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Contents
Extension of I-27/Ports to Plains Corridor
The proposed extension of Interstate 27 will also serve the agriculture industry including many of Texas top counties for the production of cotton, cattle, sheep and goats and other commodities.
Has your organization considered the resolution supporting the Extension of Interstate 27?
Have you individually added your name supporting the Resolution?
Please share with your Texas Friends!
Please click here to add your personal name to the Resolution in Support of Expansion on Interstate 27
Please click here to downland a draft organizational resolution for consideration by local governments and non-profit organizations. (Word Document)
Mark your Calendars to join us for the
20th Anniversary Reunion Ports-to-Plains Alliance Conference
September 12-14, 2017 -- Lubbock, TX!
Additional Speaker Confirmations
Drew Darby, TX State Representative, District 72
Dustin Burrows, TX State Representative, District 83
Caroline Mays, Director, Freight & International Trade Section, TxDOT
Dan Pope, Mayor, City of Lubbock
Brenda Gunter, Mayor, City of San Angelo
Larry Mclellan, Mayor, City of Big Spring
View Working Agenda
Register HERE
Americans Say They Back Higher Gas Tax to Fix Crumbling Roads  Congress hasn’t raised the federal gas tax since 1993 when Bill Clinton was president, but a narrow majority of Americans would support an increase to help fix crumbling roads and bridges in their own states.
Fifty-five percent of Americans in a Bloomberg National Poll say they would back an increase. The concept has bipartisan support, with majorities of Republicans (51 percent) and Democrats (67 percent) backing the idea.
Americans are tired of the condition of their roads and interstate highways and the 56,000 structurally deficient bridges nationwide, said Ray LaHood, a Republican and former U.S. transportation secretary under President Barack Obama who supports raising the gas tax.
“People are fed up,” LaHood said. “They’re ready for politicians to take action.”
President Donald Trump has promised a plan to invest $1 trillion over 10 years upgrading deteriorating roads, bridges, airports and other assets. The White House said that while no decision has been made about raising the federal gas tax to help pay for the improvements, all options are on the table.
Read on...
Opportunities for Agriculture Presented by NAFTA Renegotiations Highlighted at House Ag Hearing
Today, the House Agriculture Committee held a hearing to highlight opportunities for agriculture in the upcoming renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Chairman K. Michael Conaway (TX-11) and members of the committee heard from various stakeholder groups on opportunities to achieve the best deal possible for American agriculture. Following the hearing, Chairman Conaway made the below remarks:
“Trade is vital to U.S. agriculture and nowhere is it more important than with our neighbors to the north and south. While I recognize there is a level of angst about renegotiating an agreement that has provided so many hard-fought gains, our nation stands to benefit from renegotiating a deal that provides additional market access and tightens trade enforcement. As the administration prepares to renegotiate NAFTA, I will continue working diligently with Amb. Lighthizer and Sec. Perdue to ensure we achieve the best deal possible for American agriculture.”
Import tax officially abandoned in Big 6 tax reform talks
White House and congressional leaders officially acknowledged Thursday that a controversial tax on imports would be dropped from tax reform, but otherwise provided no new details on a broader plan they expect to start moving through Congress in the fall.
The import tax, called border adjustability, was pushed by House Speaker Paul Ryan as a way to fund tax cuts, but it prompted a fierce backlash from retailers, other import-dependent industries and conservative activists. With that tax off the table, Congress, the White House and advocacy groups hope to present a more united front on tax reform, though other disagreements will surely flare as lawmakers work on a replacement.
In a statement that was otherwise largely symbolic, the "Big Six" tax reform negotiators vowed to reduce tax rates, simplify the tax code and improve U.S. economic growth by changing tax laws.
The declaration — from Ryan, House Ways and Means Chairman Kevin Brady, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Senate Finance Chairman Orrin Hatch, and National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn — on border adjustability confirmed what was widely anticipated for months.
Read on...
Lawmakers Keep Promise to Fund Texas Highways
In the final week of the 2017 regular session of the Texas Legislature lawmakers approved a budget that keeps the highway funding promises made to voters in recent years.
The result is that funds dedicated by voters in the passage of Proposition 1 in 2014 and Proposition 7 in 2015 will be available to pay for new highway construction and to pay down highway construction debt previously authorized by voters. Additionally, lawmakers continued the decision made in 2015 to end diversions from the State Highway Fund which previously went to pay for operations of the Department of Public Safety.
During the next two years (FY 2018 and FY 2019) TxDOT is projecting that it will be able to invest approximately $2.5 billion a year in highway projects aimed at system upgrades, congestion relief, rural connectivity and safety.
Based on current estimates, Proposition 1 will generate $739 million in FY 2018 and $563 million in FY 2019 for the State Highway Fund. From Proposition 7 lawmakers allocated $2.2 billion in FY 2018 and $2.5 billion in FY 2019 with $306 million a year going to pay off voter-approved general obligation debt issued in the past to build highway projects (Prop 12).
Read on...
More States Raising Gasoline & Diesel Taxes
Texas is one of only seven states that have not increased gasoline and diesel tax levels in the past 25 years. The state’s 20 cent tax per gallon on gasoline and diesel has remained the same since 1991.
With highway construction cost rising every year and greater vehicle fuel efficiency depressing fuel tax revenues, states from coast to coast have reluctantly taken steps to deal with transportation funding shortfalls. In the past year Indiana, Montana, New Jersey, South Carolina, Tennessee, West Virginia and California have all approved rate increases.
For more than a decade Rep. Joe Pickett, past chairman and dean of the Texas House Transportation Committee, has been making the point that Texas needs to deal with the long decline in the buying power of the fuels tax.
Chairman Pickett and others including members of the Texas Transportation Commission have continued to make the point that even with dedicated funding from Proposition 1 and Proposition 7 more money is needed to keep up with growth and to address the state's biggest highway and bridge projects.
Pickett has encouraged the Texas A&M Transportation Institute to create a series of Texas “Gas Tax Facts” sheets which Pickett promotes in an effort to help more people understand this important source of funding for highway maintenance and improvement. [Download the 2016 Gas Tax Facts]
Read on...
COGA 29th Annual Energy Summit
The Energy Summit proudly enters its 29th year with a focus on “Cleaner, Better, Further, Safer”. Over three days, our speakers will explore the industry’s commitment to a cleaner energy future, strategies employed to position companies for better success, technological advances that take us further to energy security, and continuing implementation of practices that keep our industry safer than ever before. Register HERE
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