- Sacramento Bee: Carpooling by Uber, Lyft OK’d by California Assembly
- Sacramento Bee: High-speed rail and infill: A great marriage for California
- San Francisco Chronicle: Climate change could overwhelm California, Obama adviser says
- San Jose Mercury News: California gas tax increase: Is this the year Jerry Brown pushes it through?
- Sacramento Bee: Walters: California’s carbon fees generate big money
- San Jose Mercury News: Gov. Jerry Brown, legislators to wrestle with gas tax issue
- San Francisco Chronicle: California Assembly votes to legalize paid carpools
- San Jose Mercury News: Look out Uber, tuk-tuks may be coming to America
POLITICO Morning Transportation for 5/26/2015
By JENNIFER SCHOLTES, with help from Heather Caygle
TRANSPORTATION DEADLINE DRAMA DRAGS ON: Lawmakers from both chambers are back in their districts this week, resting up before returning to face another transportation deadline. This new July 31 policy expiration — which is only eight congressional workweeks away — will require an even heavier lift than the authorization crisis Congress just barely averted before leaving for Memorial Day recess, though.
Because the Highway Trust Fund is supposed to hit its low around the same time the authority is set to expire at the end of July, lawmakers now have to come up with those funding offsets that have been so elusive so far. And our Heather Caygle reports this morning that although “weeks of finger pointing and blame-game politics came to a temporary halt when the Senate passed an extension” over the weekend, “that drama will return when lawmakers resume the battle over the billions of dollars needed to keep those programs running past July.”
More from Pro: http://politico.pro/1IXiolr. A refresher on the Senate’s late-night authorization action: http://politico.pro/1q1vMJU. Text of that two-month extension: http://1.usa.gov/1LDDVxP.
Divergent ideas: Heather explains that “Many Republicans, including leaders of the House and Senate transportation committees, have already conceded that Congress will likely move toward another extension to allow more time to round up $90 billion needed for a six-year bill, hoping revenue from a tax overhaul will be the magic ticket. … Several Senate Republicans are skeptical of the proposal to use revenue from a tax overhaul to shore up the Highway Trust Fund for several years, saying they’d rather use the money to bring down tax rates. … Democrats, meanwhile, are doubtful that Republicans will even bother with a long-term bill if they move another highway patch during the summer, so they are trying to draw a line in the sand: it’s time for a long-term bill.”
EPW schedules markup: Pro broke the news on Friday that the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee plans to mark up its multi-year transportation proposal on June 24, but nobody’s saying yet where the panel’s leaders are looking to scrounge up the roughly $90 billion needed to execute that kind of long-term plan.
EVENTS THIS WEEK:
Wednesday — Shipping industry folks host a webinar on how the Caterpillar machine company has gotten through the chaos of the West Coast ports slowdown this year. One of the company’s general managers will talk about how Caterpillar kept inventory moving as other companies scrambled to locate their shipment: http://bit.ly/1Sz0aK6.
Thursday and Friday — The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration holds two days of meetings on minimum training requirements for entry-level drivers of commercial motor vehicles: http://1.usa.gov/19P1EgF.
IT’S TUESDAY: Good morning and thanks for reading POLITICO’s Morning Transportation, your daily tipsheet on trains, planes, automobiles and ports.
Reach out: jscholtes@politico.com or @jascholtes.
“Me and my best friend Tina would ride our bikes from Lelland Road up Daly Drive.” http://bit.ly/1F7BG0l
FLIGHT CONTROL HACKS ON THE HORIZON: Regardless of whether it’s true that a guy hacked into a United plane’s flight controls, it’s likely only a matter of time before hackers are able to take over such a system. Pro’s David Perera explains: “That’s because hackers and security researchers pick at computer systems until they reveal unexpected holes, whether those computers run a word processor or a jet engine. Finding ways to get through multiple security measures with persistence and ingenuity is the essence of the hacker craft.” More from Pro: http://politico.pro/1ekYOTk.
FOXX APPLAUDS TPA PASSAGE: Like his fellow Cabinet officials, Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx is praising the Senate for passing a “fast track” trade promotion authority bill on Friday. Senators have “taken an important step in the right direction to boost trade and strengthen the economy,” he said in a written statement, “especially in areas where our Nation’s trade travels: through our port communities all across the country. TPA is one piece of the puzzle. We also need a world-class, efficient transportation and freight network to help more goods travel through our ports and trade routes. Together, investments in transportation and modernized trade agreements will keep America the world’s best place to do business.” A refresher on TPA passage: http://politico.pro/1du47zP.
