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Entries tagged: Rescissions

We hate to be alarmists here at the Alliance and we know that, in recent months, we’ve been sending a lot of action alerts with urgent asks to help preserve federal funding for biking and walking. But we do it because we know local and state bicycle and pedestrian advocates have incredible power. Cascade Bicycle Club proved that in the latest round of rescissions.

You may remember earlier this month when the Alliance and League of American Bicyclists raised the alarm about states having to send a collective $2.5 billion in unspent federal transportation fund back to Washington, DC. In the past, many state Departments of Transportation have balanced these tough cuts on the backs of bike-ped programs, disproportionately raiding the pots of money that fund bicycle and pedestrian projects. Well, the advocates at Cascade Bicycle Club rallied their members to call for fair and proportional cuts. Clearly, the more than 1,000 e-mails sent to Washington Governor Chris Gregoire and to WSDOT Secretary Paula Hammond made quite an impression.

“Almost immediately after we started the campaign, we heard from WSDOT,” John Mauro wrote on the Cascade blog this week. “It’s hard to say exactly what we accomplished, because we don’t have a precise picture of what kind of send-backs they were planning before they heard from us. But in comparison to their August 2010 rescissions, nonmotorized transportation fared far better.”

For instance, in 2010 WSDOT sent back $16 million from the CMAQ (Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality) program. This round CMAQ only lost $3.2 million. Even better: In 2010, “Enhancements Set-aside” program — one of the largest sources of bicycle funding — lost $13 million. In this round, that funding stream was untouched.

“Aside from protecting this unobligated funding from being returned, we are also glad to have started a positive conversation with WSDOT about their process,” Mauro added. “It can’t be any fun to scramble around and send back $43 million, and we understand that they want to send back less flexible funds so they can be more nimble. I think they’ve heard from you that we don’t want to disproportionately ding nonmotorized transportation. And we’ll hold that line, because there are billions of dollars of needed bike and ped projects — $1.6 billion statewide of which sit unfunded on Local Transportation Improvement Plans (TIPs).”

Way to go, Cascade! Read more about their efforts on their blog.

Your state DOT may be ready to cut millions in bicycle and pedestrian funding.

Yesterday, the Federal Highway Administration informed state Departments of Transportation of another rescission of funds, this time totaling $2.5 billion. The FHWA notice includes the total amount of funds each state is to send back to Washington.

States are given maximum flexibility about the source of the funds that are rescinded – from the following programs: Interstate Maintenance, National Highway System, Highway Bridge, Transportation Enhancements, Surface Transportation Program (only the funds available for any area), Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement, Recreational Trails, Metropolitan Planning, State Planning and Research, and Equity Bonus. You will note that Safe Routes to School and Highway Safety Improvement Program funds are NOT included.

States have to respond by July 8. Yes, that’s right: one week from today. The memo recommends that “Division Administrators should encourage their State department of transportation officials to reach out to stakeholders in considering how to implement the rescission.”

By now you all know the drill. Transportation Enhancement and Congestion Mitigation Air Quality funds have consistently been inequitably targeted for rescissions in most states – and this will likely continue unless State DOT’s hear from you. In August of 2010, almost $1 billion of CMAQ, TE and Recreational Trails funds were returned to Washington, out of a $2.2 billion rescission. See our Rescissions FAQs for more information.

We can’t afford to let this happen again. Please contact your governor and ask that the rescission be proportional — that the cuts are fair and balanced.

Click here for the League of American Bicyclists’ Action Center to send a message to your governor now.

In case you weren’t able to make it to the Alliance Federal Policy Call yesterday, here are key topics we discussed with our partners at America Bikes.

Budget Cuts to CDC Programs
The 2012 budget proposed by the President in February zeros out funding for two important programs run by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. These two programs, the Built Environment program and the Healthy Communities program, support communities and non-profits in building and promoting active transportation. The Safe Routes to School National Partnership and the YMCA are circulating a sign-on letter for organizational sign on. Click here to read the letter and here to access background sheets on the two programs. For ease of collecting and collating the signatures, the partnership created a quick SurveyMonkey form that everyone can use to add their organization. It’s available at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/FTQJJZN.

AASHTO letter
UPDATE: Good news: “In response to the concerns expressed by several members of AASHTO’s Board of Directors, President Martinovich has directed AASHTO for the time being to withdraw its request that FHWA rescind its guidance on the meaning of “due consideration” of bicycle and pedestrian needs.” Read more from the League here — and thanks to all who acted on the League’s alert on this issue!...

BACKGROUND: In early March, US Department of Transportation put out a call for comments/suggestions on how to make its regulations run more smoothly. The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) released a letter and supplemental document, which asked the USDOT to weaken its guidance on accommodating bicyclists and pedestrians. America Bikes has written a letter to USDOT outlining why we disagree with AASHTO. The National Center for Bicycling and Walking has also sent a letter to AASHTO, while the League of American Bicyclists and the National Complete Streets Coalition contacted friendly state DOTs to ask them to contact AASHTO and express their disagreement with the letter. America Bikes now has a meeting set up with AASHTO to discuss their stance on bike/ped issues. If you have contacts with your state DOT, ask them to contact AASHTO and express their support for biking and walking, and their concern with AASHTO comments to USDOT. This is another chance to show the strong support that exists for biking and walking. As we enter back into reauthorization discussions, this gives us a platform to show that state DOTs are still too focused on building roads and that we need set asides for bike/ped funding.

