Our plan to get
Maryland moving on transportation funding
Published:
August 3
It’s no secret that Maryland leads the nation in
traffic congestion (the Washington suburbs are No. 1; the Baltimore region is
No. 5).
Nor is it a secret why: The combination of
increased fuel efficiency, the Great Recession and rising and fluctuating oil
prices has blown a big hole in Maryland’s transportation trust fund, which
finances investment in roads, bridges and transit.
With families and businesses continuing to suffer
from the weak economy, a majority of the Maryland legislature have been
understandably unwilling to raise the gasoline tax for the first time in 20
years. Additionally, periodic borrowing from the fund to balance the state’s
general-fund budget and the drastic cuts in funds for local transportation
services (Highway User Revenue) have made many Marylanders skeptical about
where increased transportation revenue will be invested.
We believe it’s time for new ideas — and we
intend to propose one at the special session of the General Assembly that
begins Aug. 9. We have drafted a constitutional amendment authorizing the
governor and legislature to draw up a specific plan for major public investment
in roads, bridges and transit and present the plan to the voters for approval
in a subsequent referendum.
Such an approach would be new in Maryland, but
it is common in other states and regions. In the past three years, 74
referendums for transportation programs have been approved by voters in 18
states.
Our proposed amendment would not prejudge the
projects or the revenue sources. Those would be developed by the governor and
the legislature, after our constitutional amendment has been passed and
ratified. Specific transportation packages would be adopted by the legislature
and presented to the voters for approval.
Our amendment would simply give the governor and
the legislature the authority to present a plan to the voters (the amendment is
needed because the state Constitution currently does not allow such referendums).
The amendment also includes a provision ensuring that funds raised in such a
referendum would be used only for the purposes approved by the legislature and
the voters.
Our “End the Gridlock” amendment would itself
need to be passed by the legislature and approved by the voters. That could be
done whenever the legislature agrees to it. But for it to get on the ballot
this November, it needs to be passed by the legislature in the special session.
This special session should fight gridlock, not
just expand gambling. We see no reason to wait until 2013. Regardless whether
the legislature raises revenue for a transportation plan without a referendum
(Maryland’s traditional approach) or the governor and the legislature choose to
take a transportation program to the voters, adopting our “End the Gridlock”
amendment would give the state another practical option to reduce
congestion.
Maryland has the nation’s best schools. We
shouldn’t have its worst traffic.
Jim
Rosapepe and Brian Feldman, Annapolis |