How to Comment on TEA-21

As a report from Wisconsin, I am submitting a portion of the Wisconsin DOT's Statewide Weekly Bulletin.  It explains the process for providing input to the persons drafting the TEA-21 reauthorization for 2003.

-Ken Weaver, Wisconsin State Employees Union, Local 758 - AFSCME Council 24

US DOT Seeks Comments on TEA-21. U.S. Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta is asking individuals and groups across the country to take advantage of a new online service to express their opinions and offer ideas as the U.S. Department of Transportation (US DOT) prepares its proposal to Congress on reauthorization of the nation’s surface transportation programs. The current legislation, the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21), was enacted in June 1998. TEA-21 expires on September 30, 2003, and Congress and the Bush Administration are working to develop its successor. US DOT also has produced a brochure that provides a message from the Secretary, a list of TEA-21 accomplishments and the department’s core principles for reauthorization as well as information on participation by individuals and groups in helping to shape these surface transportation programs. The brochure, America's Surface Transportation Programs: Meeting the New Challenges, and a Federal Register notice formally seek comments on the reauthorization of surface transportation programs. Office of Policy and Budget's Connie Keator will coordinate WisDOT's response to reauthorization issues. Individual comments may be sent to the Docket Clerk, US DOT, Room PL-401, Docket Number OST-2002-12170, 400 Seventh St., SW, Washington, DC 20590. Connie Keator 608-266-1259.

LEGISLATIVE ACTION.  Highway/Transit Reauthorization May Slip into 2004. As a result of looming congressional overload and a lack of consensus over how to fund the highway trust fund programs for the next several years reauthorization may slip into 2004. There is widespread doubt among the Capitol Hill staffers that Congress will complete the reauthorization of the TEA-21 highway and transit programs on schedule before the current six-year authorization expires September 30, 2003. Next year is also the year for reauthorization of the aviation trust fund programs; like the TEA-21 highway and transit authorizations, AIR-21 authorizations also expire at the end of FY 2003. Both reauthorizations will present demands for greatly increased funding, although the Bush administration has been warning interest groups that its reauthorization plans will not call for program increases. Washington Letter on Transportation (8/12).

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