86R23753 KSM-F
By: Landgraf H.C.R. No. 147
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
WHEREAS, Texas is experiencing dramatic economic and
population growth, bringing in top companies and some of the
greatest talent in the nation, yet it is facing great challenges in
creating and maintaining the transportation system that Texans
need; and
WHEREAS, Texas continues to endure a structural funding
inequity that results in the state consistently receiving less than
its fair share of federal transportation dollars; and
WHEREAS, According to the Federal Highway Administration, in
federal fiscal year 2019, Texas is the only "donor" state,
receiving only 95 cents back for every dollar it sends to Washington
in federal fuel taxes; and
WHEREAS, The inequity of being the only "donor" state
amounted to a loss of up to $940 million by Texas motorists in
federal fiscal year 2019, with Texas taxpayers being forced to pay
for infrastructure in other states; and
WHEREAS, In federal fiscal year 2019, Texas was the only
state not to receive any benefit from the billions of dollars in
general fund revenue and other federal sources transferred to the
highway trust fund; and
WHEREAS, Congress uses 2000 census data in its formula
funding, and in 2000, the Texas population was 20 million; it has
since grown by nearly 50 percent and is now estimated at over 29
million; and
WHEREAS, While the Texas congressional delegation has worked
to protect the state's dollars and improve Texas' "rate of return"
for many years, nearly two decades of population growth is not
reflected in the distribution of federal transportation dollars,
since Congress stopped updating performance inputs for the formulas
used for distributing federal aid apportionments and allocations to
states out of the highway trust fund account; and
WHEREAS, This imbalance weakens Texas' ability to provide a
safe transportation system, develop and build local projects,
address traffic congestion, move freight efficiently across the
state, and maintain the infrastructure that Texans deserve; now,
therefore, be it
RESOLVED, That the 86th Legislature of the State of Texas
hereby respectfully urge the U.S. Congress to work collectively
toward a fair, equitable, and logical approach to federal
transportation funding in any new federal transportation
legislation that Congress considers; and, be it further
RESOLVED, That provisions in legislation should include but
not be limited to:
(a) Adjustments to ensure that each state receives an
aggregate apportionment equal to at least 95 percent of the
percentage of estimated tax payments attributable to highway users
in the state paid into the highway trust fund (other than the Mass
Transit Account) in the most recent fiscal year for which data are
available; and
(b) Updating of federal formulas for distributing funding
to states to include current data and metrics, including the most
recent decennial census; and, be it further
RESOLVED, That the Texas secretary of state forward official
copies of this resolution to the president of the United States, to
the president of the Senate and the speaker of the House of
Representatives of the United States Congress, and to all the
members of the Texas delegation to Congress with the request that
this resolution be entered in the Congressional Record as a
memorial to the Congress of the United States of America.