Restoring Prosperity
The Greater Ohio Policy Center Blog
In December of 2016, the Ohio EPA began accepting comments on the use of the anticipated $75 million the state of Ohio expects to receive as part of the settlement in the Volkswagen Clean Air Act civil settlement. While a Trustee was appointed by the court earlier this year, there are still ongoing negotiations with the court and parties to the settlement.
By Alex Highley, GOPC Project AssociateMany states across the country,including Ohio, have begun to embrace the idea that driverless cars will soon represent an exciting, safe, and more efficient alternative to human-controlled vehicles. Last year, Columbus was awarded the federal Smart Cities grant, which pledges millions of federal dollars to be invested in new technologies for driverless cars. While autonomous vehicles may eventually solve some of the transportation challenges Ohio faces once their usage is proven to be safe and effective, leaders in the state should focus their efforts today on expanding and strengthening public transit. Greater Ohio Policy Center (GOPC) believes that Ohio must prioritize investment in the existing transportation system, where the technology already exists to safely and efficiently transport people to jobs, doctors, and grocery stores.
While autonomous vehicles may one day rule the road, it is imperative that Ohio develops transportation solutions for residents who seek a means of mobility in the short-term. Public transit is a proven form of transportation that if invested in properly, can produce a number of economic development benefits for residents and businesses within communities of all types. Ohio’s population is aging and many residents, especially those living in rural areas, do not have reliable access to a car to get to job opportunities, medical appointments, family, and the grocery store. Because Ohio’s land usage pattern is defined by sprawling communities, residential areas are often located far from job sites and thus qualified individuals are unable to fill positions at companies seeking their talents. Improving transit service through, for instance,regionalization, will ameliorate these difficulties by connecting workers with key destinations and allow them to participate in Ohio’s economy.
However, there is a glaring shortage of good-working public transportation buses and vans in Ohio. As theOhio Department of Transportation Transit Needs Studynotes, 27 counties in Ohio do not even operate a public transit network, which means that many people rely on health and human service transportation functions to get to important destinations. Even within the transit agencies that do offer service, over a third of the 3,240 vehicles are beyond their useful life, yet they are still on the roads. As demand grows among all age groups, investment in the system is even more crucial. By 2025, the Transit Needs Study estimates that an additional $562 million in annual funding will be needed to meet the future demand for public transit statewide.
Given the general level ofuncertainty surrounding driverless cars, leaders at all level of government and business should concentrate efforts on existing transportation systems. At the moment,74 percent of Americans simply do not believe driverless cars will be safe to use. Until the public has demonstrated it trusts the new technology, it would be premature to pool resources into a system with so many lingering questions. Even if Ohioans do at some point accept autonomous vehicles as a viable alternative to driver-operated cars, it is unlikely that their costs, at least initially, will make them accessible to a wide cohort of citizens. Thus, the proliferation of the technology would likely do little to help residents who struggle to find a way to get to doctor’s appointments. By supporting a robust, modernized public transportation system, Ohio’s leaders can build a successful, fluid network of travel for workers and residents throughout the state.
For more resources on transportation policy affecting Ohio’s cities and regions, please visit GOPC’s Transportation Modernization webpage
By Alex Highley, GOPC Project AssociateUnder the Trump administration’s recent budget proposal, a crucial grant program supporting capital investment for transportation projects across Ohio and the country is slated to be abolished. The federal program known as the Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grants are earmarked to be eliminated, unless the House and Senate budget bills reverse the provision doing away with the program. Funding for TIGER, a program that was developed in 2009 as part of the federal Recovery Act, is allocated to state Departments of Transportation (DOT) and local jurisdictions by Congress following a merit-based award process. Should Congress decide to scrap the program, some planned transit, rail, and bike and pedestrian projects in Ohio could fail to produce the funds necessary for completion.
