Texas Responds: The Texas War Relief Package Page: 34
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Emergency Management 11 LEGISLATION REQUIRED
RECOMMENDATION
Texas should amend the Texas Constitution to allow the Legislature the flexibili-
ty to fund improved transportation safety from the State Highway Fund.
COMMENTS:
e Current state law limits Legislative spending of the highway portion of fuel tax rev-
enue and motor vehicle registration fees to specific activities related to highways.
- Texas uses transportation revenue for highway transportation safety purposes, such
as funding the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) to patrol highways and
license drivers.
" There are 28 commercial airports in the state, including major hubs in Dallas/Fort
Worth, Houston, San Antonio and El Paso. There are also 286 general aviation air-
ports. There are more than 10,000 miles of railroad line. Along the coast, there are
12 deep-draft ports and another 15 shallow-draft ports. There are 23 international
bridges along the Texas-Mexico Border. All of which may need increased security.
- State agencies have not detailed any estimates of increased security costs and the
Governor's Task Force on Homeland Defense has made no recommendations
regarding funding needs, but there may be greatly increased funding needed for
transportation safety in the future. One possible funding need might be increasing
the number of Department of Public Safety troopers and having them perform
duties other than highway patrol.
LEGISLATION REQUIRED
Article 8, Section 7-a and Article 8, Section 7-b of the Texas Constitution should be
amended to allow the Legislature to appropriate state transportation funds to improve
transportation safety on transportation infrastructure other than highways.
FISCAL IMPACT
The amounts that agencies such as TxDOT, DPS or other agencies might request to
meet increased demands or for new programs suggested by the Governor's Task
Force on Homeland Defense cannot be estimated.
Of 7,246 employee positions at DPS, 1,873 are dedicated to highway patrol.
According to DPS, each additional trooper would cost $117,500 including money for
training, vehicles, travel, salary and other expenses. Adding another 500 troopers
would cost $58.7 million or about 1 percent of the State Highway Fund's annual $5.4
billion in revenue. However, there would be no net cost to the State Highway Fund
since funding would only be shifted to new priority projects.For more detail on the Texas War Relief Package go to http://www.window.state.tx.us/wrp/
34 TEXAS RESPONDS - Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts
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Texas. Comptroller's Office. Texas Responds: The Texas War Relief Package, text, November 2001; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth654370/m1/44/?q=%22~1%22~1&rotate=90: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.