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NEWS HEADLINES

2017: A Year of Advocacy for Public Transportation

BY MICHAEL FIMMANO
APTA Legislative Analyst

Here are some highlights of APTA’s government affairs activities during 2017:

Throughout the year, APTA has advocated for its Infrastructure Initiative Recommendations (adopted in December 2016) on Capitol Hill. During 2017, the APTA Legislative Committee also adopted appendices to the recommendations on finance principles and regulatory reform. APTA’s Funding, Finance, and Tax Policy and Federal Procedures and Regulations legislative subcommittees developed the recommendations.

In March, APTA held its annual ­Legislative Conference in Washington, DC. Reps. Earl ­Blumenauer (D-OR), John Delaney (D-MD) and Seth Moulton (D-MA) participated in the March 14 Members of Congress Breakfast, offering their perspectives on the first full year of implementation of the FAST Act and ­sharing their insider knowledge of priorities for the 115th Congress.

FTA Executive Director Matthew J. Welbes spoke with then-APTA Chair Doran J. Barnes and members about the agency’s priorities ­moving forward under the Trump administration.

The conference program also brought together staff from the Senate Banking Committee, House Transportation and Infrastructure (T&I) Highways and Transit Subcommittee, House and Senate appropriations subcommittees and the House and Senate tax writing committees on panels discussing the FAST Act, Highway Trust Fund solvency and expectations for Congress and the administration. Finally, political pundits Amy Walter and Robert Costa shared their post-election analysis and intuitions on what a new Congress and administration might mean for stakeholders.

Also in March, Gary Thomas of Dallas Area Rapid Transit, a former APTA chair, testified on APTA’s behalf before the House T&I Highways and Transit Subcommittee at a hearing titled “FAST Act Implementation: State and Local Perspectives.” The subcommittee also heard testimony from representatives of the American Association of State Highway Transportation Officials and National League of Cities.

In helping APTA bring its message to Congress, the association developed new communications tools, including Infrastructure News, which features important articles, editorials and videos on APTA’s website; an updated advocacy toolkit; and Transit Funding Tuesday, a social media initiative to raise awareness about the essential role of federal funding in public transportation.

The APTA Infrastructure Analysis released during the year attracted national media attention for showing that a $200 billion investment in public transit could create 10 million jobs over a decade and add $800 billion to the Gross Domestic Product over 20 years.

In May, business members flew to Washington to make the business case for investment in the public transportation industry. Rep. Sam Graves (R-MO), chair of the T&I Subcommittee on Highways and Transit, shared his perspective on how they could best make their case with his colleagues. Business Member Board of Governors representatives met with 45 members of Congress and key congressional staff, including several members of the House and Senate leadership.

The Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2017 was signed into law May 5, providing funding through Sept. 30 for transportation and other federal programs and rejecting the administration proposal to phase out the Capital Investment Grants (CIG) program.

In September and again in December, Congress approved a Continuing Resolution to fund federal programs through Dec. 22 at Fiscal Year 2017 levels.

The full House and the Senate Appropriations Committee have approved their respective versions of appropriations bills.

Both versions reject the administration’s proposal to phase out the CIG program, fund the program at levels well above the administration’s request and include language directing the administration to enter into funding agreements to fund and advance CIG projects as authorized under the FAST Act.

The extension of the CR until Dec. 22 is intended to give Congress time to finalize an FY 2018 bill. Congress may need to pass another CR (beyond Dec. 22) before it can finish the process. Congress is also working on amendments to the Budget Control Act that would increase top-level spending caps for FY 2018 and FY 2019.

At its December meeting, the APTA Legislative Committee and the Board of Directors welcomed incoming President & CEO Paul P. Skoutelas and discussed topics including APTA’s advocacy efforts moving forward, historic preservation within rail rights-of-way, mobility on demand and automation, as well as the upcoming reauthorization task force in advance of the FAST Act’s expiration in FY 2020.

APTA also hosted its annual Holiday Reception in the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee room at the Rayburn House Office Building.

The House will return for the beginning of the second session of the 115th Congress on Jan. 3, with the Senate expected to convene the same morning.

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