Floridians for Better Transportation

T.R.I.P. - A Four Point Plan for Prosperity!

T.R.I.P. - A Four Point Plan for Prosperity! With Florida’s economic condition continuing to worsen, NOW IS THE TIME to take swift, and meaningful action to help – both economically and from a transportation standpoint. FBT is suggesting a Four Point Plan for Prosperity called T.R.I.P. -- which stands for "Transportation Revenues Invested = PROSPERITY."

Here’s what we think needs to be done:

1.) Temporarily suspend the normal bureaucratic rules and requirements that slows transportation construction and rehabilitation work.

2.) Do “Ready-to-Go” Transportation Projects already planned for as an immediate Economic Stimulus with non-recurring dollars.

3.) Convene a Special Legislative Session to Stimulate Florida’s Economy after the November Election.

4.) Bring a New Focus to go with the New Funding that elevates “reducing congestion” to one of Florida DOT’s top priorities. We can’t solve our economic and transportation problems with budget cuts alone – we’ve got to increase our transportation investments and focus on relieving traffic congestion.

Click here to contact Governor Crist and your Florida Legislators and encourage them to consider T.R.I.P. – A Four Point Plan for Prosperity.

Together . . . we CAN make a difference for the People of Florida! But we must act NOW!

"Action Alerts

"Make it Better . . . Much Better!" - January 29, 2009

T.R.I.P. Resources

Federal Economic Stimulus

Transportation Details of Stimulus Compromise FBT's summary of the stimulus funding
Provisions of the Conference Report prepared by the staff of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure
Funding Tables provided by the staff of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure
Letter to Governor Charlie Crist from the Florida High Speed Rail Authority
Governor Charlie Crist Looks To Washington For Help - Watch this video of Governor Charlie Crist highlighting his recent trip to Washington seeking funds for schools, health care and roads. FBT President Doug Callaway is interviewed in the video.
Who gets what from the stimulus package - state by state information from the Wall Street Journal
Where's the Beef?
Florida Coalition for Federal Economic Stimulus Now - a coalition created by the Florida Chamber
FBT's Federal Update - January 2009 providing a summary of the proposed U.S. House of Representatives Stimulus Package
January 18, 2009 edition of Innovation NewsBriefs titled, "The Stimulus Bill Leaves Most of the Transportation Community Dissatisfied"
Governor Crist's Economic stimulus
FDOT "Ready-to-Go" projects

"Accelerate Florida" Materials

Callaway's Comments

"Building a Better Infrastructure" Video

Easy-to-understand video from CBS News

Ray's Rant About Increasing the Federal Gas Tax

Back in December, Ray -- one of the hosts of NPR's "Car Talk" program -- went off on a rant in support of increasing the federal gas tax.

Quite frankly, we at FBT think he's absolutely right!

Click here to read more about this, listen to Ray's Rant, or join in an online discussion regarding this subject.

Florida's Transportation Trust Fund Escapes Budget Cuts

Click here to listen to WFSU's Tom Flanagan and his live interview with FBT President Doug Callaway.

Related News Stories

Florida could receive $13 billion stimulus - 2/3/09 © Sarasota Herald-Tribune - Florida could receive more than $13 billion in the developing federal stimulus package. State transportation officials and road builders say Florida could use more money for road construction in the stimulus package. The House bill provides $1.5billion directly to roads and bridges, while the state Department of Transportation has come up with a list of $7 billion in "ready to go" construction projects.

Doug Callaway, a lobbyist for Floridians for Better Transportation, a coalition of road builders and businesses, said his members were urging the Senate to increase the transportation spending, arguing that each billion spent on road projects would create 28,000 jobs.
Callaway said only 7 percent of the $819 billion House stimulus package was dedicated to transportation funding.
"While this package will bring additional transportation dollars to Florida -- and that's clearly good news -- the portion devoted to transportation investments must be increased when the Senate begins consideration of this legislation next week," he said in a message sent to coalition members on Monday.

Infrastructure: It's Job 1 to Americans - 1/23/09 © Los Angeles Times - Last month, I conducted a national survey on attitudes toward infrastructure investment. It was commissioned by Building America's Future, a bipartisan coalition of elected officials -- chaired by Pennsylvania Gov. Edward G. Rendell, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg -- formed to support infrastructure investment. The survey's findings were unlike any other issue I have polled in more than a decade. (emphasis added)

A near unanimous 94% of Americans are concerned about our nation's infrastructure.
84% of the public wants more money spent by the federal government, and
83% wants more spent by state governments to improve America 's infrastructure.
81% of Americans are personally prepared to pay 1% more in taxes for the cause.
That 74% of normally stingy Republicans are on board for the tax increase is, to me, the most significant finding in the survey.

