Require Metro Planning Agencies to Consider Congestion in Transportation Plans
RECOMMENDATION FOR CONGRESSRequire Metropolitan Planning Organizations to Compare Future Congestion with Baseline Congestion in Long Range Transportation Plans Issue. Under federal law, Metropolitan...
View ArticleRequire MPOs to Compare Current and Future Congestion
Over the next two weeks Reason Foundation will highlight six national surface transportation policies that need to be changed. Today’s topic focuses on congestion relief in metro areas. The proposal...
View ArticleGA House Transportation Plan a Step in Right Direction
Atlanta Journal-Constitution The Georgia House bill is a good way to increase transportation funding in the state. While details need fine-tuning, the House bill finds $1 billion in new revenue,...
View ArticleAdd Taxpayer Protections to FRA's RRIF Loan Program
RECOMMENDATIONFORTHECONGRESSAdd Taxpayer Protections to the Federal Railroad Administration’s RRIF Loan Program Issue. The Railroad Rehabilitation and Improvement Financing (RRIF) program was created...
View ArticleAdd Taxpayer Protections to Railroad Loan Program
Reason Foundation is highlighting six national surface transportation policies that need to be changed. Past posts detail the problems with the TIGER grants program and the need for MPOs to analyze...
View ArticleEliminate Surface Transportation Funding for Non-federal Modes
RECOMMENDATION FOR THE CONGRESSEliminate Surface Transportation Funding for Non-Federal Modes Issue: The federal highway transportation program is structured as a users-pay/users-benefit system with...
View ArticleEliminate Federal Surface Transportation Funding for Non-federal Modes
Today Reason Foundation highlights the fourth of sixth national surface transportation policies that need to be changed. Past posts detail the problems with the TIGER grants program, the need for MPOs...
View ArticleNew Jersey Tries to Make Excuses for Expensive State Highways in Poor Condition
Reason Foundation’s Annual Highway Report, which found New Jersey’s state-controlled highway system ranks 48th out 50 states in cost-effectiveness and performance, has resonated with New Jersey’s...
View ArticleCongress Should Simplify Conformity Regulations for Regional Transportation...
RECOMMENDATION FOR THE CONGRESSSimplify DOT Regulations Regarding Conformity Determination Issue. The Clean Air Act of 1990 (CAA) as amended requires each region currently (or previously) in...
View ArticleSimplify DOT Regulations Regarding Conformity Determination
Simplifying DOT regulations regarding conformity determination is the fifth of six changes Reason Foundation is recommending be made in the upcoming surface transportation reauthorization. Past posts...
View ArticleThe Private Cure for Crumbling Waterway Infrastructure
A recent New York Times article recited the dreadful condition of the locks and dams on our nation’s rivers. The article noted:“[L]argely out of sight of most Americans, the locks are crumbling. There...
View ArticleCongress Should Simplify Long-range Planning Requirements for Regional...
RECOMMENDATION FOR THE CONGRESSSimplify DOT Regulations Regarding Transportation Planning Issue. Since 1964 federal laws and amendments (23 USC 134 and 49 USC 5303) have required that states and...
View ArticleSimplify DOT Regulations Regarding Long-range Transportation Planning
Today we present our final of six changes Reason Foundation recommends Congress adapt in the upcoming surface transportation reauthorization. This change focuses on simplifying DOT regulations...
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Reforming Public Safety Pensions in Tequesta, Florida
Innovators in Action 2015 In 2010, the Village of Tequesta, Florida—a small, incorporated community of nearly 6,000 residents in northern Palm Beach County—achieved something that would make many...
View ArticleInnovators in Action (February 2015 edition): Reforming Public Safety...
The latest interview in Reason Foundation's Innovators in Action 2015 series focuses on the Village of Tequesta, Florida’s 2010 reforms to its public safety defined-benefit retirement plans. Village...
View ArticleSurface Transportation Recommendations for Congress
Approximately every six years, Congress reauthorizes U.S. surface transportation legislation, providing an opportunity to make changes and updates that affect millions of Americans. Reason Foundation...
View ArticleDoes the Public Support Pension Reform?
