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At Íæż½ã½ã’s 94th Annual Convention in Palm Springs, Calif., the Highway and Transportation Division will meet on Friday, March 8 – the session will feature Rep. Jeff Denham (R-Calif.) who will be discussing the outlook for transportation legislation and funding in the 113th Congress.  Rep. Denham is the Chair of the Transportation and Infrastructure (T&I) Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines, and Hazardous Materials. In the last Congress, he served as chair of the T&I Committee’s Economic Development Subcommittee. Since Rep. Denham is only starting his second term in Congress, chairing these two important subcommittees is a testament to how highly regarded he is by House Republican Leadership.

This week, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released its semi-annual estimate of the status of the Highway Trust Fund (HTF) based on revenue flowing in. The CBO also anticipated expenditures based on current law requirements.  CBO estimates that the highway account and the transit account will be able to meet obligations through the end of FY 2014, but will not have sufficient revenue to meet all obligations for FY 2015. CBO points out that this estimate does not include any reduction in the amounts transferred from the general fund to the HTF as a result of MAP-21.

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood publicly announced this week that he will not be serving in the second term of the Administration. Secretary LaHood said that he would remain in the position until the President’s selection for a replacement has been confirmed by the Senate. While speculation on who might replace the secretary has already begun, there has been no indication from the White House as to who that might be.

House Transportation and Infrastructure (T&I) Committee Bill Shuster (R-PA) held an organizational meeting for the 113th Congress this week where the members approved subcommittee chairmen and ranking members, provided subcommittee assignments, and adopted the Committee rules and oversight plan. 

USA Today reported this week that at least 13 states are currently looking at increasing their gas tax or other revenue options to address their increasing transportation needs. The newspaper points out, according to the policy think tank Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, sixteen states haven't raised gasoline taxes in 20 years or more, Íæż½ã½ã chapters are working in many of these states in support of efforts to increase transportation investment.

After months of review and re-review in Nebraska, Gov. Heineman approved a new route for the Keystone XL Pipeline on Tuesday.  The news from Nebraska spawned an unusual bipartisan letter from 53 US Senators (44 GOP and 9 Dem).  The letter to President Obama urged swift presidential approval of the permit to build the pipeline from Canada. The letter citing energy independence and job creation benefits of the pipeline construction was lead by Senator John Hoeven (R-N.D.) and Senator Max Baucus (D-Mont.). 

Yesterday, the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure (T&I) held their organizational meeting where they approved subcommittee chairman and ranking members, provided subcommittee assignments for the 113th Congress, and adopted the Committee rules and oversight plan. 

Several states are looking to increase their transportation investments by increasing revenue sources. Íæż½ã½ã chapters are working in support of these efforts. Some of the more high profile initiatives include:

New House Transportation and Infrastructure Chairman Bill Shuster (R-Pa.) announced the Committee leadership he intends to appoint for the 113th Congress.

Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) has offered an alternative proposal to address his state’s chronic transportation underinvestment. The proposal would eliminate the state gasoline tax of 17.5 cents per gallon and replace the lost revenue by increasing the state’s sales and use tax (SUT) by 0.8 cents and dedicating that portion for transportation, increasing the portion of the existing SUT for transportation, increasing the vehicle registration fee by $15, and imposing a $100 fee on alternatively fueled vehicles.