States Counterplan 1NC
Funding Mechanism- State Infrastructure Banks
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- Funding Mechanism – Local Option Transportation Taxes
Funding Mechanism- State Infrastructure BanksText: The 50 United States and relevant territories should uniformly create state infrastructure banks.Solves for funding- create a more efficient allocation of funds for transportation projectsSlone 2011 (Sean, transportation policy analyst at The Council of State Governments“ State Infrastructure Banks ” July 5 The knowledge Center: The Council of State Governments, http://knowledgecenter.csg.org/drupal/content/state-infrastructure-banks AS) State infrastructure banks can help states stretch their state and federal dollars and meet the demands of financing large, impactful, long-term infrastructure projects. When government agencies and authorities must seek yearly grants and allocations to finance projects, the completion of those projects can be delayed for months or years. State infrastructure banks can identify, promote and lend money to creditworthy transportation projects to ensure they’re built within a reasonable timeframe and in a financially sustainable way. And because these banks act as a “revolving fund,” more projects can ultimately be financed. When bonding is used to finance a project, the bonds are usually one of two types: revenue or general obligation. Revenue bonds often are used to finance infrastructure projects that have the ability to produce revenue through their operations; for example, new highway lanes that can be tolled or public transit facilities on which fares can be collected. These types of bonds are typically guaranteed by the project revenues, but not by the full faith and credit of a state, city or county. General obligation bonds, on the other hand, are backed by the full faith and credit of the issuing authority. These are used to finance projects that rely on government’s general revenues, such as income, sales and property tax revenue. Cities, counties and states pledge these revenues to issue the bonds and repay them. But the revolving fund aspect of a state infrastructure bank means states can lend funds for projects and receive loan repayments, which can be returned to the system for more project loans. The funding also can be turned into much larger credit lines, multiplying transportation investment capacity. When transportation projects are financed in a traditional way, funds from a state department of transportation or the federal Highway Trust Fund are spent and two types of risk are assumed. Projects are at risk of delay as state officials wait for the state or federal funds to become available, which may increase the costs and delay the project’s benefits. Secondly, states face the risk that a poorly selected project will fail to produce social or economic benefits and tie up scarce capital resources that could have gone to other potentially more successful projects. Both of those risks are diminished with state infrastructure bank financing. First, projects don’t have to wait for funding and delays and cost overruns are avoided. Secondly, a state infrastructure bank has a built-in project evaluation process. Projects are assessed based on their financial viability, which provides a level of economic discipline that is not always present with traditional state project funding. Better, more benefit-producing projects can be the result.4 ----2NC State Infrastructure BanksState level infrastructure banks solve for funding of TIIMusser 2012 (Brandon, Graduate student at the Central European University, Economics department, Economic Policy in Global Markets, Master’s Thesis, “The Effects of Fiscal Decentralization on Highway and Transportation Spending in the United States” April 6th http://dw.crackmypdf.com/0996971001342193466/musser_brandon.pdf AS) An additional source of funding for infrastructure projects, including highways, is state infrastructure banks (SIBs). In 2005, President Bush signed into law the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU), which established a new SIB program under which all states “are authorized to enter into cooperative agreements with the Secretary of Transportation to establish infrastructure revolving funds eligible to be capitalized with Federal transportation funds authorized for fiscal years 2005-2009” (www.transportation-finance.com). The banks can then offer a range of loans and credit assistance enhancement products that are used to leverage Federal funds in an effort to attract additional non-Federal public and private sponsors of highway and transportation projects. SIB funds can also be used as collateral to issue bonds or establish a guaranteed reserve fund. All three states under consideration have SIBs and are used to varying degrees for funding projects. As of December 2008, New York had entered into ten different SIB loan agreements with a value of $27.7 million. Washington had only entered into three such agreements with a total value of $2.3 million, while South Carolina had thirteen such agreements with a total value of $3.3 billion, by far the largest amount in the nation. Funding Mechanism – Local Option Transportation TaxesText-Local option transportation taxes solves fundingWachs 2003 (Martin, Ph.D. and M.S. in urban and regional planning, Northwestern University; B.S. in civil engineering, City University of New York, Local Option Transportation Taxes: Devolution as Revolution, http://www.uctc.net/access/22/Access%2022%20-%2002%20-%20Local%20Option%20Transportation%20Taxes.pdf AS) For eighty years, motor fuel taxes have paid most costs of building and operating major roads in the US. As public policy gradually came to favor a transportation system balanced between private cars and public transit, highway user fees also contributed to construction and operation of transit systems. But a major change is now underway, and most citizens are not even aware it is happening. Federal and state fuel taxes, though still the largest source of revenue for transportation, are rising much more slowly than travel volumes and transportation costs. They no longer cover the costs of building, operating, and maintaining the transportation system. And instead of raising fuel taxes or introducing electronic toll collection systems, legislators are allowing local governments to raise funds locally even if not through user fees—thus changing the basis of transportation finance. Cities, counties, and transit districts are increasingly turning to “local option transportation taxes” to fund new transportation investments. The most visible examples of these in recent years have been voter-approved sales taxes funding particular roads and rail transit projects. Directory: files files -> Answer True False 2 points Question 2 files -> Integer programming and game theory files -> 4 Integer Programming files -> Bpa vehicle Window Repair Scenario #1 task: Procure vehicle window relacement. Objective files -> Pop Warner History files -> North Carolina Inclusion Initiative Mapping Where Children with ieps are Being Served Purpose files -> Fall 2013 Spring 2014 Program Data: Standard 1 Exhibit 4d files -> Hanban – asia society confucius classrooms network 2010 request for proposal files -> Northern England’s set-jetting locations Download 0.56 Mb. Share with your friends:
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