December 14, 2018
THE YEAR IN REVIEW: 2018
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A Busy Year of Government Affairs Activities for APTA

BY APTA GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS DEPT. STAFF

During 2018, the APTA Legislative Committee was hard at work forming surface transportation authorization recommendations.

Committee Chair Diana Mendes, Mid-Atlantic Division president for HNTB Corporation in Arlington, VA, and Vice Chair Leanne Redden, executive director of Chicago’s Regional Transportation Authority, have prioritized a collaborative process throughout and continue to invite input from across APTA’s membership. If you have not weighed in with your ideas, we encourage you to do so now.

To date, the committee and the APTA Board of Directors have adopted Principles for Surface Transportation. APTA will advocate that Congress fix the Highway Trust Fund, pass a long-term authorization for public transportation and intercity rail, and provide significant funding increases to address the backlog in deferred maintenance and replacement needs and to meet growing demands for increased mobility choices. In 2019, the committee will continue to develop and ultimately approve specific recommendations regarding the next federal authorization bill.

In February, APTA President and CEO Paul P. Skoutelas testified before the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure’s (T&I) Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines and Hazardous Materials at a hearing titled “Oversight of Positive Train Control (PTC) Implementation in the United States.” He affirmed APTA members’ commitment to safety and to meeting the PTC deadline. He also emphasized the substantial financial, technical and other challenges that agencies have overcome.

In March, APTA held its annual ­Legislative Conference in Washington, DC. Reps. Peter DeFazio (D-OR), Sam Graves (R-MO), Earl ­Blumenauer (D-OR) and Rodney Davis (R-IL) and Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI) participated in the March 20 Members of Congress Breakfast, offering their perspectives on the future of the Highway Trust Fund, the president’s budget and infrastructure proposals and sharing their insider knowledge of congressional priorities for the 115th Congress. FTA Acting Administrator K. Jane ­Williams addressed members and provided insights on FTA’s public transportation priorities in the Trump administration.

The conference also brought together staff from the Senate Banking Committee; House T&I Highways and Transit Subcommittee; House T&I Railroads, Pipelines and Hazardous Materials Subcommittee; and the House and Senate Transportation Appropriations subcommittees. Congressional staff participated on panels discussing the FAST Act, Highway Trust Fund solvency and expectations for Congress and the administration. Finally, political pundits Ashley Parker and Paul Kane of the Washington Post shared their insights on the interplay between the administration and the last session of the 115th Congress.

Throughout the year, APTA aggressively advocated for increased public transportation and passenger rail funding in the transportation appropriations bill. In March, Congress passed and the president signed the historic Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2018, which provided $2.3 billion more for public transportation and intercity passenger rail investments than the FY 2017 enacted level. Federal transportation programs receiving significant increases over FAST Act levels through the act are Capital Investment Grants (CIG), Buses and Bus Facilities, and State of Good Repair. The law also included provisions directing the administration to continue to administer the CIG program and advance public transportation projects.

For FY 2019, APTA has worked to build upon this success in both the House and Senate transportation appropriations bills.

In May, business members flew to Washington to make the business case for investment in public transportation. Rep. Sam Graves, who will be the ranking member of the T&I Committee in 2019, shared his perspective on how APTA members could best make their case with his colleagues. Business Member Board of Governors representatives met with nearly 60 members of Congress and key congressional staff, including members of the House and Senate leadership.

In September, Jeffrey Knueppel, general manager of Philadelphia’s Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) and chair of the APTA Commuter Rail PTC Subcommittee, testified on APTA’s behalf before the House T&I Railroads, Pipelines and Hazardous Materials Subcommittee at a hearing titled “The State of Positive Train Control Implementation in the United States.”

In October, Skoutelas submitted testimony for the record before the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee at a hearing titled “Implementation of Positive Train Control.”

In November, APTA held a new event for this year, the Industry Leadership Summit. The program included meetings and events that focused on issues and trends impacting the public transportation industry today and that will continue to do so into the future.

On the final day of the summit, the APTA Legislative Committee discussed important topics such as APTA’s advocacy efforts with the new Congress, the CIG program and the working draft of APTA’s surface transportation recommendations. During this event, APTA also hosted its annual Holiday Reception at the Longworth House Office Building.

APTA made two new key staff hires in its government affairs department in November. Stacie Tiongson is the new senior director of government affairs. She is an attorney with decades of experience on Capitol Hill and in government and academia focused on transportation, government and academic policies. Immediately prior to joining APTA, Tiongson served as executive director of academic affairs at the Graduate Center, City University of New York. Nicole Christus, APTA’s new senior legislative representative, joins APTA directly from the House T&I Highways and Transit Subcommittee, where she was the lead staff person on public transportation issues. Both will help continue to move APTA and its members’ interests forward in the new year.

The House and Senate will begin the first session of the 116th Congress on Jan. 3. APTA urges its members to meet with their newly elected and ­re-elected representatives and senators, invite them to visit their properties and advocate on behalf of the industry for robust investment in public transportation during the recess.

Photo by Mitchell Wood

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