Link to article here.

While we like Sen. Robert Nichols' bill, we love Rep. Linda Harper-Brown's bill, HB 479, better because it moves the vehicles sales tax money over to roads quicker. We can't wait 10 more years to properly fund our state highway system and end the practice of tolling everything, which is a $2,000-$3,000/yr hike in the average commuter's taxes.

Texas' top transportation lawmakers pick vehicle sales tax as preferred way to boost highway fund
By Tom Benning
Dallas Morning News
January 30, 2013

Texas’ top transportation lawmakers have now made official their preferred method for infusing the Texas Department of Transportation’s highway fund with much-needed cash.

Robert Nichols and Larry Phillips — the chairmen of the state Senate and House transportation committees, respectively — jointly filed bills Monday to dedicate to TxDOT the 6.25 percent sales tax levied on new and used vehicle purchases.

Link to article here.

We agree that the State must get back to funding the core Constitutional functions of government, but funding core functions and cuts in spending and tax relief are not mutually exclusive.

Speaker says Texas needs more than tax cuts
Associated Press
January 28, 2013

AUSTIN, TX -- Texas needs more than tax cuts to thrive and will require investments in education, infrastructure and water to keep growing, House Speaker Joe Straus told the Texas Association of Broadcasters on Monday.

The San Antonio Republican said the state's rapidly growing population and economy means the state must spend more on what he called the government's core responsibilities. The speaker oversees the Texas House and sets the legislative agenda.

Link to article here.

Ohioans sideline sale of Ohio Turnpike
By Terri Hall
January 19, 2013

In a victory for state sovereignty, property rights, and taxpayers, the grassroots managed to defeat Ohio Governor John Kasich’s proposal of selling off the Ohio Turnpike to a private toll operator using a controversial public private partnership (P3). The state officially pulled the plug on the P3, announcing the turnpike would stay public but the state will issue bonds backed by future toll revenues to generate needed cash. Kasich considered the turnpike an ‘unused asset’ that he could sell-off for a half century to get $3 billion now for other road projects. But Ohioans had a different opinion.

At the first public hearing held by the state to get public feedback last summer, 75 of 77 attendees said they were against privatizing the Ohio Turnpike. The Cuyahoga County Commissioners in northern Ohio opposed the sale. Many pointed to the poor conditions of the Indiana Toll Road once it was handed to Spain-based Cintra and Australian company Macquarie in a 75-year lease. Rates more than doubled, maintenance went down, and the concession company is struggling financially.

Link to article here.

Lawmakers taking Texas off fiscal cliff with road debt
By Terri Hall
January 10, 2013
Examiner.com

Thirty-one billion and counting. That’s how much road debt Texas Governor Rick Perry and Texas lawmakers have racked-up since they abandoned pay-as-you-go and started down the road of borrow and spend road policy. In fact, federal data shows Texas has the highest road debt of any state in America. Texas officials have been building roads with credit cards, and they're maxed out. Local debt incurred by toll authorities, cities and counties is equally out of control with just the North Texas Tollway Authority at $9 billion and climbing.

Indeed, the transportation picture looks bleak. If lawmakers fail to get the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) adequate traditional funding this session, Texans will be faced with more of the same failed policies -- unsustainable debt, failing toll roads subsidized with tax dollars, and public private partnerships that sell-off our public infrastructure to private corporations that charge oppressively high tolls with impunity for generations.

Texas, we can do better.

Today, the roads offer smooth sailing for gridlock-weary commuters willing to pay the price. But far fewer people are using the turnpikes than officials predicted, which means the highways generate far less revenue than expected to retire their debts.

Link to article here.

All three state leaders, Governor Rick Perry, Lt. Governor David Dewhurst, and Speaker Joe Straus said transportation and funding infrastructure as a state priority this session. It's incumbent upon Texans that it's not just lip service. We need bold leadership, and not the debt, toll road, public private partnership Perry model that got into this mess.

83rd Legislature Faces a New Set of Priorities
By Texas Tribune Staff
Texas Tribune
January 6, 2013

The last time Texas lawmakers convened in Austin, they were absorbed with numbers and boundaries: how to make ends meet with a deflated state budget and draw new district maps the courts would approve.

But with improving fiscal conditions and redistricting mostly in the rearview mirror, they are approaching the 2013 legislative session with some pressing policy questions, from whether to introduce private school vouchers into the state’s public education system to whether they should put in effect — and accept financing for — major provisions of the federal health care overhaul.

Link to article here.

Governor lays out plan to eliminate gas tax, increase sales tax
By Doris Taylor
WTKR.com
January 8, 2013

During a press conference today, Governor Bob McDonnell laid out a new plan that would eliminate the gas tax but increase the sales tax.

He wants to raise the state sales tax from 5% to 5.8% percent and wants to put the money into transportation. 

He said he’d do away with the 17.5 cent gas tax. 

Virginia would become the first state without a gas tax.