REPORT TO THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS
By: Lawrence Olsen
(November 23, 2009)

FORT WORTH—Fort Worth Mayor Mike Moncrief welcomed an enthusiastic crowd to the Texas Good Roads sponsored breakfast October 29th as the Transportation Commission held its monthly meeting in this booming metropolis. Commission members briefly addressed the crowd that included numerous local officials, in addition to TGR leaders.

SENATOR HUTCHISON PULLS PLUG ON “MUSICAL POLITICAL CHAIRS” (FOR NOW)

Texas senior U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison announced November 13 that she would not resign her post prior to the March Republican primary where she plans to challenge incumbent Governor Rick Perry. Earlier this year, Senator Hutchison stated she would resign her seat early to devote full time to her effort to unseat Governor Perry. Her earlier announcement had stirred a half dozen or so GOP hopefuls who wanted to run for her vacated seat in the U.S. Senate.

Now, Senator Hutchison, first elected in 1993 in a special election to succeed Senator Lloyd Bentsen, has said she will resign after the primary. Her interim successor would be named by the governor.

AROUND THE STATE CAPITOL

Speaker Joe Straus has named his choices for the Sunset Advisory Commission. They are Reps. Byron Cook (R-Corsicana), Dennis Bonnen (R-Angleton) and Rafael Anchia (D-Dallas). Named to the public slot is Lamont Jefferson of San Antonio. He is the brother of Chief Justice of the Texas Supreme Court Wallace Jefferson.

In addition, Speaker Straus has issued interim charges to House Committees. See the Transportation charges here or download the complete list at http://www.house.state.tx.us.

State Representative Brian McCall of Plano, a key lieutenant of Speaker Straus, has announced he will not seek reelection. First elected in 1990, he served as chairman of the vital Calendars committee.

REMINDER: Join us for the 5th annual Texas Transportation Forum January 6-8, 2010 at the Hilton Austin Hotel. Go to www.TexasTransportationForum.com to find out more.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

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REPORT TO THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS
By: Lawrence Olsen
(October 21, 2009)

BETH ADLER NAMED TGR PRESIDENT

At our recent meeting, the executive committee named Elizabeth (Beth) Adler of Dallas to the presidency of TGR. She succeeds Howard Cowan of Lubbock and will serve a two-year term. Previously, Beth was vice president and has served on the executive committee for several years. She is currently the senior regional vice president of Zurich North America and is a graduate of Southern Methodist University.

FALL GOLF TOURNEY BIG SUCCESS DUE TO MEMBERSHIP PARTICIPATION

Waco—Despite a partly cloudy condition of the current highway market, TGR members rallied to a record setting support level for our tournament at Ridgewood County Club in Waco. James Construction Group of Belton (Ken Janke) and Trinity Highway Products (Shelley Williams and Will Burney) stepped up the plate as our premier Event Sponsors. The winning team was comprised of David Stroud, Steve Douglas, John Houston and Barrett Reece, Jr. Please join us in acknowledging the financial commitment made by our sponsors (see list here).

AWARD WINNERS RECOGNIZED AT SHORT COURSE

College Station—With 2,023 attendees, the 83rd version of the Transportation Short Course was highlighted by the awarding of five key awards to deserving individuals. Chosen for these coveted and highly competitive awards were Duane Schwarz, Waco District Director of Construction, the D.C. Greer Award; Greg Ranft, the Houston District's Waller/ West Harris Area Engineer, the Gibb Gilchrist Award; Anita Wilson, Urban Programs Engineer for the Federal Highway Administration, the Luther DeBerry Award; Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff, the Russell Perry Award and Tony Parlamas, the regional information Resources Manager for the South Region, the Raymond Stotzer Award. The DeBerry Award, which is open to all transportation related agencies in the state, was captured by Ms. Wilson, the first time FHWA winner for a short course award.