Florida Pushing Hard For Stimulus - 1/26/2009 © Tampa Tribune - Floridians, including elected officials from Tampa Bay , are looking to President Barack Obama and his administration to meet a raft of expectations. On the list: a bigger share of federal transportation dollars, help for hard-pressed state homeowners facing foreclosures, and money to reinvigorate the nation's space program.

Governor Crist, in an early December letter to Obama, explained the Florida Department of Transportation had identified $7 billion in projects "ready to begin within 90 to 120 days."
Florida's Republican senator, Mel Martinez, in a letter last month to then-Vice President-elect Joe Biden, mentions that when it comes to federal transportation dollars, "Florida is a donor state, meaning that for every dollar Floridians sent to the Federal Highway Trust Fund, we only get 88-cents back."
"Reforms were enacted in 2005 bringing that amount up to 92 cents in the future, but, to date, Florida has not received a fair share of transportation funding," Martinez wrote. He said that is a good argument to include money for Florida projects in the stimulus plan.

Fla. Cuts, Fed Plan Not in Sync, Critics Say - 1/24/09 © Lakeland Ledger - The federal government is preparing a historic economic recovery program that will pour billions of dollars into Florida to help revive the economy. But Florida road builders and some business groups said the federal recovery plans now pending in Congress appear to be falling short at least in terms of the potential for new infrastructure projects in the state.

"Where's the beef?" asked Doug Callaway, a lobbyist for Floridians for Better Transportation, a coalition that includes the road builders, airports, ports and other business groups.
Callaway noted the state Department of Transportation has prepared a list of potential projects totaling $7 billion that could be started quickly and provide some economic relief if the federal government provides the funding.
Each $1 billion of transportation construction yields about 28,000 jobs.
The initial bill from the House shows only $1.5 billion in road and bridge construction funds heading to Florida.
"Simply put, in Florida 's case, that's leaving about $6 billion in unrealized economic stimulus potential on the table," he said. "When we're in the worst economic condition since the Great Depression, does that make sense?"

Florida Losing Jobs at Highest Rate in Three Decades - 1/23/09 © Florida Chamber Foundation - Florida 's unemployment rate hit 8.1% in December -- it's highest level in 16 years -- as the staggering economy left 64,000 more workers jobless in the state. The 752,000 Floridians out of work leaves the state's jobless population second in the nation to California .
U.S. Infrastructure Is in Dire Straits, Report Says - 1/27/09 © New York Times - More than a quarter of the nation’s bridges are structurally deficient or functionally obsolete. A report to be released Wednesday by the American Society of Civil Engineers assigned an overall D grade to the nation’s infrastructure and estimated that it would take a $2.2 trillion investment from all levels of government over the next five years to bring it into a state of good repair.

The society had planned to release the report in March, but moved it up to try to influence the debate over the $825 billion economic stimulus bill being negotiated by the Obama administration and Congress.
Advocates for greater investment in public works projects have expressed disappointment that less than a third of the current proposal — which could be approved by the House on Wednesday — would be spent on infrastructure, and an even smaller part of that would go toward traditional concrete-and-steel projects like roads and transit.

Democrats Among Stimulus Skeptics - 1/28/09 © Washington Post - Republican criticism of the stimulus package that the House will vote on tonight has focused on its soaring price tag, but some Democrats on Capitol Hill and other administration supporters are voicing a separate critique: that the plan may fall short in its broader goal of transforming the American economy over the long term.

For some House Democrats, their disappointment centers on the relatively small amount devoted to long-lasting infrastructure investments in favor of spending on a long list of government programs. While each serves a purpose, the critics say, they add up to less than the sum of their parts, and fall far short of the transformative New Deal-like vision many of them had entertained.
The bill to be voted on today includes $30 billion for roads and bridges, $9 billion for public transit and $1 billion for inter-city rail -- less than 5 percent of the package's total spending.
Even some Republicans echo the call for more infrastructure spending, saying they would be more willing to support the bill if it showed more tangible and focused benefits, instead of being scattered across an array of existing programs. Rep. John L. Mica ( Fla. ), the ranking Republican on the transportation committee, called the proposed infrastructure spending "almost minuscule" and expressed regret that the administration had not crafted its plan around an ambitious goal.
"They keep comparing this to Eisenhower, but he proposed a $500 billion highway system, and they're going to put $30 billion" in roads and bridges, he said. "How farcical can you be? Give me a break."