2011 Budget and Rescission
The Partnership for Sustainable Communities (HUD / DOT / EPA) and TIGER were not cut. Money in 2011 bill that was set aside for TIGER is still there for the most part, so keep an eye out for the next round of grants. However, the budget did include $3.2 billion in transportation rescissions. A large part of the rescissions ($700 million) will be coming out of old earmarks that, in some cases, stretch back more than a decade. An additional $2.5 billion is being taken from across the board. Even though TE and CMAQ are only 7 percent of the total budget, last year they made up for 44 percent of rescissions. Please contact your state DOT and let them know that we do not want disproportionate cuts for these programs. Safe Routes to School is not part of this rescission, which is why you do not see it in the alert. DOTs will have to make decisions on rescissions in the next two or three weeks. Some states did make proportional cuts last year, but the majority did not. The alert targets governors since they are elected officials and the DOT works for them. Please use the alerts that we have forwarded.

Transportation Authorization Bill
The House of Representatives is looking at the introduction of a new bill between early May and early June. They’re looking at a 35 percent funding cut, which could bring the bill to less than $200 billion over six years. It’s very unlikely that it will include any of our programs (SRTS, TE or Recreational Trails). We have a much better chance of keeping our programs in a committee vote than if we have to go to the full House for a vote. The Senate is also looking to introduce a bill in late May or early June.  That bill is looking to be about $285 billion (about the size of SAFETEA-LU). The Senate’s bill is looking at Obama’s budget plan and trying to consolidate many of our programs into one program — most likey with CMAQ. If both chambers do not include SRTS, TE and Rec Trails in their bills, we risk losing the programs completely. Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) is willing to fight for us, but she is getting a lot of pressure to consolidate programs. We do have many good allies in the Senate who we can work with.

Given where we are and that the bills are supposed to be coming out in the next couples weeks, this is a great time to reach out to your Representative or Senators, especially if they are members of Transportation and Infrastructure Committee in the House or Environmental and Public Works Committee in the Senate. Follow up with people you have had meetings with and see if you can get them out for a Bike-to-Work Event. Use member’s in-district time to meet with them and gather as many allies as you can to show the wide support for biking and walking. It’s even better if you can do a “show me” event, during which you take a Representative or Senator to a bike/ped project that was built with one these programs.

Dangerous by Design
Dangerous By Design, a report by Transportation for America (T4A) highlighting pedestrian fatalities, is due out May 24. This year’s report will include state-level data and maps showing the most dangerous counties and metropolitan areas, and will advocate for funding on biking and walking and complete streets. T4A will be organizing state-level events and in–district meetings, and they’re looking for local groups interested in participating. Please contact Akshai Singh (akshai.singh@t4america.org) if you’re interested in participating or helping to organize the district visit and/or a press event. This report got significant news coverage two years ago, and should again.

It’s happening again!

The latest budget agreed upon by the U.S. Congress includes $2.5 billion in rescissions to unspent federal transportation funds, which means hundreds of millions of dollars for bike/ped projects and programs are now in peril.

As many of you know, the last round of rescissions in 2010 hit hard and disproportionately for bike/ped programs: 44 percent of the money sent back to Washington from state DOTs came from Transportation Enhancements and CMAQ, even though those two programs constitute only 7 percent of federal transportation funding. In some states, DOTs handed back several years’ worth of TE funding in one blow. We can’t afford to take a hit like that again and it’s critical that we mobilize to prevent it.

Luckily, the national partners within America Bikes are making it easy to take action.

First, we’re giving you the facts:

• Click here for an updated Advocacy Advance report outlining what rescissions are and why this issue is so critically important.
• Click here for an FAQ sheet on this latest round of rescissions.
• Click here for a list showing how much each state has to send back to Washington.

And we’re also making it easy for you to make a difference. The League of American Bicyclists Advocacy Center has model text you can send directly to your state’s governor, asking that rescissions are fair and proportional. These messages are specific to your state and take into account your state DOT’s action in the last round of rescissions in 2010.

• If you are in AK, DC, DE, HI, IA, IL, IN, KS, MD, ME, MN, MO, MS, NH, PA, RI, SC, UT, VA, VT, WV, WY please click here.
• If you are in AL, AR, AZ, CA, CT, FL, GA, ID, KY, LA, MI, MT, NC, ND, NE, NJ, NM, NV, NY, OH, OK, OR, SD, TN, TX, WA, WI please click here.

As we learned in the last round of rescissions, no state is safe. We strongly urge all advocates and supporters to be as proactive and engaged in this effort as possible!