EARLY VOTING BEGINS FOR CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS

Texas voters will have another opportunity to amend our 1876 constitution with 11 propositions that were passed by the 81st session of the Texas Legislature. Unlike 2007, when the Proposition 12 general revenue highway bond program was on the ballot, no one issue is of overwhelming importance to the TGR program. However, there are a variety of issues that the legislature has asked the voters to validate, including property tax reforms, higher education funding, veterans related issues and eminent domain. Statewide turnout is expected to be very light, with the largest turnout in the Houston area that has a mayor's race with no incumbent on the ballot. See http://www.tlc.state.tx.us/pubsconamend/pubsconamend.html for more info on the constitutional amendments

DEWHURST NAMES SUNSET APPOINTEES

Lt. Governor David Dewhurst recently named three senators to the Sunset Advisory Commission. The trio joins holdover appointees, Glen Hegar of Katy, who will serve as Chairman and Juan Hinojosa of McAllen. Newly appointed are John Whitmire of Houston, dean (longest serving member) of the senate; Robert Nichols of Jacksonville and Joan Huffman of Houston. Hinojosa and Whitmire are Democrats and the other senators are Republicans. Public member Charles McMahen of Schulenburg was reappointed to fill out the term of the late Michael Stevens of Houston. McMahen is a retired Houston businessman. On the lengthy agenda during its service is the Department of Transportation. The Department was under Sunset review during the recently completed legislative session but no bill was passed and the review was postponed until the 82nd session, convening in January 2011.

OGDEN, SHAPLEIGH EACH TO LEAVE STATE SENATE; HANDFUL OF HOUSE MEMBERS VOLUNTARILY STEP DOWN

Two Senate veterans, one a consummate insider (Steve Ogden) and one often on the opposite side of the Republican majority, El Paso Democrat Eliot Shapleigh, have announced their plans to not file for reelection for the 2010 election cycle. Bryan Republican Ogden served three terms in the House before succeeding Democratic Senator Jim Turner of Crockett in 1997 after Turner was elected to the U.S. House. Ogden has been the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee for the last three sessions. Democrat Shapleigh was elected to the Senate in 1996.

Thus far, the following House members have announced they will not seek reelection: Joe Crabb, R-Kingwood; David Farabee, D-Wichita Falls; Kino Flores, D-Mission and Dan Gattis, R-Georgetown (running for the Ogden senate seat).

 

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REPORT TO THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS
By: Lawrence Olsen
(August 13, 2009)

TxDOT TAKES "ROAD SHOW" TO WEST TEXAS

San Angelo---With distinguished guests from as far away as Canada, Texas Good Roads hosted the Transportation Commission July 30 for breakfast on the campus of Angelo State University. Hometown State Representative Drew Darby introduced the commission, and Madame Chairman Deidre Delisi thanked the local leadership for an informative visit to the county seat of Tom Green County. Despite serving only his second term in the Texas House of Representatives, Representative Darby was a key supporter of TxDOT from his perch on the House Appropriations committee and on the critical subcommittee that okayed the Department's funding process. TGR president Howard Cowan of Lubbock and AGC president Jack Albert of San Angelo were among those at the function, along with TGR board member Amanda Abrams of Austin. Road Hand recipients at the meeting were Dick Funk and Charles Powell of San Angelo, Gaynelle Riffe of Stratford and Bill Crooker of Big Spring. Oh yeah, that Canadian was a high poohbah of the province of Alberta; he was part of the contingent of Port to Plains officialdom who attended the TGR function while conducting its own board meeting in San Angelo. When the Commission started its outreach program (to have a commission member in all the districts) in 1994, San Angelo was the first site visited. At that time the Chairman of the Appropriations Committee was Robert Junell, of San Angelo. The Commission enhanced its standing in west Texas by being accompanied by two days of much needed rain showers.

PRIOR TO SUMMER RECESS, CONGRESS FUNDS HTF

Before the U.S. Senate joined its cousins from the House in summer recess, it overwhelmingly approved House action to fund the federal highway trust fund (HTF) with $7 billion. Upon post Labor Day return the Congress must tackle the larger question—the expiration of the six-year highway funding program that ends September 30, 2009. Latest speculation from Washington is that the consensus will be to kick the can down the road for 18 months and provide $20 some odd billion so that the HTF will not go broke prior to the Congress taking long-term action, sometime in 2011.

