GOP Senators Introduce Bill to Allow States to Opt Out of Federal Highway Program

[Newsjock]

http://www.fedsmith.com/article/3031/senators-introduce-bill-allow-states-opt.html

Sens. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and Mike Lee (R-Utah) and 11 more Senate Republicans have introduced legislation which would empower states to free themselves from "wasteful mandates and heavy-handed interference from the federal government" by enabling them to opt out of the Federal-Aid Highway and Mass Transit Account (MTA) programs.

... States opting out of the HTF under the State Transportation Flexibility Act would give up their annual authorization from that fund in exchange for their share of the 18.3 cents per gallon federal gas taxes collected within their boundaries. The states would then be free to use that money to set and finance their own transportation priorities, subject only to their pledge to abide by certain federal safety and maintenance standards.

... Sens. Richard Burr (R-N.C.), Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.), Dan Coats (R-Ind.) John Cornyn (R-Texas), Jim DeMint (R-S.C.), Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.), Jon Kyle (R-Ariz.) John McCain (R-Ariz.), Rand Paul (R-Tenn.), Rob Portman (R-Ohio) and David Vitter (R-La.) have also signed on to the legislation.

The legislation also has support from a number of national organizations, including Americans for Prosperity, the National Taxpayers Union, The American Legislative Exchange Council, Americans for Tax Reform and the Council for Citizens Against Government Waste.

[rucky]

1. So they want to turn 'em into toll roads, eh?

[SaveAmerica]

18. It would keep another feather out of Obama's hat; Eisenhower is to the Nat'l Hwy System as Obama is

to connecting American states and major cities by High Speed Rail.

[DURHAM D]

2. What a bunch of idiots.

[mdmc]

4. 1

[BeyondGeography]

3. Another ideological circle jerk

[ej510]

12. It's not ideaological. They are corporqte owned. This is a kickback.

[ProfessionalLeftist]

5. Next step: privatize. n/t

[rurallib]

7. yep - including tyhe interstates if they can

[Lorien]

11. That's what this is all about. Starve the States so that they have to sell off

everything to the highest bidder; roads, parks, schools..you name it.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

6. This would mean the end to Federal mandates such as

Blood alcohol levels thresholds
speed limits
seat belt use

I am sure there are others...

[Angleae]

19. There is no federal seat belt use or speed limit law.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

20. IIRC Fed DOT has pushed them using financial pressure

[Angleae]

21. They pushed for alcohol limits too.

But the states still can choose to ignore them. The DOT also has stopped pushing speed limits over 10 years ago.

[LiberalFighter]

8. If it is a federal gas tax then they shouldn't be allowed to opt out.

Now if they want to opt out and the condition is there isn't a federal gas tax in their state then fine.

BUT, then there would be the issue of others buying gas in states that don't have the fed tax to avoid paying it in their own state.

IMO if states are in the wrong location and they go the route of toll roads they increase the odds of jobs leaving the state.

[PSPS]

9. The legislation also has support from a number of national organizations...

The legislation also has support from a number of national organizations, including Americans for Prosperity, the National Taxpayers Union, The American Legislative Exchange Council, Americans for Tax Reform and the Council for Citizens Against Government Waste.

All the usual billionaire-financed astroturf organizations are there including our old friend ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council) who likely wrote the legislation. The republicans sponsoring this are also all on the pad.

[applegrove]

10. Oh my god. The roads are going to be privatized. After peak oil hits it will

be like Zaire in the 1980s where a cop can stop you on any street and demand all your cash. Because that was the only salary they got.

[FarCenter]

13. I thought a lot of blue western states had a lot of lightly traveled interstate and federal highways

Does Montana sell enough gas to afford its highways?

[Igel]

14. Odd idea.

Things like "alcohol blood level" requirements don't seem to be included. Perhaps they are, implicitly.

The existence of the proposal suggests some problems it's to solve. I wonder how many of them are actually problems?

1. Highway funding isn't spent evenly. Some states pay more, some pay less. You'd expect this to average out. I'm under no illusion that it does, but implicature and suspicion don't make a fact. (Then again, I've been on roads in Oklahoma.)

2. Highway funding is intended to cover a flexible range of projects instead of being for a well-defined (set of) purpose(s). Some projects are deemed covered now that wouldn't have been a year or two ago. Meaning, in other words, that projects that would have been predicted to have been paid for are supplanted.

3. Some of the mandates are odd. I don't understand the reference to "museums." I've wondered, while driving along some roads, who paid for all the nifty landscaping and artful touches even as potholes knocked my front end out of alignment. On the other hand, if I had 25 miles of crappy road and could either repair 20 miles of it and beautify it or fix all 25 miles, I know what I'd go for.

4. There's a tacit dig at bailouts, and one effect would be to make bailouts of the MTA, uh, what's the right word? Complicated? Painful? Awkward? Dunno. But I infer that now the fund's overspent and needs money from the general fund. This bill would cause the additional funds to be divided. If your state would have paid 15% of the MTA funds had it not opted out and then there's a $1 billion bailout needed, $150 million of the bailout vanishes to your state. It would make overspending the MTA more expensive, because then the bailout would have to be the amount needed to fund the overbudget project(s) + whatever is needed to pay off the states that bailed out.

There are probably more, but I still need to practice my instrument and then get to sleep.

[neverforget]

15. Libertarian wet dream so they can be privatized

[DainBramaged]

16. Stupid fucking primitives, stupid stupid stupid

When the potholes begin to swallow cars whole and they are voted out of office, we who are intelligent will yet again have to bail their backward asses out.

[highplainsdem]

17. ALEC's involved, of course. This is the first step toward privatization.