Last week, at the National Bike Summit, I was one of the hundreds of advocates who converged on Capitol Hill to tell our members of Congress to protect federal funding for biking and walking projects and programs. This week, when I returned to the office, the latest newsletter from the League of Illinois Bicyclists had arrived on my desk. And what was the leading headline? The LIB’s major role in directing more than $50 million federal dollars toward bikeways in the Prairie State.

Since 1991, the federally funded Illinois Transportation Enhancement Program has been the main source of money for active transportation projects and, in the 1990s, about half of ITEP dollars went to bike/ped facilities. But, as the LIB reports in the Illinois Bicyclist, that number plummeted to less than 30 percent under former governor Rod Blagojevich. Making matters worse, the state started raiding the ITEP program to deal with federal rescissions, too.

The LIB helped turn back that shortsighted trend.

During the last round of rescissions in August, Illinois advocates mobilized to protect bike/ped dollars. “LIB, the Active Transportation Alliance and the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy urged IDOT and Gov. Pat Quinn to more fairly spread the cuts across transportation categories,” LIB reports in its newsletter. “Thankfully, no ITEP dollars were rescinded.”

But that was just the prelude to an even bigger win: The latest ITEP grant list that includes more than $50 million for bikeways.

“Each major issue advocated by LIB – especially selecting more bikeway applications – came true in a record way,” the League notes. “Gov. Quinn had often expressed his desire to fund more bike trails in Illinois. Three times in 2010, LIB personally spoke with him, suggesting an ITEP bicycling emphasis as a way to do so without impact on the state’s financial situation. Our thanks have gone out to the Governor and IDOT Secretary Gary Hannig.”

Read more about the League of Illinois Bicyclists here. And learn how you can mobilize for more federal, state and local dollars in your community by getting connected to Advocacy Advance — a partnership of the Alliance and League of American Bicyclists — here.

We knew in August that federal funding for bicycle and pedestrian projects was in jeopardy.

Now, the results of the latest round of rescissions are in — and programs that benefit biking and walking were, in fact, first on the chopping block in many states.

This summer, Congress passed a jobs bill that contained a $2.2 billion rescission of transportation funds from state Departments of Transportation. Just-released data from the Federal Highway Administration shows that many states cut disproportionately from programs that fund biking and walking when they determined what funds to send back to Washington. (For data on each state from the FHWA, click here.)

The Transportation Enhancements program, for instance, was heavily tapped. According to the National Transportation Enhancements Clearinghouse (NTEC): “In most states, TE is between 2 percent and 3 percent of all federal aid for highways. However, in this most recent rescission, funds from TE funding codes composed 26 percent of the total rescinded funds nationally.” Thirty-three states returned a disproportionately large amount of funds from TE and four states (Arkansas, Nevada, Nebraska, and Texas) used TE funds to make up more than half of the total rescission. In total, $580 million came from TE - more than from any other single program. There was some good news, though: The District of Columbia and nine other states didn’t send back any money from TE. (Read the full brief from the NTEC here.)

But, as Darren Flusche, policy analyst for the League of American Bicyclists points out, TE wasn’t the only program affected. “CMAQ [Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality improvement program], an important source of bicycle and pedestrian funding, was hit hard,” Flusche writes on the League’s blog. “States rescinded $388 million from CMAQ. In addition, $116 million is now gone from statewide planning and research.”

So what now?

“The only way to avoid these losses in the future is to make our voices heard and urge the DOTs to spend money on biking and walking as aggressively as they spend on highways,” Flusche suggests. “See our reports on rescissions, CMAQ and HSIP for advice on how to do that.”

In the next few days, officials could swipe millions of dollars from bicycle and pedestrian projects in your state.

Don’t let your Department of Transportation send crucial federal funding for biking and walking back to Washington, DC!

Last week, Congress passed a jobs bill that contains a $2.2 billion rescission of transportation funds from state DOTs. In many states, the DOT will likely target bike funding programs to send those dollars back to Washington — unless local advocates speak up and make sure that doesn’t happen.

States must report which program funds are affected by August 25 and the law gives officials maximum flexibility to choose which unobligated balance of funds are rescinded. So we need you to take action this week.

Funds may be rescinded from the following programs:

- Transportation Enhancements
- Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality (CMAQ)
- Recreational Trails
- State Planning and Research
- Surface Transportation Program
- Metropolitan Planning

The US DOT is urging state DOTs to reach out to stakeholders, which makes this a perfect opportunity to remind your state’s DOT of the value of bicycle and pedestrian projects. One request we have of state DOTs is that they follow the “proportionality clause” of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 – this ensures that cuts be made equitably across programs.

What can you do? Flood your governor with calls and e-mails to showcase the importance of bicycle and pedestrian facilities — and prove we’re paying attention! Tell your governor: Don’t let the state DOT disproportionately cut funding for Transportation Enhancements, recreational trails, and bicycle and pedestrian projects.

Read more from America Bikes, then visit the League of American Bicyclists Action Center to craft and send a message to your governor. Learn more about rescissions in this Advocacy Advance report.