PORT-WORKER UNION ENDS NINE-MONTH LABOR FIGHT: A contractual truce has been reached in the nine-month feud between the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and the Pacific Maritime Association. Pro’s Marianne LeVine reports that ILWU has voted overwhelmingly in favor of a new five-year contract with PMA, ending the dispute that gummed up West Coast ports this year and prompted Labor Secretary Tom Perez to get involved in the negotiations. http://politico.pro/1erfh8w
GM LIKELY AWAITS CRIMINAL CHARGES: Federal prosecutors are expected to slap General Motors with criminal charges for the defective ignition switches that have resulted in the recall of about 2.6 million cars and have been linked to more than 100 deaths, the Wall Street Journal reported Monday. The paper reports: “Prosecutors have conveyed to GM that a settlement is likely and have had initial conversations about a deal in recent months, but the contours have yet to be set, some of the people familiar with the matter said. One of the major sticking points between prosecutors and the company is likely to center on whether GM will plead guilty or enter a so-called deferred-prosecution agreement, they said. The size of the fine is also likely to be a point of contention, they said. … GM’s cooperation with prosecutors could allow it to escape with a lighter fine that in any case is expected to top $1 billion.” http://on.wsj.com/1Q7EP6v
BRIDGE INVESTORS WANTED: Massachusetts is looking for some private capital to fix the famously gridlocked connection between Cape Cod to the mainland. The Boston Globe reports that “the agency has focused on the possibility of adding a three-lane span next to the Sagamore Bridge. It would be limited to Cape-bound traffic, and drivers would pay a toll to use it. The Sagamore, meanwhile, would become a one-way, three-lane bridge to handle traffic coming off the Cape, with no toll. … A new bridge could be a decade away, but two major factors have emerged to make it a possibility.” Read up: http://bit.ly/1PJoaev.
UBER, THE ‘IRRITATED BOYFRIEND’: As an apparently unpunctual Uber rider, Maureen Dowd has recently discovered the car service has given her a bad rap, and lays out how the ratings revelation has made the service much less enjoyable. “Uber began to feel less like a dependable employee and more like an irritated boyfriend. … What I had loved about Uber was that, unlike in every other aspect of my high-tech world, I didn’t feel judged. My worth wasn’t being measured by clicks, likes, hits, views, retweets, hashtags, Snaps, thumbs-up or repins. Except then I learned that sitting in an Uber car was pretty much like sitting in my office … I was trending on Uber, all right, and not in a good way. … now, instead of quietly sitting in the back seat of my Uber and checking my phone or reading the paper, I had to start working to charm.” http://nyti.ms/1ceAnFD
NEWFOUND FAME FOR ’14 COROLLA: A few years too late, Toyota’s ad campaign for the 2014 Corolla is seeing a resurgence in popularity now that word is out that a film crew cluelessly shot a commercial for the car in front of Jeb Bush’s townhouse south of Miami. See for yourself: http://bit.ly/1cV37Uk.
THE AUTOBAHN (SPEED READ):
— Fiat Chrysler raises hackles by refusing to fix some recalled jeeps. The New York Times: http://nyti.ms/1AqC7Y7
— Rainbow crosswalks get the OK for Key West. Miami Herald: http://hrld.us/1IT1WCS
— Deaths of math genius John F. Nash Jr. highlights seatbelt safety. New York Times: http://nyti.ms/1FcyCkp
— Sen. Deb Fischer op-ed: Get moving, build USA. The Omaha World-Herald: http://bit.ly/1Kj9LPe
— Mexico City cabbies block streets to protest against Uber. Wall Street Journal: http://on.wsj.com/1GzBVXh
— After bruising safety crisis, U.S. car watchdog shows its bite. Reuters: http://reut.rs/1FcyMs0
— The link between walkable neighborhoods and race. CityLab: http://bit.ly/1Fyu2PZ
— Threats against airliners landing in New York and New Jersey prove to be hoaxes. AP: http://lat.ms/1cXlgRC
— Bumped from online service’s booking? It’s probably airline’s doing. LA Times: http://lat.ms/1IVE7do
— Carmakers’ $23 billion Mexico venture may face snarls at ports. Bloomberg Business: http://bloom.bg/1LDZuOT
— Uber closes in on its last frontier: airports. The New York Times: http://nyti.ms/1RjeAMG
THE COUNTDOWN: Highway and transit policy expires in 67 days. DOT appropriations run out and the FAA reauthorization expires in 128 days. The 2016 presidential election is in 534 days.
Tags: policy, transportation