Since 2009, TIGER grantshave funneled over $4 billion to a variety of innovative transportation projects around the country, including transit, rail, port, road, and bike and pedestrian. Since the program’s inception, the annual program budget has declined over time, reducing the number of awarded projects, while applications have ramped up. The US Department of Transportation’s (USDOT) latest round ofTIGER grant awards, known as TIGER VII, are set to deliver $500 million to various projects nationwide. In total, this amount will support 39 capital projects in 33 states. However, award amounts have been slowly declining since the initial TIGER I, which funded 51 separate capital projects in the form of $1.5 billion in award money.
Akron's downtown promenade was awarded a $5 million TIGER capital grant in 2016. Photo credit: AkronStock
TIGER grants are immensely important in Ohio, where they offer needed funding assistance to multi-modal projects that would struggle to generate the necessary funding otherwise. For example, in 2015$6.8 million was awarded to Ohio to divide among sparsely-funded public transit agencies in rural areasof the state such as Athens, Wilmington, Chillicothe, Knox, Lancaster, Marion, Logan, and others. Moreover, theOpportunity Corridorproject, which is a path designed for transit, bikes, and pedestrians in northeast Ohio, along with thedowntown promenade in Akron, have enjoyed the fruits of grant awards in recent years. In total,Ohio has received over $79 millionfrom the TIGER program for transportation projects (see the table below for a year-by-year breakdown).
The success of the program is manifested by the substantial local investment it has spurred. USDOT calculates that TIGER’s initial investment has leveraged $1.74 billion in matching funds by state and local actors, including the private and public sectors contributing to the completion of the project. However, due to the program’s widespread appeal, acquiring TIGER grants have become increasingly more difficult. As local transportation projects face a dwindling supply of resources, the TIGER program has become more competitive given the increasing demand. Subsequently, many advocates have called for an expansion of the program to aid local governments in finishing important projects.
Scrapping the program entirely would represent a big blow to public transportation systems in Ohio in particular, given many local systems are insufficiently supported.The Ohio Department of Transportation's (ODOT)2015 Transit Needs Study estimates that Ohio’s public transportation systems suffer from a $192.5 million dollar funding shortfall in combined capital and operations needs. Moreover, the study finds that the state of Ohio spends just 63 cents per capita on public transportation over the course of each year, ranking Ohio 38th in the nation in its investment in this crucial policy area.
Greater Ohio Policy Center (GOPC) believes that Ohio’srecently-passed transportation budget, which includes a $10 million increase in flex funding for public transportation, is a positive step to modernizing the state’s transportation system. However, local systems will continue to struggle to meet the demands of riders, and the possible federal elimination of the TIGER program will increase the financial strain on cash-strapped agencies that are seeking the funds to ensure they can properly invest in their capital systems as well as operate sufficiently.
For more resources on transportation policy affecting Ohio’s cities and regions, please visit GOPC’sTransportation Modernization webpage.
TIGER Grants Total Award Amounts in Ohio
2009: $20 million
2010: $10.5 million
2011: $12.5 million
2012: $16 million
2013: no award
2014: $400,000
2015: $6.8 million
2016: $12.9 million
Grand Total: $79.1 million
By Jason Warner, GOPC Manager of Government Affairs This is the fourth in a series of articles taking a closer look as specific items contained in the Governor’s proposed budget for FY2018-19, which the legislature must pass by June 30, 2017. The third article is available here
The Ohio House of Representatives and Ohio Senate sent the final version of the State Transportation Budget (HB26) to Governor John Kasich on March 29, which he then approved on March 31. The transportation budget will take effect on July 1 and will fund transportation operations and other transportation-related functions through June 30, 2019.
Highlights of the final budget include an increase in federal flex funding for purposes of replacing Ohio’s aging public transportation fleet. Flexing federal highway dollars reallocates funding Ohio already receives. At present, the state flexes around $23 million per year for public transportation purposes. House Bill 26 increases this amount by $10 million per year, to $33 million annually. This is a significant increase in funding which will help support the purchase of new rural transit vans and full sized buses.
