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SMART Transportation Division President John Previsich recently conversed with U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (I – Vt.) about Sanders’ democratic candidacy for President of the United States and the positive impact that the voice of unionized labor can have on the outcome of the race. Sanders is well known for his record of voting for policies that help working families and against those policies that hurt the poor. On the issues such as wealth inequality, Sanders is outspoken about evening out the gap between the middle class and the wealthy.

If elected, Sanders has promised:Previsich and Sanders

  • To rebuild our crumbling infrastructure.
  • To reverse climate changes.
  • To create worker co-ops.
  • To grow the trade union movement.
  • To raise the minimum wage.
  • Pay equity for women workers.
  • To establish trade policies that benefit American workers.
  • To make college affordable for all.
  • To take on Wall Street and break up the big banks.
  • To make Health care a right for all.
  • To protect the most vulnerable Americans.
  • To reform the tax structure.

Senator Sanders is the longest-serving Independent in U.S. congressional history, having served 16 years in the House of Representatives before being elected to the U.S. Senate in 2006. He is currently serving his second term as a senator.

anthony_foxx
Foxx

WASHINGTON – U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx today formally unveiled the Department of Transportation’s Build America Transportation Investment Center (BATIC).

BATIC will serve as the single point of contact and coordination for states, municipalities and project sponsors looking to utilize federal transportation expertise, apply for federal transportation credit programs and explore ways to access private capital in public private partnerships.

Andrew Curtis Right will serve as the Executive Director of BATIC. Prior to serving at USDOT, Right worked in the financial services industry advising on transportation infrastructure transactions. Right received a B.S.E. in Civil Engineering and Operations Research, with certificates (minors) in Engineering and Management Systems and Public and International Affairs, graduating Summa Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Princeton University in 1997. He also received an M.B.A. from the Harvard Business School in 2003 where he was elected a Baker Scholar, the designation for the top 5 percent of the graduating class.

“With his background in civil engineering and infrastructure financing, no one is more qualified and ready to lead BATIC than Andrew,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx. “He and his team will provide project partners and potential investors with the clarity and technical assistance they need to move more projects forward and reduce our nation’s infrastructure deficit.”

BATIC was established a year ago and is the product of President Obama’s Build America Investment Initiative, a government-wide effort aimed to harness the potential of private capital to complement government funding. BATIC will assist project sponsors to navigate the procedural, permitting, and financial barriers to increased infrastructure investment and development.

BATIC will work with AASHTO through a cooperative agreement to establish The BATIC Institute: An AASHTO Center for Excellence (the Institute). The BATIC Institute will aim to improve State DOTs and other public sector organizations’ ability to effectively employ project finance tools through a program of training, sharing best practices, and technical assistance. As part of this effort, AASHTO and USDOT will work with project sponsors across the country to identify institutional capacity building needs and develop resources.

“Transportation departments are increasingly challenged to find the financial resources needed to maintain and modernize their aging infrastructure systems,” said AASHTO Executive Director Bud Wright. “This Institute is a vital resource for state and local government officials looking to identify and utilize ‘real world’ solutions to finance transportation projects.”

In the fall of 2016, the Department of Transportation will be unveiling a new state of the art center of excellence for BATIC. The space will be modernized to include updated standard design features, modernized technology, and collaborative space designed to foster the “one stop shopping” concept that the BATIC embodies as a core business practice.

Secretary Foxx and Right will travel to New Jersey on Thursday to participate in a BATIC press conference at the Port of Newark.

For more information, please visit www.transportation.gov/BATIC.

PHMSAThe Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act of 2015 (P.L. 113-235) allowed PHMSA to use money recovered from prior year Hazardous Materials Emergency Preparedness (HMEP) grants to fund the ALERT grants.

“Safety is our top priority and the ALERT grants will help first responders, especially volunteer firefighters in rural or remote parts of the country, prepare for and respond to incidents involving flammable liquids,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx. “It’s critical that first responders have the information and training they need to respond to these types of incidents, and is one of more than a dozen actions the Department has taken in recent months to strengthen the safe transportation of crude oil, ethanol and other flammable liquids by rail.”

Grants from PHMSA are funded by annual user registration fees paid by shippers and carriers of certain hazardous materials in commerce. During grant period 2013-14, HMEP grants funded more than 91,000 first responders in initial or refresher hazardous materials response training, over 1,300 new or revised hazardous materials emergency response plans, and over 950 hazardous materials exercises.

“Nearly 25,000 additional firefighters, police and other first responders are expected to benefit from this one-year realignment of hazmat training grants,” said PHMSA Administrator Marie Therese Dominguez.

