86R23753 KSM-F
 
  By: Landgraf, Zerwas, Canales, Goldman, H.C.R. No. 147
      Thierry, et al.
 
 
 
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
         WHEREAS, Texas is experiencing dramatic economic and
  population growth, bringing in top companies and some of the
  greatest talent in the nation, yet it is facing great challenges in
  creating and maintaining the transportation system that Texans
  need; and
         WHEREAS, Texas continues to endure a structural funding
  inequity that results in the state consistently receiving less than
  its fair share of federal transportation dollars; and
         WHEREAS, According to the Federal Highway Administration, in
  federal fiscal year 2019, Texas is the only "donor" state,
  receiving only 95 cents back for every dollar it sends to Washington
  in federal fuel taxes; and
         WHEREAS, The inequity of being the only "donor" state
  amounted to a loss of up to $940 million by Texas motorists in
  federal fiscal year 2019, with Texas taxpayers being forced to pay
  for infrastructure in other states; and
         WHEREAS, In federal fiscal year 2019, Texas was the only
  state not to receive any benefit from the billions of dollars in
  general fund revenue and other federal sources transferred to the
  highway trust fund; and
         WHEREAS, Congress uses 2000 census data in its formula
  funding, and in 2000, the Texas population was 20 million; it has
  since grown by nearly 50 percent and is now estimated at over 29
  million; and
         WHEREAS, While the Texas congressional delegation has worked
  to protect the state's dollars and improve Texas' "rate of return"
  for many years, nearly two decades of population growth is not
  reflected in the distribution of federal transportation dollars,
  since Congress stopped updating performance inputs for the formulas
  used for distributing federal aid apportionments and allocations to
  states out of the highway trust fund account; and
         WHEREAS, This imbalance weakens Texas' ability to provide a
  safe transportation system, develop and build local projects,
  address traffic congestion, move freight efficiently across the
  state, and maintain the infrastructure that Texans deserve; now,
  therefore, be it
         RESOLVED, That the 86th Legislature of the State of Texas
  hereby respectfully urge the U.S. Congress to work collectively
  toward a fair, equitable, and logical approach to federal
  transportation funding in any new federal transportation
  legislation that Congress considers; and, be it further
         RESOLVED, That provisions in legislation should include but
  not be limited to:
         (a)  Adjustments to ensure that each state receives an
  aggregate apportionment equal to at least 95 percent of the
  percentage of estimated tax payments attributable to highway users
  in the state paid into the highway trust fund (other than the Mass
  Transit Account) in the most recent fiscal year for which data are
  available; and
         (b)  Updating of federal formulas for distributing funding
  to states to include current data and metrics, including the most
  recent decennial census; and, be it further
         RESOLVED, That the Texas secretary of state forward official
  copies of this resolution to the president of the United States, to
  the president of the Senate and the speaker of the House of
  Representatives of the United States Congress, and to all the
  members of the Texas delegation to Congress with the request that
  this resolution be entered in the Congressional Record as a
  memorial to the Congress of the United States of America.