From: "Friends of Transit" To: Subject: NAPTA Update 23 Date: Wednesday, April 07, 2004 11:15 AM from our friends at NAPTA NAPTA Update - April 6, 2004 To: Members of the NAPTA Coalition From: NAPTA Co-Chairs David Schwartz and Amanda Eichelkraut Legislative Updates Action Alert Update We would like to say thank you to all of those who sent letters during the House debate on TEA LU. We can safely say that although the proposal to increase funding to the Senate's $318 billion level failed, the amendment did garner enough votes (thanks to your efforts) to demonstrate strong support for a higher level of spending. This also serves to show the Administration that a veto will be difficult if not impossible to maintain. TEA LU Update On April 2nd, shortly after noon, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 3550, also known as the Transportation Equity Act-a Legacy for Users. Despite the fact that House staff worked furiously over the past few weeks to pare the bill down from $375 billion to $275 billion in an effort to generate more support from the executive branch, the Administration has formally announced that they will veto a $275 billion bill. View the Administration's letter to the House stating their intention to veto here: http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/legislative/sap/108-2/hr3550sap-h.pdf. It should be noted that while the Administration has been consistent in its threats to veto any transportation bill that spends over $256 billion, TEA LU, as well as the Senate's SAFETEA bill, which is funded at $318 billion, have more than enough backing in Congress to override such a veto. As predicted, most amendments to TEA LU were not approved. During debate on the evening of Thursday, April 1st, the amendment by Reps. Davis (D-TN), Menendez (D-NJ), Blumenauer (D-OR) and Baird (D-WA) to increase funding to the Senate's $318 billion level was defeated by 35 votes. An amendment offered by Rep. John Isakson (R-GA) to include more projects under the scope of the minimum guarantee provision, which would have helped to ensure a greater rate of return on individual states contributions to the Highway Trust Fund, failed to muster enough support. An amendment by Rep. David Wu (D-OR) modifying the bill's small starts provisions and an amendment by Rep. Steven LaTourette (R-OH) requiring highway and transit projects to use steel and iron products made in the United States were both approved on the House floor. Now that both the House and Senate have passed bills, the next step is for selected members of the House and Senate to confer on the two bills, H.R. 3550 (TEA LU) and S.1072 (SAFETEA), and create a single version of the legislation. As the bill goes to conference, please ask your Senators and members of Congress to contact conferees in support of the higher funding levels in the Senate bill. The Senate found a plan to achieve higher funding levels without a tax increase, without borrowing, and arguably, without unduly drawing upon general fund resources. Let's help push the Senate plan! Action Alert NAPTA is sending out a new Action Alert to make it easy for NAPTA members to ask their legislators to support the Senate level of funding. If you have not already done so, Take Action!: http://napta.policy.net. Visit your Representative, April 5th-16th Your Member in the House of Representatives will be in your district during the upcoming district work period, from April 5th-16th. The Senate will be having their district work period from April 12th-16th. The next two weeks would be an excellent time to meet with your representatives before the final version of the transportation legislation is crafted and ask them to support funding for transportation at the higher end of the scale, towards the Senate's $318 billion. If you do not know who your members are, go to http://www.congress.org to look them up, and then call their district office nearest you to make an appointment. Now's the time! NAPTA News Advocacy Training is still available APTA is still taking applications for free advocacy training sessions in your locality. APTA is sponsoring a limited number of grassroots training sessions in an effort to empower transit advocates. The trainings, which will be taught by "Advocacy Guru" Stephanie Vance, are one to two hours long, can be designed around a number of topics and are customized to help your advocates work at all levels of government. The deadlines for submittal of the advocacy training requests are: May 15th for Summer/Early Fall and August 1st for Fall/Winter. More information on applying for a training session for your organization is available at: http://www.napta.net/grassroots_training.asp. More information about Stephanie and her work can be found at: http://www.advocacyguru.com. All applications should be submitted to Demaune Millard at dmillard@apta.com. Help CFTE with their Candidate Survey The Center for Transportation Excellence (CFTE) is currently conducting a survey of all major party congressional candidates to help the public get a better understanding of candidates' views on public transportation. You can help them by asking your Congressional Candidates to respond to the CFTE survey. CFTE sent e-mails to about 150 candidates last week and already have 13 responses. The survey is here: http://www.cfte.org/state/survey.asp. The candidates' responses are here: http://www.cfte.org/state/responses.asp. Sign-on to NAPTA's letter to Congress We are asking our members to sign on to a letter which NAPTA intends to send to Congress that shows our support of public transportation and an increase in funding for mass transit at the federal level. Please let us know by April 14th if your organization is willing to sign on. We must send the letter before final action is completed on the transportation legislation. As always, NAPTA will not send this letter out on behalf of you or the organization you represent without your consent. Please see a draft of the letter at: http://www.napta.net/letter_2004.asp. If you agree with the message, please send an email to info@napta.net saying you wish to sign on to the letter and how you wish your organization and/or individual name to appear. Please be sure to indicate what state you are located in, as that will help us in pulling together the final letter. Member profile As part of our effort to share best practices, we will be profiling another member organization for each update. Groups interested in being profiled for the NAPTA Update should answer the questionnaire at http://www.napta.net/questionnaire.htm. The Hampton Roads Public Transportation Alliance (HRPTA) sees the value and importance of public transportation in providing access for non-driving workers and students, mobility for seniors, and improved air quality and congestion relief for drivers and non-drivers alike. The HRPTA is funded by dues from its 156 members and sometimes by a grant from the American Public Transportation Association (APTA). They are currently working on getting expanded public transit in the Hampton Roads area by communicating with elected officials and educating their neighbors about the value of pubic transportation. They are also advocating for the creation of light rail and ferry service in their communities. In the past they have lead efforts to pass referenda which, while unsuccessful, were instrumental in educating the public about transportation options and possibilities. www.hrpta.com Resources, Articles and Interesting Tidbits The Brookings Institution has recently released a new report, "The Need for Regional Anti-Congestion Policies." The report's author, Anthony Downs, describes the implementation inadequacies of anti-congestion policies, and offers new policy paradigms on the regional level. http://www.brook.edu/urban/publications/20040220_downs.htm If you wish to unsubscribe from NAPTA's bi-weekly updates and Action Alerts, simply reply to this message with the word "Unsubscribe" in the subject line. National Alliance of Public Transportation Advocates, 1666 K St NW, 11th Floor, Washington, DC 20006