Thursday, July 11, 1996

Texans Seek to Reallocate Federal Highway Trust Fund Dollars

By Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) - House Majority Whip Tom DeLay on Wednesday proposed changes to a major transportation law that would funnel more federal highway dollars into Texas and other states.

The move is being eyed with anxiety by lawmakers from Massachusetts and several other states. They believe the Sunbelt states' gain would come at their expense.

But, DeLay said at a news conference: "This legislation will bring greater fairness, flexibility and simplicity to the funding of our federal highway system."

Both sides have begun laying the groundwork for next year's battle over the reauthorization of the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991, known as ISTEA.

"Obviously, this is very much a concern to us," Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., said in an interview Tuesday.

The formula change spearheaded by DeLay, R-Sugar Land, is being driven chiefly by the fact that some states - including Texas - have given more to the federal highway trust fund than they have gotten in return.

Begun in 1956, the fund is financed through taxes on gasoline, diesel and special fuel, heavy trucks and tires.

Over nearly 40 years, Texas contributed $22.9 billion and received about $19.9 billion back, according to Federal Highway Administration data. Over the same period, Massachusetts contributed about $6 billion and got back about $10.3 billion, data showed.

DeLay's proposal, known as the Streamlined Transportation Efficiency Program for the 21st Century or STEP 21, would help states such as Texas by requiring each state to get back 95 cents for every $1 contributed.

The Texas Department of Transportation is a fan of the measure.

"Based on our preliminary estimates, the proposal by Rep. DeLay would bring approximately $165 million more to Texas," said state transportation commissioner David Laney. "Texas needs that money to address a funding crisis resulting from the increased traffic demands of a growing population and expanded international commercial activities."

Texas currently can meet only 40 percent of its transportation needs with the federal and state highway dollars it is allotted, Laney added.

Losers under the DeLay plan could include Massachusetts, Connecticut, Maine, New Jersey, New York, Washington and West Virginia.

Massachusetts lawmakers, while acknowledging their state has done well, argue that some states are naturally going to do better than others over different periods, depending on what highway improvements are needed.

"Ultimately, there has to be recognition that there are going to be some smaller states that are going to require a slightly larger contribution to build the interstate highway system that the nation requires," said Rep. Joseph P. Kennedy II, D-Mass.

Moreover, Frank pointed out, other states receive a greater share of other federal programs, such as agriculture subsidies.

"The federal government is not your own individual retirement account, where you get back only what you put in," Frank said. "There are national purposes."