Awardee Funding Distribution
ALERT Grants
Nonprofit Grantees
Total Awarded
1. University of Findlay (All Hazards Training Center), Findlay, OH
$611,491
2. International Association of Fire Chiefs, Fairfax, VA
$2,654,235
3. Center for Rural Development, Somerset, KY
$2,675,470
TOTAL
$5,941,196

 

 

 

 

The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration develops and enforces regulations for the safe, reliable, and environmentally sound operation of the nation’s 2.6 million mile pipeline transportation system and the nearly 1 million daily shipments of hazardous materials by land, sea, and air. Please visit http://phmsa.dot.gov or https://twitter.com/PHMSA_DOT for more information.

faa_logoThe House approved a bill on Monday to extend federal aviation funding, which is currently set to expire on Wednesday, until March 2016. 

The measure, introduced on Friday by House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Bill Shuster (R – Pa.), was approved by the lower chamber on a voice vote Monday afternoon in an effort to prevent an interruption in the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) funding midweek. 

The quick House action follows an earlier Senate effort to attach the FAA funding extension to a bill to prevent a government shutdown on Oct. 1 that failed last week. 

Read more from The Hill. 

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CHEYENNE, Wyo. – Great Lakes Aviation has defaulted on a $27.5 million loan with Callidus Capital Corp., according to documents filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

As a result of the default, the lending company has the right to “take possession of substantially all” of Great Lakes’ assets, an SEC document dated Aug. 28 reads.

But Great Lakes officials Douglas Voss and Stan Gadek say they expect the problem will be resolved soon. Meanwhile, Great Lakes continues to operate as normal, both men said Friday.

“It’s business as usual,” said Gadek, the chief financial officer for Great Lakes.

Read more from Wyoming Tribune Eagle.

RRB_seal_150pxRailroad retirement beneficiaries are reminded that receipt of a private railroad pension may reduce the amount of a supplemental annuity payable by the Railroad Retirement Board (RRB). The following questions and answers provide information on this subject, as well as how distributions from a 401(k) plan affect supplemental annuities, and whether railroad employee contributions to 401(k) plans are subject to railroad retirement payroll taxes.

1. What are the eligibility requirements for a supplemental annuity?

Individuals receiving a railroad retirement age and service, or disability annuity, can be paid a monthly supplemental annuity at age 60, if the employee has at least 30 years of creditable railroad service, or at age 65 with at least 25 years of service. (Disabled annuitants under full retirement age, which ranges from age 65 to 67, depending on the year of birth, must relinquish employment rights in order for a supplemental annuity to be paid by the RRB.) A “current connection” with the railroad industry is also required, as is at least one month of creditable rail service before October 1981. The maximum monthly supplemental annuity rate is $43.

2. What effect does the receipt of a private railroad pension have on the payment of a supplemental annuity?

If a retired employee also receives a private pension funded entirely or in part by a railroad employer, the supplemental annuity is permanently reduced by the amount of the monthly pension benefit that is based on the railroad employer’s contributions. However, if the employer reduces the pension for the employee’s entitlement to a supplemental annuity, the amount by which the pension is reduced is restored to the supplemental annuity (but does not raise it over the $43 maximum). There is no reduction for a pension paid by a railroad labor organization.

3. What if an employee elects to receive the pension in a lump-sum payment instead of as a monthly benefit?

If a retired employee elects to receive his or her pension in a lump-sum payment instead of as a monthly benefit, the supplemental annuity is reduced in the same way as it would be if the employee was receiving the monthly benefit. If the lump sum is paid in installments, the installment payments are not considered monthly benefit payments, but part of the single, lump-sum payment.

4. Does the receipt of a 401(k) plan distribution reduce the amount of a supplemental annuity?

No. In Legal Opinion L-2014-2, issued January 13, 2014, the RRB’s General Counsel determined that 401(k) plans should not be considered supplemental pension plans as defined by the Railroad Retirement Act and, therefore, employee supplemental annuities should not be reduced due to the receipt of 401 (k) distributions.

In accordance with the legal opinion, the RRB removed the 401(k) distribution reduction from the supplemental annuities of affected beneficiaries effective January 1, 2014, or the supplemental annuity beginning date, whichever date is later. Refunds of the amounts previously deducted for the 401(k) distribution reduction (beginning on the applicable date above) were issued to those beneficiaries in July 2015.

5. Are employee contributions to a 401(k) plan subject to railroad retirement Tier I and Tier II payroll taxes?

Yes. Federal budget legislation enacted in 1989 and effective January 1, 1990, provided that employee contributions to 401(k) plans are subject to railroad retirement payroll taxes and brought the treatment of 401(k) plans under railroad retirement law into conformity with the treatment of such plans under social security law. Consequently, employee contributions to a 401(k) plan are also treated as creditable compensation for railroad retirement benefit purposes. For example, an employee earning $40,000 a year, but who has 10 percent of his earnings deferred under a 401(k) plan, would have only $36,000 reported to the IRS as earnings subject to Federal income tax. However, the entire $40,000 would be subject to railroad retirement payroll taxes and therefore creditable as compensation under the Railroad Retirement Act.

6. How can a person get more information about the effect of private rail pensions and 401(k) plan payments on supplemental annuities?

