, that money wasn't even set to be distributed until late next year. At most, he said, it would be a delay of several months.
Another problem Carona brought up during his visit with reporters was that state Sen. Eliot Shapleigh, D-El Paso, was not a membe of the team negotiating the final bill. He had suggested Shapleigh, who had worked on the bill and is a member of the Senate's transportation committee, for the committee, but Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst appointed state Sen. Juan "Chuy" Hinojsa, D-McAllen, instead.
Shapleigh, he said, was committed to the local-option transportation tax and would have stood strong with Carona to allow communities to raise funds for their projects.
"You can't build roads without money, and it's that simple," Carona said.
In the end, Carona said, it comes down to House members not having the political courage to vote for new taxes and fees even though they know the money is needed.
"At some point soon, we're going to be embarassed by the fact that we've run out of money to build roads," Carona said.
UPDATED: Sen. Glenn Hegar, R-Katy, said his colleague's plan to talk to death the Texas Department of Transportation sunset bill that he authored and has worked on for months is "a sad turn of events."
Hegar said he did not act deceitfully in gathering signatures and negotiating a deal on the TxDOT bill with the House members who told him repeatedly that the local-option taxes and fees would face certain death in the lower chamber.
"You're playing Russian Roulette with a fully loaded gun, and you're not going to win," he said of trying to bring the TxDOT bill to the House with the local option in it.
Hegar said he was disappointed that all the other measures in the bill, including a portion that would allow the release of $2 billion in transportation construction bonds for new roads, would die.
"This bill does not need to be hijacked for someone's personal efforts," Hegar said.
A couple notes about the next couple days and possibilities ahead. Hegar or Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst could simply decide not to bring up the bill and save Carona the trouble of talking for hours on end. If they do decide to bring up the bill, the timing of when they decide to bring it up will determine how long Carona has to jabber.
State Sen. John Carona, R-Dallas, said he plans to make good on his threat yesterday to kill the massive bill to overhaul the Texas Department of Transportation.
Carona is upset because a measure was struck from the bill that would allow voters to decide whether to raise local taxes and fees for transportation projects.
Here's Carona's release, which outlines his five-point plan to talk the bill to death.
He's got to keep it going til midnight tomorrow.
Why I Will Filibuster the TxDOT Sunset Bill, by Senator John Carona
There is an old Italian saying: Dai
nemici mi guardo io, dagli amici mi guardi Iddio.
It means "I can protect myself from my enemies; may God protect me from my
friends!"
It's no secret by now that the conference committee report contents
were not what I was led to believe, and that the report was signed and filed
before I was ever shown the decisions. What we have is a deal negotiated in bad
faith. I can handle the personal and professional insult involved; after all,
there is another Italian saying:
Quando finisce la partita, i pedoni, le
torri, i cavalli, i vescovi, i due re e le due regine tutti vanno nello stesso
scatolo.
When the chess game is over, the pawns, rooks, knights, bishops, kings,
and queens all go back into the same box. We will recover and work together
again, and the Senate will survive.
Unfortunately, the practical effects of HB 300 for Texas transportation are negative and still must
be addressed. For example, in the absence of the Local Option Transportation
Act, other provisions included in either the House or Senate bill but discarded
by conferees such as Local Participation take on new importance and should have
been adopted. Had I known LOTA would be stripped, I would have pressed that
point.
If HB 300 dies, the only real loss is the enabling legislation to issue
Proposition 12 bonds. Frankly, given the debt service entailed over time, there
is a good argument to putting off this debt until we can pass legislation
reducing or eliminating transportation diversions, legislation I filed, but
mysteriously came to a stop in the House.
It further appears that the Senate conferees ended up giving away the
store. The fatal flaw in HB 300 is buried in the process for determining
whether the state or the MPO picks the projects. HB 300 has the Transportation
Commission developing criteria for selection and placement of projects in the
Transportation Plan, which is good. However, for the major funding categories
the Commission must then use the MPO's priorities unless they conflict with
federal law or rule. Finally, the department "shall use the planning
organizations' project lists to create the statewide transportation program and
budget." Through these steps, found on page 38 of the side by side, the
conferees complete the transfer of decision making authority from the state
level to the MPO, which in my view is the wrong direction.
Accordingly, here is how I will proceed today.
First, I will read the bill to the body. HB 300 on conference committee
report is 344 pages long, which is even bigger than the infamous HB 3588 by 10%.
Given that the House bill came to the Senate with over 100 amendments
stapled to the back and not rolled in, there has never been a compiled version
that makes sense, entire sections of law are repealed by handwritten notes in
the margins, and we have barely had the bill long enough to absorb so much as
the table of contents, you can expect this effort to take a while.
In that process, we will explore a few of the very curious provisions
of this bill. For example, why would there be a provision inserted after
Senator Hinojosa was appointed to the committee that addresses a TCEQ permit
currently in litigation and if passed, I am told would put a constituent of
Senator Lucio's out of business?
Why if LOTA was so impossible, would there be a provision appearing for
the first time in the conference committee report that enables the El Paso
County Commissioners, without a vote of the citizens, to increase vehicle
registration fees by an additional $50?
If rail transit in North Texas is too much for the House to vote on,
why would the conference committee report include a first-ever provision
directing the route of a rail line serving Irving?
Second, I will describe for my colleagues in detail the development and
content of the Rail North Texas proposal, so they can fully understand and
appreciate the resolve of local leaders, businesses, and taxpayers in North Texas to have this opportunity.
Third, I will address the knee-jerk, self-professed tax watchdogs whose
outcry on the local option transportation act betrays either ignorance of the
session or a callous use of LOTA as a straw man to garner headlines and
addresses for their mailing lists. I will do that by reminding my colleagues of
the content, analysis, and fiscal impact of legislation I proposed that would
end diversions and index the motor fuels tax.
Fourth, I will share with each Senator the projects in their districts
that are unfunded, and that this legislation will do little to address.
Fifth, I will return to the reason LOTA is so important, the state of
transportation funding today. There are many resources that detail the funding
crisis, such as the 2030 Report and the Governor's Business Council report, and
I look forward to disseminating that information.
Of course, Texas
is not alone in these needs, and there are voluminous reports from at least two
national select committees that shed light on our failing infrastructure
finance systems.
I hope at that point I have not run out of time in the session because
I have some other items to discuss, but I am inspired by the memory of Bill
Meier, who from the desk right behind where I sit today, talked for 43 hours.
Let's see how I do.
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