Honorable Tommy Williams, Chair, Senate Committee on Transportation & Homeland Security
FROM:
John S O'Brien, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:
SB161 by Shapiro (Relating to highway funding formulas of and project selection by the Texas Department of Transportation.), As Introduced
No significant fiscal implication to the State is anticipated.
The bill would amend the Transportation Code to require the Texas Transportation Commission to adopt rules creating funding formulas for highway projects, taking into consideration input from local planning organizations, transportation officials, and local government officials. The bill would require the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) to distribute by formula all highway funding received by TxDOT that may be allocated at the state's or TxDOT's discretion. The bill would require TxDOT to allocate funding to each department district using funding categories and performance measure criteria specified by the bill. The bill would require TxDOT to develop criteria to determine the feasibility of highway projects to be included in local transportation improvement plans and the statewide transportation improvement plan. The bill would require TxDOT to adopt population and highway demand projections for each area for which a metropolitan planning organization (MPO) or TxDOT develops a transportation improvement plan. The bill would require TxDOT and MPOs to use the criteria and projections to develop transportation improvement plans.
Based on the analysis of TxDOT, it is assumed any costs or duties associated with implementing the provisions of the bill could be absorbed within existing resources.
Local Government Impact
No significant fiscal implication to units of local government is anticipated.