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Raining on Everyone’s Parade
Yesterday, the Federal Highway Administration informed state Departments of Transportation of another rescission of funds, this time totaling $2.5 billion. A “rescission”, you may recall, is a mechanism by which states return to Washington various unspent amounts of money that they could have spent but haven’t yet done so. The action is taken under the 2011 Full-year Continuing Appropriations Act. This is the FHWA notice, which includes the total amount of funds each state is to send back to Washington. Not the most entertaining piece of prose you’ll ever read, but hidden within the language is another significant threat to the funds that are available to spend on bicycling improvements.
States are given maximum flexibility about the source of the funds that are rescinded – from among a variety of transportation programs. Most critically for bicycling, the transportation enhancements, congestion mitigation, and recreational trails programs are included in the list of programs. Fortunately, the Safe Routes to School program is not included, so those funds are safe.
States have been given a whole week to respond – that’s right, they got the notice yesterday and have to decide what funds to send back by Friday July 8. 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,” but our experience has been this really doesn’t happen. Or at least, the bicycle community either isn’t considered a stakeholder worth reaching out to or once reached out to, our views are simply ignored.
We say that because 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 their customers. In August, 2010 almost $1 billion of CMAQ, TE and Recreational Trails funds were returned to Washington, out of a $2.2 billion rescission. That means that State Departments of Transportation didn’t spend these funds in the first place – even though they could have been using the funds to build better bicycling infrastructure, provide bicyclist education, install bike parking – and now are choosing instead to send the money back to Washington.
Given the complexity of issue, the short turn-around time, and the fact that there’s a Federal holiday of some note on Monday, it’s a challenge to know how to effectively respond and try to influence the outcome of this rescissions process – however, we have set up an action alert here that you can use. Governors often seem to have little influence over their Departments of Transportation and State DOT directors certainly need to know your concerns but will rarely be the person making the actual decision. If you have a statewide advocacy group in your state, they will be a good place to go for any targeted action or inside information on who to contact and how.
Sorry to rain on your July 4th parades…
Andy Clarke
League President
Andy Clarke was appointed to the position of Executive Director in April of 2004 after successfully leading efforts to create, interpret and implement the various transportation programs that are available to improve conditions for bicycling and walking as the League’s State and Local Advocacy Director. Before joining the League in February 2003, Clarke was on contract to provide technical assistance to the highly regarded Pedestrian and Bicycle Information Center on site at the Federal Highway Administration. He is on the Board of Directors for America Bikes, and a member of the Association of Pedestrian and Bicycling Professionals.
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July 1st, 2011 at 11:40 am
Thanks for getting the word out. Tough to rally the troops on a holiday weekend, but this is IMPORTANT!
July 1st, 2011 at 12:24 pm
Any idea what happens if a state government doesn’t send the money back in time? I’m thinking specifically of Minnesota, most of which shut down last night.
July 1st, 2011 at 2:55 pm
[...] From the League of American Bicyclists: Yesterday, the Federal Highway Administration informed state Departments of Transportation of another rescission of funds, this time totaling $2.5 billion. A “rescission”, you may recall, is a mechanism by which states return to Washington various unspent amounts of money that they could have spent but haven’t yet done so. The action is taken under the 2011 Full-year Continuing Appropriations Act. This is the FHWA notice, which includes the total amount of funds each state is to send back to Washington. Not the most entertaining piece of prose you’ll ever read, but hidden within the language is another significant threat to the funds that are available to spend on bicycling improvements. [...]
July 5th, 2011 at 4:48 pm
[...] League of American Bicyclists blog post [...]
July 7th, 2011 at 8:01 am
[...] fund accounts. The League of American Bicyclists is concerned about this inequity and hence they are asking their members to contact elected representatives at the state level and tell them t…. The LAB is correct, and asking people to call about it is perfectly fair. Bicycle and [...]
July 7th, 2011 at 8:01 am
[...] fund accounts. The League of American Bicyclists is concerned about this inequity and hence they are asking their members to contact elected representatives at the state level and tell them t…. The LAB is correct, and asking people to call about it is perfectly fair. Bicycle and [...]
July 8th, 2011 at 7:53 am
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September 23rd, 2011 at 8:45 am
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