By Ron Thaniel and Brian Gould
February 3, 2003

Conference Transportation and Communications Chairman Fort Worth Mayor Kenneth L. Barr told committee members at the 71st Winter Meeting that "with a weakening economy and talk of a war in Iraq, we are brought together to focus our attention on the transportation policy agenda for the 21st century."

Barr noted that "the new 108th Congress will begin transportation deliberations with the historic convergence of the reauthorization of the three primary federal transportation laws, the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21), Amtrak, and the Aviation Investment and Reform Act for the 21st Century (AIR-21)."

"Combined, these three measures have provided over $300 billion to the nation's transportation infrastructure. The programs funded through these bills have seeded our national economy, provided quality jobs and opportunities for American people, and bridged geographic divides between our communities. The successful reauthorization of each is critical to strengthening the foundation of our economy, " said Mayor Barr.

Amtrak

Joining Mayor Barr to introduce Amtrak's President and CEO David Gunn was Meridian (MS) Mayor John Robert Smith, Chairman of the Amtrak Board, noting, "mayors from both political parties believe that our country should invest in effective, multifaceted transportation solutions that include Amtrak as a component of this system."

Mayor Barr further stated, "David Gunn's track record and leadership experience demonstrates his talent and commitment to shape the vision for our nation's rail passenger system."

Gunn thanked the mayors for being a terrific partner to Amtrak and told the mayors that he is firmly committed to operating a national system and that he will oppose any and all efforts to break up the system.

Senate and House conferees will decide Amtrak's fate over the next week as the members reach a FY03 funding number. The House voted to spend $762 million for Amtrak, more than $521 million President Bush proposed. The Senate a week prior to the Conference's Winter Meeting voted to push funding for Amtrak to $1.2 billion, which Gunn says the railroad needs to survive.

Mayor Barr stated, "mayors fully want Congress to fund Amtrak's request of $1.2 billion and that Congress resist inserting statutory changes contained within the House Appropriations bill that would either force the elimination of services or constrain the Congress's options during reauthorization."

"Shutting down Amtrak or eliminating many of Amtrak's services is not what the American people want. Over 23 million annual riders spanning 46 states currently utilize Amtrak's network of intercity and corridor passenger rail services," said Mayor Barr. In poll after poll, Americans have registered their strong support for Amtrak. An informal CNN poll taken just this past weekend showed that 85 percent of respondents supported providing Amtrak with $2 billion a year to fund its national system.

TEA-21 Reauthorization

Turning the Committee discussion to the reauthorization of TEA-21 and introducing Levon Boyagian, Staff Director for the Highways and Transit Subcommittee of the U.S. House of Representatives Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, Mayor Barr noted "this discussion is well timed, as Congress is a couple of weeks away from taking up this bill in early February."

Reviewing the Conference's major reauthorization goals, Mayor Barr noted that the basic principles of TEA-21 should be retained. In addition:

• Preserve and grow the transit program from $7.5 billion to $14 billion and the highway program from $34 billion to $41 billion by FY 2009.
• Suballocate surface transportation funds to metropolitan areas to be used on important local projects.
• Require accountability and performance based measures of state transportation agencies and metropolitan planning organizations (MPO).

Please go to the U.S. Conference of Mayors Website, http://www.usmayors.org, to review the Conference's TEA-21 reauthorization priorities "Strengthen Metropolitan Economies Through Transportation Investment."

Levon Boyagian told the mayors "the House Transportation Committee Chairman, Don Young (AK), wants the next TEA-21 to provide $60 billion a year for highways and $12.5 billion annually for transit." Those amounts are above the $31.8 billion and $7.3 billion, respectively, that the federal government provided in fiscal 2002, which ended September 30.

"Mr. Young has identified about five ways to raise new transportation funding revenue," said Boyagian. "Of course, the favorite is simply raising the user fee."

"In order to reach these amounts, the next TEA-21, in addition to the gas tax boost, would have to draw down reserves in the highway trust fund, collect the interest on fund reserves, index the gas tax, and recapture trust fund money lost to the subsidy on ethanol, Boyagian said.

"Getting to the numbers Mr. Young has identified will be a big challenge," said Boyagian, who stressed that Young's proposal was "not set in stone" and could be seen as "a marker" from which to negotiate with other lawmakers and the White House.

Telecommunications & Cable Modem

U.S. Conference of Mayors Vice Chair for Telecommunications Dearborn Mayor Michael A. Guido turned the Transportation and Communications Standing Committee discussion to the harmful impacts of recent Federal Communications Commission (FCC) decisions, including the March 15, 2002 cable modem ruling.

Joining Mayor Guido to address the concerns of the mayors was K. Dane Snowden, Chief, Consumer & Government Affairs Bureau and Kris Anne Monteith, Associate Bureau Chief, Intergovernmental Affairs, Consumer and Government Affairs Bureau of the FCC.

Mayor Guido stated "because of the FCC ruling classifying cable modem service as neither telecom nor cable service there was no regulatory oversight of the service." He said most cable companies "had notified cities they would cease paying franchise fees on cable modem service, depriving the cities of tens of millions of dollars in revenue."

Responding the FCC's ruling, the U.S. Conference of Mayors was joined by the National League of Cities, National Association of Counties and the National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors to form ALOAP — Alliance of Local Organizations Against Preemption. ALOAP has retained counsel and has responded both in the 9th Circuit and the FCC.

Addressing Mayor Guido's concern, Consumer and Government Affairs Bureau Chief Dane Snowden told the mayors that "the FCC hasn't decided on issues related to its decision to classify cable modem service as an interstate information service and is hearing the views of various stakeholders."

Calling it a nebulous period, Snowden told the mayors that the agency hadn't made a final decision on local franchising, open access, protection of customer privacy or customer care issues related to its cable modem ruling."

Snowden said "the concerns raised by local regulators on issues such as open access were valid, and the agency expected to come out with decisions this calendar year."

Thanking Mayor Guido, Mayor Barr called the Transportation and Communications Standing Committee adjourned until Denver.