Often some of the most important and necessary policy reforms to be made are the most politically sensitive and difficult to maneuver. Pension reform is no different.Conventional wisdom suggests that...
View ArticlePennsylvania House Passes Liquor Privatization Bill
For the second time since 2013, legislation that would privatize the sale and distribution of wine and distilled spirits in Pennsylvania has passed the House, which voted this afternoon to approve...
View ArticlePennsylvania House Approves Liquor Privatization Bill
This afternoon, the Pennsylvania House voted 114-87 to approve House Bill 466, a bill that would privatize the state's wholesale wine and spirits monopoly, gradually close the hundreds of state-owned...
View ArticlePrivatization & Government Reform Newsletter #15 (February 2015 edition)
The February 2015 edition of the Privatization & Government Reform Newsletter is now online. Topics covered in this issue include:PENSIONS: Public Support for Pension ReformTRANSPORTATION:...
View ArticleTo Improve Atlanta's Transit System, Skip Streetcars and Focus on Bus Service
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Atlanta has recently joined several dozen other U.S. cities by opening a streetcar line. With critics already pointing out that, for many trips, taking the 2.7 mile...
View ArticleCalifornia Needs to Measure Student Academic Progress
Orange County Register Parents at Anaheim’s Palm Lane Elementary School were recently dealt a setback when the Anaheim City School District board unanimously rejected a petition to turn the failing...
View ArticleThe Dismaying Backlash Against Toll Roads
Public Works Financing Ten years ago Texas was emerging as the promised land for tolling and public-private partnership highway projects. With strong political support, Texas DOT was tapping the...
View ArticleCalifornia Bullet Train Tries to Dodge State Environmental Laws
Orange County Register Gov. Jerry Brown has twisted himself into a series of contradictions, opposing state environmental rules that he previously supported, and selectively deferring to the federal...
View ArticleGrant Tolling Flexibility for Interstate Highway Reconstruction
RECOMMENDATION FOR THE CONGRESSGrant user-friendly tolling flexibility for Interstate highway reconstruction Issue: America’s Interstate highways are reaching the end of their 50-year design life, and...
View ArticleProvide Tolling Flexibility for Interstate Highway Reconstruction
I have written two new surface transportation policy recommendations in addition to the six that my colleagues and I wrote last month. The first concerns the looming problem of reconstructing and...
View ArticleRecognize All HOT/BRT Lanes as "Fixed Guideways" for Transit Funding
RECOMMENDATION FOR THE CONGRESSRecognize All HOT/BRT Lanes as “Fixed Guideways” for Transit FundingIssue: Federal transit policy recognizes that an HOV lane converted to a variably tolled HOT lane...
View ArticleAnalysis of the California Public Employees' Pension Reform Act of 2013 (PEPRA)
The state of California and its local governments are saddled with unfunded public pension liabilities estimated to be as high as $583 billion. As a result, several municipalities in the state now have...
View ArticlePoliticians Should Follow Public's Lead on Pensions
Orange County Register California’s pension system for state workers is $60 billion underfunded, the state teachers’ plan is nearly $75 billion underfunded, and the University of California pension...
View ArticleAllow all HOT/BRT Lanes to Count as "Fixed Guideways" for Transit Funding
The final Reason Foundation surface transportation policy recommendation suggests that the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) amend its treatment of HOT lanes and busways. This document joins the...
View ArticleObama Administration Report Overstates Wind Power's Potential, Understates...
My new column is up RealClearMarkets:The U.S. Department of Energy just released a report in which it claims that consumers and the environment would benefit from increasing the proportion of...
View Article2015 California Pension Reform Summit Featuring Former San Jose Mayor Reed...
A recent brief on the California Public Employees’ Pension Reform Act of 2013 found pension costs and debts will continue to increase and be a burden to state and municipal retirement plans. Realizing...
View ArticleNew Study on California City Pension Burdens
A recent study by the California Policy Center analyzes the burden of pensions costs on 459 California municipalities, using a number of metrics. One of the metrics is the ratio of required pension...
