Enrolled Bill Summary

            Senate Bill 370 continues the Texas Department of Transportation, sets September 1, 2009, as the department's sunset date, and implements the Sunset Advisory Commission's standard, across-the-board recommendations. The Texas Turnpike Authority is abolished as a state agency and recreated as a division within the department, and the act provides for the transfer of certain assets and obligations of the former agency relating to a turnpike project to the appropriate city, county, or regional tollway authority.

            Senate Bill 370 creates the Regional Tollway Authority Act to allow two or more contiguous counties, if at least one has a population of 300,000, to create a regional tollway authority or to join an established authority for the purpose of securing and acquiring rights-of-way for needed turnpike projects and for planning, constructing, operating, and modifying those projects. The act makes a regional tollway authority a governmental unit and a political subdivision of the state. The act provides for the conversion of a segment of the free state highway system into a turnpike project to accomplish necessary expansion, improvements, or extensions and for financing projects through tolls and the issuance of bonds and other obligations. It establishes the North Texas Tollway Authority as a regional tollway authority consisting of Collin, Dallas, Denton, and Tarrant counties and transfers all of the former Texas Turnpike Authority's assets, rights, and other property in these counties to the regional authority.

            Senate Bill 370 establishes the State Infrastructure Bank to encourage investment in transportation facilities and to develop financing techniques to expand funding availability and reduce direct state costs and authorizes the Texas Transportation Commission to issue revenue bonds to fund the bank and to use infrastructure bank funds to assist public or private entities in financing qualified transportation projects. The act requires distribution of federal transportation funds in a manner that is consistent with federal formulas and amends the local matching funds requirement for highway projects to allow consideration of alternative local incentives and to ease the requirements for economically disadvantaged counties. Additionally, the department is required to provide a minimum level of funding to assist counties with materials to repair and maintain county roads.

            Senate Bill 370 provides for the commission and the department to participate in projects and facilities to mitigate traffic congestion, grants the commission authority to designate dedicated high occupancy vehicle lanes on the state highway system and to charge a toll for the use of one or more lanes to mitigate congestion, and requires the department and certain other tollway-related entities to consider offering vehicle operators the option of using a transponder to pay tolls without stopping. The act requires the department to analyze multimodal use of the state's roads and highways and amends the Government Code to allow the department to enter into an interlocal agreement with a local government to establish transportation infrastructure zones to finance construction of transportation infrastructure in areas that do not have a state or federal highway. The act requires social services providers to coordinate with local transportation providers to maximize the efficiency of transportation services for social services clients.

            Senate Bill 370 requires the department to use private sector engineering-related services, including historically underutilized businesses, to assist in highway improvement, right-of-way acquisition, and aviation improvement projects and to develop a liquidated damages schedule that reflects costs associated with project completion delays. The department is authorized to lease state highway property, facilities, or improvements to a telecommunications provider, subject to competitive bidding provisions, and to establish an electronic bidding system for highway construction and maintenance contracts.

            The department is authorized to establish and maintain an emergency call box system along state highways and to erect a sound barrier wall along the right-of-way of a railroad that is adjacent to a road or highway. The agency is also required to coordinate with local flood control authorities to minimize the impact of highway projects on flooding and to maintain an accounting structure for roadway and warehouse inventory for lost or destroyed materials. The commission is allowed, on the request of a commissioners court, to lower the speed limit on certain county roads.

            Senate Bill 370 creates the Port Authority Advisory Committee to advise the commission and the department on matters relating to port authorities. The act prohibits the department from selling motor vehicle certificate of title information or motor vehicle registration personal information unless the purchaser agrees not to publish the information on the Internet. The act also provides for the regulation of motor carrier operations within border commercial zones and prohibits a foreign motor carrier from transporting persons or cargo in intrastate commerce without authorization.

            The department is required to conduct a pilot project on the cost-effectiveness of contracting for vehicle maintenance services and on leasing state rights-of-way for floral mosaic living logo advertisements and to issue special license plates that include the name and insignia of a professional sports team located in this state. Finally, the act amends provisions relating to highway beautification, provisions of the Vehicle Storage Facility Act and the Texas Motor Vehicle Commission Code, and statutes relating to salvage vehicle dealers and the registration of motor carriers.