Legislative session ends without multi-year Ch. 90 bill

The Legislature concluded its formal session for the year on Wednesday night without taking final action on a five-year, $12.1 billion transportation bond bill and leaving the fate of a multi-year Chapter 90 authorization – a top MMA priority – to be determined next year.

A week before the session ended, the Joint Committee on Transportation favorably reported a bill (H. 3763) that includes much of what the administration had requested in its capital plan for transportation projects. It would provide $2.5 billion to replace worn-out trains and buses, $1.3 billion for the federally required Green Line extension, $175 million for increased bus and train service, and $2.2 billion for the South Coast rail project. The bill, however, does not include Chapter 90 funding for fiscal 2015 and beyond, an omission that the MMA will work hard to resolve early next year.

The next legislative session begins in January, and H. 3763 could be amended to include a multi-year Chapter 90 allocation, or the Transportation Committee could report out a separate Chapter 90 bill.

In order to give local officials the ability to plan ahead, take advantage of the full construction season, and use the funding efficiently, the MMA had asked the Legislature to pass a five-year Chapter 90 bond bill by the end of the legislative session providing $300 million per year (indexed for inflation in future years).

The request follows three straight years of delays in the release of Chapter 90 funds well past the statutory deadline of April 1. The Legislature did not pass a Chapter 90 bond bill for fiscal 2014 until May, and then the governor delayed release of final Chapter 90 allocation letters until July 30 due to the debate over a separate transportation finance bill.

“As you know, the passage of a bond bill (and the companion ‘terms’ bill) requires a long journey along a very time-consuming pathway,” the MMA wrote to legislators on Oct. 22. “In order to avoid another frustrating and costly delay in the start of local road projects for fiscal 2015 and beyond, we respectfully and urgently ask that the Legislature enact a multi-year, $300 million-a-year Chapter 90 bond bill as soon as possible, before the end of the 2013 session on Nov. 20, even if that requires separating it from the governor’s bond bill that remains in committee or any omnibus bond bill that may be on a slower path.”

A bond bill and a separate “terms” bill each must be passed by the House and Senate and signed into law by the governor before any Chapter 90 funding can be released to cities and towns.

Both the House and Senate unanimously passed a $300 million, stand-alone Chapter 90 bond bill for fiscal 2014 in May, and the governor signed it into law, but ultimately the governor released just $200 million of the funding. Regardless of the Legislature’s actions, decisions about how much Chapter 90 funding to release are the domain of the governor’s office.

The $300 million Chapter 90 authorization remains on the books, however, and could be released by this or any future administration at any time.

A statewide survey conducted by the MMA late last year documents that the state’s cities and towns would need to spend $562 million each year to maintain local roads in a “state of good repair,” the industry standard, but communities spend far less due to inadequate resources. With this in mind, local officials and the MMA have been consistently calling for a $100 million increase (50 percent) in the Chapter 90 program, to $300 million per year.