View ArticleTestimony on Assembly Bill 190 (Kirner) in Nevada Assembly Committee on...
Chairman Ellison and members of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to offer testimony today as you consider Assembly Bill 190 regarding pension reform. My name is Lance Christensen, from...
View ArticleLance Christensens testimony on Assembly Bill 190 (Kirner) in Nevada...
Pension costs are a major problem for states and municipalities’ balance sheets throughout the country. Indeed, Nevada faces challenges with its pension system. According to the latest Public...
View ArticleObama Administration Report Overstates Wind Power's Potential, Understates...
Real Clear Markets The U.S. Department of Energy just released a report in which it claims that consumers and the environment would benefit from increasing the proportion of electricity derived from...
View ArticleCorporatizing the U.S. Air Traffic Control System
My name is Robert Poole. I direct the transportation policy program at Reason Foundation, a nonprofit think tank with offices in Los Angeles and in Washington, DC. I’m a graduate of MIT with two...
View ArticleCalifornia Should Embrace More Sentencing Reform
The Press Enterprise It’s been more than two years since voters passed Proposition 36, which prohibited individuals from being sentenced to life in prison for nonviolent offenses under the state’s...
View ArticlePrioritizing Southern California's Freight Networks
Orange County Register Recent labor disputes at West Coast ports have helped cause a three-month backlog of containerships at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. Southern California, home to one...
View ArticleAmid Fiscal Distress, What Can Atlantic City Learn from Pontiac, Michigan?
Last week brought news highlighting the severity of the fiscal distress facing Atlantic City, New Jersey. According to a new report released by the city’s Emergency Manager Kevin Lavin (and consultant...
View ArticlePrivatization & Government Reform Newsletter #16 (March 2015 edition)
The March 2015 edition of the Privatization & Government Reform Newsletter is now online. Topics covered in this issue include:LOCAL BUDGETS: Amid Fiscal Distress, Pontiac's Lessons for Atlantic...
View ArticleHow to Reduce Floridas Prison Population, Costs Without Compromising Public...
Over the past few decades, Florida has passed a number of laws that have dramatically increased criminal sentences, and enacted others that have limited the amount of gain-time credits—or credits for...
View ArticleHow to Reduce Floridas Prison Population, Costs Without Compromising Public...
Florida taxpayers spent over $2.2 billion on the state’s correctional system and its more than 100,000 prison inmates last year. Nearly half, 46.7 percent, of state prison inmates are serving sentences...
View ArticleGovernance & Decision-Making in Underfunding of Public Sector Pension Plans
Cities and states throughout our country are struggling to meet the financial demands of skyrocketing public employee pension contributions. The immense size of the unfunded liabilities is forcing...
View ArticleGovernance & Decision-Making in Underfunding of Public Sector Pension Plans
Cities and states throughout our country are struggling to meet the financial demands of skyrocketing public employee pension contributions. Forward-looking projections of contribution rates reveal...
View ArticleCalifornia Unions Need to Make a Deal on Retirement Benefits
Orange County Register California taxpayers are saddled with unfunded public pension liabilities estimated to be as high as $583 billion, but often overlook that they’re also on the hook for billions...
View ArticleTop Priorities for Interstate Tolling
Public Works Financing On March 30, I addressed the International Bridge, Tunnel & Turnpike Association’s annual Washington Briefing. The topic they asked me to address was where tolling should fit...
View ArticleDouble the $15 Billion Cap on Private Actvitity Bonds for P3 Projects
RECOMMENDATION FOR THE CONGRESSDouble the $15 billion cap on Private Activity Bonds (PABs) for P3 ProjectsIssue: State and local governments are embracing public-private partnerships (P3s) for...
View ArticleWebsite for Government Workers to Learn More About 401(k)s
At workerfreedom.com, the Illinois Policy Institute provides an interactive tool for government workers to explore what 401(k)-style pension reform could mean to them. At the website, a government...
View ArticleMassive Maintenance Backlog Threatens California's National Parks
Orange County Register The National Parks System turns 100 next year, and our parks are deteriorating faster than we can fix them, threatening the long-term viability of these significant...
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