Local-option bill needs Senate vote
April 6, 2009
The fundamentals of Carona's bill are sound. The measure allows county elections on new transportation projects and new taxes and fees to fund them. Communities could choose to expand the region's transit network -- a goal of local leaders for more than five years; Dallas and other DART cities could build roads or make other transportation improvements.
Written by Editorial, The Dallas Morning News
North Texas support for a local-option transportation bill is shaping up in the state Senate as befits a traffic-choked metro area.
By our nose count, a majority of the region's nine-person delegation are solid or likely supporters of this important legislation. At stake is the right of voters to decide whether to raise new revenue to attack job-killing road congestion, and these members get it.
The remaining senators are still digesting details or working through apprehensions about the bill (SB 855) authored by Dallas Sen. John Carona. We urge them to get engaged quickly and become part of the effort to ease gridlock by expanding rail transit and improving roadways.
The bill may come up for full Senate consideration as early as this week, and strong North Texas backing will send a message about urgency. We urge Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst to give the bill the prompt hearing it deserves. Senators from Austin, San Antonio and El Paso have come aboard as supporters.
For years, state leaders have been negligent about meeting the transportation needs of metro areas. If they insist on freezing the gas tax at its 1991 level of 20 cents a gallon, and if they are unfazed by traffic congestion's toll on the quality of life and the economy, top leaders must at least let urban areas solve those problems themselves.
The fundamentals of Carona's bill are sound. The measure allows county elections on new transportation projects and new taxes and fees to fund them. Communities could choose to expand the region's transit network -- a goal of local leaders for more than five years; Dallas and other DART cities could build roads or make other transportation improvements.
As Sen. Florence Shapiro of Plano said in helping pass the bill out of committee, "Local voter determination of future transportation and mobility projects is what this is all about."
Related Stories
Fair Use Notice
This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a "fair use" of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond "fair use", you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.