SLS 21RS-159 ORIGINAL
2021 Regular Session
SENATE CONCURRENT RESOL UTION NO. 21
BY SENATORS PEACOCK, MILLIGAN, ROBERT MILLS AND TARVER AND
REPRESENTATIVES BAGLEY, CREWS, MCMAHEN, PHELPS AND
PRESSLY
LOCAL AGENCIES. Requests inclusion of legislative participation in Northwest Louisiana
Council of Governments MPO.
1 A CONCURRENT RESOL UTION
2 To urge and request the Northwest Louisiana Council of Governments to include legislative
3 participation in exercising the council's function as a metropolitan planning
4 organization setting transportation policy-making.
5 WHEREAS, 49 U.S.C. 5301 et seq., originating with the Federal-Aid Highway Act
6 of 1970 through the Fixing America's Surface Transportation Act or "FAST Act" signed into
7 law in 2015, provides for the designation of metropolitan planning organizations (MPO) for
8 urban areas with a population of more than fifty thousand individuals; and
9 WHEREAS, MPOs carry out transportation planning processes to create specified
10 primary products, such as a metropolitan transportation plan or a transport improvement
11 program, to qualify for federal highway and transit funding; and
12 WHEREAS, Louisiana has nine MPOs designated through agreements between the
13 governor and local governments that represent at least seventy-five percent of the population
14 of the affected population pursuant to federal law; and
15 WHEREAS, the Northwest Louisiana Council of Governments is the designated
16 MPO for the parishes of Caddo, Bossier, Desoto, and Webster; and
17 WHEREAS, the Northwest Louisiana Council of Governments serves as a
18 coordination and consensus-building role in planning and programing funds for operations,
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SLS 21RS-159 ORIGINAL
1 rather than implementing transportation projects directly as an owner or operator of a
2 transportation system; and
3 WHEREAS, the Department of Transportation and Development currently serves as
4 a member government organization involved in planning for the common needs, cooperating
5 for the mutual benefit, and coordinating for the sound regional development through
6 prioritizing federal funds with the Northwest Louisiana Council of Governments; and
7 WHEREAS, 49 U.S.C. 5303(d)(2) authorizes MPOs to include, along with local
8 elected officials and officials of public agencies that administer or operate major modes of
9 transportation, and to appropriate state officials; and
10 WHEREAS, to enhance the regional transportation planning process, along with the
11 priorities and capabilities of the state's transportation department, there is utility of
12 incorporating the priorities and resources of the state's legislature through inclusion of local
13 legislators in the planning process.
14 THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Legislature of Louisiana does hereby
15 urge and request the Northwest Louisiana Council of Governments to include participation
16 as voting members by members of the House of Representatives and the Senate representing
17 the urban area, or designees appointed by such members of the legislature, in exercising the
18 council's function as a metropolitan planning organization setting transportation policy-
19 making.
20 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be transmitted to the
21 board of directors of the Northwest Louisiana Council of Governments.
The original instrument and the following digest, which constitutes no part
of the legislative instrument, were prepared by Tyler S. McCloud.
DIGEST
SCR 21 Original 2021 Regular Session Peacock
Requests the Northwest Louisiana Council of Governments to include participation as voting
members by members of the House of Representatives and the Senate representing the urban
area, or designees appointed by such members of the legislature, in exercising the council's
function as a metropolitan planning organization setting transportation policy-making.
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