AS STATE FISCAL YEAR ENDS, ROSTERS CHANGE

Major league baseball has its July 31 trading deadline, and the State of Texas has its fiscal year end August 31. What that can mean to both entities is that players/ employees can retire and/ or be traded (moved to new positions). We have seen a bit of that already this fiscal year within the TxDOT family. In fact, almost half of the district engineers serving now were in different posts at the beginning of calendar year, 2008: Abilene—Lauren Garduno (formerly Odessa d.e.); Amarillo—Howard Holland (from Brownwood district); Austin—Carlos Lopez (Traffic Ops division director); Beaumont—Randall Redmond (Tyler district); Corpus—Russel Lenz (d.e. in Abilene); Laredo—Albert Quintanilla (within the district); Lubbock—Doug Eichorst, (Odessa district); Odessa—Mike McAnally (within district) and Tyler—Randy Hopmann (formerly Lubbock d.e.).

Also taking leave before the end of the month will be double threat Phil Russell, assistant executive director for innovative project development. Prior to that mouth filling title, Phil was head of the Turnpike Division. And double threat—in addition to his P.E., Phil also earned a law degree that perhaps makes him occasionally more wordy than your average engineer. He and these others have retired; Bob Daigh, Austin district engineer and the aptly named Bryan district engineer, Bryan Wood, have all been exemplary public servants. And certainly another who leaves with high acclaim is veteran Nancy Handrick, who was the good right hand for both Mike Behrens and Amadeo Saenz. Thanks to all for the outstanding service and best of luck in future endeavors.

TGR GOLFERS TO GATHER IN HEART OF TEXAS

Monday September 21 is the date and the Ridgewood Country Club in Waco is the site for the association's fall golf tourney. Golf committee members are hard at work lining up teams and sponsors for the annual event to bolster the outreach efforts of TGR. A big tip of the golf cap to Wade and John Miller, Big Creek Construction; David Stroud of Ergon; Shelley Williams of Trinity Highway Products and Cliff Kay of Helmcamp for their volunteer efforts for TGR. Thanks in advance to James Construction Group and Trinity Highway Products for sponsoring the lunch and reception. A registration form can be downloaded here.

 

REPORT TO THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS
By: Lawrence Olsen
(March 25, 2009)

81st LEGISLATIVE SESSION: PROGRESS REPORT

As the session passes its halfway mark, action is heating up on both ends of the state Capitol building. Today, the Texas House of Representatives will consider its first calendar with nine bills ranging from aiding small business enterprise to regulation of bow hunters. Across the aisle, the much smaller (31 members) and clubbier Senate has already tackled the contentious voter identification bill, and is now finishing its work on altering the top 10 percent law affecting college admissions.

The Senate Finance Committee, headed by veteran Steve Ogden of Bryan, is expected to pass SB 1, the Appropriations bill, early next week; the bill is likely to be passed by the full Senate late next week. Representative Jim Pitts of Waxahachie is the helmsman for the House Appropriations Committee, and he & his 26 colleagues are also heading toward the finish line.

Pitts returns to his Chairman’s role after being demoted from the position last session after he unsuccessfully challenged his fellow Republican Tom Craddick for the speakership.

HIGHWAY FUNDING LEGISLATION

No significant highway funding bills have moved forward at the halfway mark. This is not unusual as most substantive legislation follows both bodies’ action on the one bill which must pass to avoid a special session; i.e., the Appropriations bill.

Senator John Carona of Dallas, Chairman of the Senate Transportation Committee, as expected, is the leading author of bills to improve highway funding. He has filed a constitutional amendment to end diversions, SJR 9 and the accompanying enabling legislation, SB 216. Others who have filed similar laudable bills toward that desirable goal are: Senator Jeff Wentworth and Representatives Joe Deshotel, Todd Smith and John Zerwas.

Of near equal importance, Mr. Carona has filed SB 263, spelling out how TxDOT can spend $5 billion in general obligation bonds approved by Texas voters in November 2007 (Proposition 12). Representative Joe Pickett of El Paso, Chairman of the House Transportation Committee, has filed companion legislation, HB 2116, to move forward the Proposition 12 bonds.