A 40-Year Wish List - 1/28/09 © Wall Street Journal - You won't believe what's in that stimulus bill - In selling the plan, President Obama has said this bill will make "dramatic investments to revive our flagging economy." Well, you be the judge. Some $30 billion, or less than 5% of the spending in the bill, is for fixing bridges or other highway projects. Add the roughly $20 billion for business tax cuts, and by our estimate only $90 billion out of $825 billion, or about 12 cents of every $1, is for something that can plausibly be considered a growth stimulus.
State leaders say staking claims on federal stimulus cash premature - 1/28/09 © TCPalm - State leaders say it's too early to pinpoint money from the $825 billion federal economic stimulus package being debated in Washington.

Mark Wilson, president of the Florida Chamber, pointed to parts of the federal package that would be open to loans for voter registration and community groups such as ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now), while other portions are being directed to areas such as digital TV converters.
“I think it’s hard for a business group to see how those (ACORN and TV converters) are an economic stimulus on par with building infrastructure, and expanding our health-care services, expanding our trade capacity, and expanding our educational capacity,” Wilson added.
Gov. Charlie Crist has asked the federal government for $7 billion of the entire federal package. Crist would like the money to be used to pay for $6 billion in road projects, with the rest going to health care and schools.

$250M state transportation bill clears first hurdle - 1/28/09 © Jacksonville Business Journal - A Colorado Senate committee late Tuesday approved a bill that supporters say would raise $250 million a year to fix 126 structurally deficient roads and bridges while creating up to 10,000 new jobs for the state’s recession-ravaged construction industry.

Senate Bill 108, sponsored by Sen. Dan Gibbs, D-Silverthorne, would raise new funds for transportation by increasing vehicle-registration fees.
The bill also would generate revenue through bonds, a $2 rental-car fee and an experimental mileage-based fee that would tax motorists who opt into the program according to how many miles they travel rather than the fuel tax.
Business and civic leaders expressed strong support for the legislation, saying it would provide much-needed economic stimulus for the state while improving safety of Colorado roads and bridges.

House Approves Economic Stimulus Bill - 1/29/09 © Washington Post - The $819 billion stimulus package is among the most expensive pieces of legislation ever to move through Congress - The House approved an $819 billion stimulus package on a near party-line vote yesterday, a plan breathtaking in size and scope that President Obama hopes to make the cornerstone of his efforts to resuscitate the staggering economy.
An $800 Billion Mistake - 1/29/09 © Washington Post - As a conservative economist, I might be expected to oppose a stimulus plan. In fact, on this page in October, I declared my support for a stimulus. But the fiscal package now before Congress needs to be thoroughly revised. In its current form, it does too little to raise national spending and employment. It would be better for the Senate to delay legislation for a month, or even two, if that's what it takes to produce a much better bill. We cannot afford an $800 billion mistake.
A Conservative Investment - 12/8/08 © Washington Post - Why the Right Can Get Behind an Infrastructure Program - In the wake of the recent electoral rout, we conservatives must redefine ourselves in a world that has changed since the birth of the Reagan Doctrine. One new reality is the imperative that our government modernize America's aging energy, water and transportation infrastructure. Like the maintenance of a strong military -- investment that protects prosperity -- investment in key infrastructure is consistent with Reagan principles. Moreover, such "expansion" would promote several conservative ideals: economic growth, energy independence, national security and U.S. competitiveness.
Robert Poole: Stimulus Shouldn't Be an Excuse for Pork - 12/10/08 Wall Street Journal - The nation's mayors have presented a revealing wish list to Washington.
Rebuilding the Economy by Rebuilding America - 12/9/08 © U.S. Chamber of Commerce magazine - As Congress contemplates a major new stimulus package next year, what better time to invest in infrastructure than during the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression? But let me be clear--I am not talking about "make work" projects, bridges to nowhere, and political pork. I'm talking about investing in infrastructure that will improve safety, reduce congestion, speed product delivery, and create good-paying jobs.
That's why it can't be business as usual in Washington when it comes to infrastructure. Strict limits must be set on pork barrel projects so that Americans can be confident that their tax dollars are being spent wisely. Spending must be directed at projects that offer the greatest return on investment and produce national benefits.
Stimulus Could Fuel Major Growth in Florida Road Construction - 12/10/2008 © Lakeland Ledger - State leaders are hoping to tap into President-elect Barack Obama's stimulus plan to nearly double Florida's road-building budget next year, creating tens of thousands of new jobs for the economically depressed state.