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While a handful of races in the House of Representatives remain contested, the 2012 Presidential and Congressional elections are largely over and the public transportation industry can begin to look forward to a new legislative session.
The election results mean no shift in power at the federal level: President Barack Obama was reelected, the Democrats retained their majority in the Senate, and the Republicans maintained control of the House. The status quo, however, does not necessarily mean more of the same.
Several congressional committees with jurisdiction over public transit-related legislation will see changes in leadership. In the coming days and weeks, party organizations in the House and Senate are expected to make decisions on who will serve as chair or ranking member of various committees.
In many cases, the current congressional committee leadership will remain the same. However, some incumbent committee leaders will not return to those roles due to retirement or party-imposed term limits. In these instances, each caucus or conference has rules and procedures for selecting members to fill the vacancies. Committees should announce their finalized committee assignments over the next several weeks.
Additionally, it remains unclear whether Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood will stay in the Cabinet, or who would replace him if he steps down. While other officials have made decisive comments regarding their future with the administration, LaHood has recently remained silent on the issue.
While the 2012 election hardly brought the sweeping changes we saw in the 2008 and 2010 elections, it did add new faces to both the House and Senate with whom the public transit industry will need to connect, along with the new committee leadership.
The new Congress will be responsible for drafting surface transportation authorization legislation to succeed the current law, Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century (MAP-21), which expires Sept. 30, 2014. Congress will also wrestle with the funding and tax issues that need to be addressed.
It will be incumbent upon the public transit industry to continue to educate members of Congress, both new and returning, as well as the administration, as we work through the issues in front of us.
At the State Level
In state politics, Republicans entered the 2012 election holding 29 governorships and increased that to 30 with a win in the North Carolina race. Democrats now hold 19 seats and an Independent continues to hold one seat.
Of the 11 gubernatorial races, only North Carolina switched parties; the remaining 10 gubernatorial races ended with the incumbent party retaining office.
In the state legislatures, Democrats took back the Minnesota House and Senate, Colorado House, Oregon House, New York Senate, Maine House and Senate, and New Hampshire House.
Republicans took control of the Arkansas House and Senate, as well as the Wisconsin Senate, in the wake of the recall efforts, and drew a tie in the Alaska Senate.
Meanwhile, the recent wave of successful pro-public transit ballot initiatives continued this past Tuesday—part of a long-term trend with more than 70 percent of such ballot measures passing since the year 2000. (See related story.)
Detailed election analysis, including a rundown of the upcoming changes to committee leadership and expanded ballot initiative coverage, can be found on the Government Affairs portion of the APTA website.
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