TEXAS TRANSPORTATION COMMISSION: TWO NEW AND TWO RE-UPS

Governor Rick Perry has forwarded to the Texas Senate the nominations of chairman Deidre Delisi of Austin and Bill Meadows of Fort Worth, both of whom served since April 2008. Additionally, he has renominated Ted Houghton of El Paso and Fred Underwood of Lubbock for six-year terms. Mr. Houghton joined the Commission in December 2003 and Mr. Underwood in January 2007.

Interestingly, the legislation filed by the leadership of the Sunset Advisory Commission, Representative Carl Isett of Lubbock (HB 300) and Senator Glenn Hegar of Katy (SB 1019), reflects the panel’s decisions from last December. Among those (adopted on a 7-5 vote) was the elimination of the Texas Transportation Commission, to be replaced by a lone Transportation Commissioner, named by the governor and approved by the State Senate.

 

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REPORT TO THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS
By: Lawrence Olsen
(January 29, 2009)


FOURTH TRANSPORTATION FORUM STARTS YEAR WITH A RUSH

There was an air of anxious optimism as the Texas Transportation Forum gathered in Austin January 5-7 to kickoff a critical year for the highway program.

Texas leaders, such as Lt. Governor David Dewhurst and Senate Transportation Committee chairman John Carona, were hopeful that the 81st Legislature would put a halt to diverting highway dollars to other purposes. Less than a week later State Comptroller Susan Combs reported than the state would have nine billion dollars less available than during the last biennium.

TxDOT executive director Amadeo Saenz noted that the Transportation Commission and department leadership had well noted the continual criticism of the Trans Texas Corridor concept and that the overall proposal would be eliminated.

Chairman Michael Walton and committee members Tom Johnson of AGC and Roger Nober of Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad highlighted the details of the 2030 Committee's findings: more than $300 billion would be required over the next 22 years to meet the state's highway needs.

T. Boone Pickens, legendary energy tycoon, outlined his plans to reform the nation's dependency on foreign oil.

During the TGR annual meeting, Vice President Beth Adler welcomed two new members to the executive committee: Perri D'Armond of the Fort Bend Economic Development Council and Will Burney with Trinity Highway Safety.

For a more complete detailing of the all the members and speaking presentations, click here.

US SENATE CONFIRMS LAHOOD AS TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY

A former Republican Congressman from Peoria, Illinois, Ray Lahood was unanimously approved by the U.S. Senate to be the 16th Secretary of Transportation. Lahood, 63, was elected to Congress in 1994 succeeding his old boss, Congressman Bob Michel, the Republican minority leader. He served with distinction on the House Appropriations Committee and was seen a rare member who was able to work with his colleagues on the other side of the aisle. Lahood will obviously need all his persuasive talents to coax his former Congressional colleagues to pass the stimulus bill.

SOUTHEAST TEXAS LEADERS FOCUS ON TRANSPORTATION

A tip of the hat to TGR members Kal Kincaid and Becky Rutledge of APAC, both alums of the Southeast Texas leadership group, which recently held a day long conference in Silsbee to focus on key transportation issues in Texas. John Barton of the TxDOT administration discussed the challenges facing the Department in both the upcoming Texas legislative session and in the federal highway reauthorization. Ports, freight rail and river authorities were among the other topics expert panels discussed.

GOVERNOR PERRY DELIVERS STATE OF THE STATE

In his fifth occasion to the deliver the state of the state, Governor Rick Perry declared that the Lone Star State was doing very well, especially compared to its rival states, 41 of which are currently in a deficit. Over a near 50-minute oration, Governor Perry covered a multitude of topics. One of his most important declarations was that the state highway fund (Fund 6) should no longer be used to fund the Department of Public Safety (about $1.3 billion over the last biennium); rather, the DPS should be totally funded from general revenues.

TxDOT LEADER SAENZ ANNOUNCES PERSONNEL CHANGES

At the opening session of the Texas Transportation Forum, department executive director Amadeo Saenz announced the following personnel changes: Lauren Garduno will be the district engineer in Abilene, moving from a similar post in Odessa; Randy Hopmann will be the district engineer in Tyler, shifting from Lubbock and Albert Quintanilla will become the Laredo district engineer. David P. Hohmann is director of the Bridge Division, effective January 1; previously he was the head of Design in the division.