Calling all policy wonks!

Time for an update on the status of Capital Metro’s legislative agenda.

Where to start? What’s in the hopper? A number of things, all of which are moving along but the clock is ticking with only 35 days left in the session that ends June 1. Most of our bills have had committee hearings in at least one of the chambers and a few have been approved by at least one side of the Legislature but we’re still working to see what will make it out.

For more information about the status of some major bills that could affect Capital Metro, read on…

‘OMNIBUS’ BILLS re: fare enforcement ability, confirmation of contracted peace officer authority, and use of State travel discounts
- Senate Bill 1263 (Watson) and House Bill 2469 (Rodriguez)
- Status: HB 2469 was reported favorably from the Transportation Committee and is now awaiting scheduling by the Calendars Committee for consideration by the full House. On the Senate side, no hearing has been scheduled yet in the Transportation and Homeland Security Committee.

STATE TRAVEL DISCOUNTS FOR ALL PUBLIC TRANSIT AGENCIES
- SB 1264 (Watson), SB 899 (Duell), and HB 2899 (T. Smith)
- Status: Both of the Senate bills have been approved on the floor and SB 899 has been scheduled for consideration by the House Transportation Committee on 04/29/09. On the House side, Smith’s bill has been favorably reported from the Transportation Committee.

BUS-ONLY SHOULDERS
- SB 434 (Wentworth) and HB 1790 (Bolton)
- Status: The Senate has approved SB 434 but at the requests of senators representing these areas, they removed Williamson County and added El Paso. The House Transportation Committee took up the House version of HB 1790 last Thursday. The committee substitute that Rep. Bolton offered also excluded Williamson County but it also excluded El Paso County because of concerns by a legislator representing that area. The House Committee didn’t take a vote on Thursday so we’ll see if they take up the Senate version of the bill this week (or next, etc.) and if they’ll vote out the Senate or House version.

FUNDING BILLS
- There are a number of bills, and related constitutional amendments (the SJRs and the HJRs), that would authorize different means of local-option funding for transportation, including transit, projects. There are also a number of bills that would authorize additional vehicle registration fees to fund the same.

Local-option funding bills, and related constitutional amendments, include
• SB 855 & SJR 24 (Carona)
• SJR 52 (Davis), which is a duplicate of SJR 24
• HB 3448 & HJR 122 (Rodriguez), with HJR 122 identical to Carona’s SJR
• HB 9 & HJR 9 (Truitt), which is the companion to SB 855 and with HJR 9 identical to Carona’s SJR
• HB 1674 (Villareal)
• HB 3341 (Miklos).

Vehicle registration-only bills include
• SB 249, Shapleigh
• SB 294, Hinojosa (identical to HB 1716)
• HB 1716, Gonzales Toureilles (identical to SB 294)

- Status: Since there are so many bills regarding this issue, I’ll give a simple summary and say that Carona’s bill and Davis’ constitutional amendment have been approved by the Senate, and that all of the House local-option funding bills and House constitutional amendments were taken up by the House Transportation Committee last week but were left pending with no action. For the vehicle registration fee bills, both of the Senate versions have been approved on the floor but the House Transportation Committee hasn’t taken up the issue yet.

CAMPO PEER REVIEW-RELATED BILLS
- SB 2015 (Watson) and HB 4432 (Rodriguez).
- Status: Watson’s bill has been approved by the Senate. Rodriguez’s companion is awaiting a scheduled date for consideration by the House Transportation Committee.

I didn’t go into the content of the bills since, if you’re wonky enough to read this, you’re probably already versed in them. If you need a refresher or primer though, info about the content of the bills, save for Watson’s and Rodriguez’s Peer review-related bills, can be found in a previous blog posting. An overview of the Watson and Rodriguez Peer Review-related bills (as written by us, Cap Metro staff) can also be found online here. (Note that Rep. Rodriguez has since publicly stated his intention to move forward with Senator Watson’s bill and not the version that he previously filed.) And if you really want to dig around, find the actual bills and much more detailed information through the Texas Legislature Online. (You can do an easy bill search by entering the bill number in the top right-hand corner of the page. e.g., simply enter “HB 2469.”)

While we track a lot of other bills, those are the big ones that we’re advancing or watching. Here’s hoping that the next time I submit a post, I can tell you that all of the bills we wanted to pass, did! Well, maybe I’ll sneak an update in before June 1. Holler if you have any thoughts or questions.