The conference report removed Senate provisions adding $48 million to the Ohio Public Works Commission's Local Transportation Improvement Program (LTIP) and requiring $30 million of the forthcoming Volkswagen Emissions Mitigation Trust Fund to be sent to public transit authorities for rolling stock. Conferees also agreed to allow county commissioners to approve a $5 motor vehicle license (MVL) fee increase by resolution, but specifies that any increase must take effect after 30 days. This will allow local voters an opportunity to subject the increase to a referendum. If a referendum is approved, the increase would only take effect if it is approved by voters.
The removal of the $30 million in funding from the Volkswagen settlement came at the request of the Ohio EPA and Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine. They indicated to the conference committee there were still issues around the settlement which needed to be worked out and cautioned that allocating money from the settlement was premature. The chair of the Senate Transportation, Commerce and Workforce Committee, Frank LaRose (R-Copley), has indicated that he wants to see the settlement money appropriated for this purpose and will work to do so either through an amendment to the main operating budget (HB49) or through stand-alone legislation. GOPC will work with the senator to ensure that this does happen.
Other highlights from HB26 include:
At the same time, the Ohio House continues its work on the Main Operating Budget (HB49). This week, the bill resumed hearings in the full House Finance Committee following a month of hearings in five subcommittees and the House Ways and Means Committee. Various interest groups and members of the public shared their views on the budget in multiple hearings during the past week, and will continue sharing their thoughts this week before the legislature goes on recess for the next two weeks to observe Easter. Also last week, the Ohio Senate Finance Committee began holding informal hearings receiving background testimony from state agencies in advance of beginning formal hearings after the House approves their version of the state budget. That is expected to occur sometime in early May.
Visit GOPC’s Transportation Modernization page to learn more about this important issue area
By Jason Warner, GOPC Manager of Government AffairsThis is the third in a series of articles taking a closer look as specific items contained in the Governor’s proposed budget for FY2018-19, which the legislature must pass by June 30, 2017.The second article is available here.
Greater Ohio Policy Center (GOPC) would like to thank the Ohio Senate for approving a transportation budget that would allocate an additional $15 million over two years to public transportation. In alignment with GOPC’s recommendations that Ohio repower its ailing bus fleet, the Senate’s budget would support a new grant program using funds from the Volkswagen Mitigation Trust Fund to support public transit.
In a strong bipartisan effort, the Ohio Senate unanimously approvedAm. Sub. HB 26, the state transportation budget for fiscal years 2018 and 2019 on March 22nd. All 24 Republican members and the 9 Democratic members of the chamber voted to support passage of the budget.Over the course of eight hearings, Senators heard testimony from a number of organizations, including GOPC, who advocated for an increase in funding for public transportation.
As GOPC noted in testimony before the Transportation, Commerce and Workforce Committee last week, Ohio appropriates only 2% of the state transportation budget to public transportation, while peer states spend between 10-20% of their transportation funds on transit-related needs and services. Governor Kasich’s proposed budget recommended spending an additional roughly $33 million annually in federal highway “flex” funds for public transit capital appropriations (purchasing new “rolling stock”, or buses), which was an increase of $10 million per year over the current budget.
GOPC thanks the members of the Ohio Senate for recognizing the need for additional support for public transit in the state and encourages the Ohio House of Representatives to support this Senate-backed provision in the budget.
In testimony, GOPC encouraged the legislature to spend an additional $17 million per year, boosting overall funding in public transportation to $50 million annually. The Senate-approved budget plan to strengthen public transportation using Volkswagen Mitigation Trust Funds would support a grant program that assists local transit agencies in purchasing new buses and transit vans across the state.
Later that same day, the Ohio House, which was the first to pass the transportation budget on March 1, voted to reject the full slate of Senate-approved changes 88-0. The bill now moves to a conference committee which will settle the differences between the two bills. Final passage of the budget bill will occur later this week, as state law requires Governor Kasich to sign the transportation budget by April 1.
Learn more about GOPC's policy research and advocacy to modernize Ohio's transportation system