Persons can contact an RRB field office for more information via the agency’s website, www.rrb.gov, or by calling toll-free at 1-877-772-5772. Most RRB offices are open to the public from 9:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, except on Federal holidays.

whitehouselogoPresidential Emergency Board 248 has issued its recommendations to settle the four year contract dispute between New Jersey Transit and the Rail Labor Coalition of fourteen unions representing 4,300 union workers.

The recommendations on the major issues of wages and health insurance contributions fall much closer to the terms proposed by the Coalition than those proposed by New Jersey Transit, although the Board did backload its wage recommendations to accommodate the railroad’s budgetary concerns.

The PEB found that the Coalition proposals were appropriately based on settlements in the commuter industry, while the company’s unprecedented reliance on a state worker concessionary contract was not persuasive.

Coalition spokespersons said, “The Presidential Emergency Board, composed of three veteran, distinguished neutrals, has proposed terms that represent a reasonable compromise approach to settlement. We sincerely hope that New Jersey Transit will now take this opportunity to bring this protracted dispute to an end.”

The board’s recommendations are non-binding and the parties now have 120 days to reach agreement based on the recommendations.

Summary of PEB 248’s Recommendations

The Board recommended wage increases totaling 18.4 percent in compounded wage increases over 6.5 year or 2.6 percent per year. When increases for health insurance factored in, the recommendations totaled 17.7 percent over the term or 2.5 percent a year.

“Over the years wage settlements at NJT have closely followed the general trend of wage changes at the other large commuter railroads in the region, including LIRR, Metro-North, SEPTA and MBTA. …The Board’s recommendations are consistent with the average annual uncompounded wage increases at the four other large commuter rail carriers. The average annual wage increases of all four of these commuter railroads is 2.6 percent, the same nominal wage rate increase recommended by the Board.”

Although the board recommended an increase in health insurance contributions and an increase in co-payments, the PEB rejected NJT’s proposal for a new inferior insurance plan and their proposal to make employees responsible for 50 percent of excise taxes incurred as a result of the Affordable Care Act.

“The Carrier’s proposal falls outside the current health insurance contribution trends in the industry. Our recommendation would move the employees’ contributions from 1.8 percent to 2.5 percent, which we do not consider an unwarranted increase.”

The PEB rejected NJT’s proposal to eliminate employee ridership passes. The Board also rejected NJT’s proposal to reduce contributions to new hire 401 (a) contributions and also recommended provisions for conductor certification pay.

What Happens Next

The Coalition and NJT have until November 12 to negotiate a voluntary agreement. If no agreement is reached by that time, either side or the Governor can invoke a second Presidential Emergency Board. That PEB will select the most reasonable final offer. Its recommendation again will be non-binding. The parties will then have until March 11, 2016, to reach a voluntary agreement. If no agreement is reached, self-help would then be possible.

The Coalition believes PEB 248’s recommendations provide a fair compromise and the basis of a voluntary agreement. New Jersey Transit is still evaluating the recommendations and deciding on its next steps. No negotiations have yet been scheduled.

Click here to read PEB 248’s report.

high_speed_rail_1Washington – If you build high-speed rail in America, they will come. According to a 2015 survey released by the American Public Transportation Association (APTA), if high-speed rail were available today, two-thirds (63 percent) of Americans are likely to use high-speed trains and this jumps to nearly seventy (67) percent when respondents were informed of the costs and time saving benefits of high-speed rail service.

“People want high-speed rail in America and we are seeing support among various ages and in different regions of the country regardless of political party,” said APTA President and CEO Michael Melaniphy. “In addition, the millennial generation and younger adults will lead the way with their preferences to have a multi-modal transportation system that supports their lifestyle. It is critical that we include implementation of high-speed rail as we look to plan for the nation’s future transportation needs.”

In the survey “High-Speed Rail in America 2015,” conducted by TechnoMetrica for APTA, the likelihood of respondents using high-speed rail for their work and leisure travel increases as they were informed that it will be less expensive than flying and that it will take less time than driving to their destination. When told of these cost and time saving benefits, Millennials and young people (18-44) strong likelihood of use at 71 percent jumps to 76 percent. Those respondents who identify as Republican represent the largest growth of intended use, their likelihood of using high-speed rail increases from 58 to 65 percent, followed by Independents, 61 to 67 percent, and Democrats’ already strong likelihood of use goes from 73 to 75 percent when informed of the savings of time and costs.

“A high-speed rail network will have a tremendous benefit to our entire transportation system,” said Melaniphy. “It will enable America’s air, rail, bus, ferry and highway systems to each function effectively and efficiently as we face a dramatic population growth that adds more travelers than our current capacity can accommodate.”

The survey also revealed that Americans overwhelmingly support efforts to streamline government regulations that will promote real-estate development near high-speed rail. This development could include amenities such as popular retail shops, walkable neighborhoods, and unique dining experiences. Overall, nearly three quarters of respondents (71 percent) support reducing regulations so that amenities can be built near high-speed rail stations.

“High-speed rail not only provides a great transportation option, but the public’s interest in amenities near high-speed rail stations is another way to create economic growth and jobs in local communities across the country,” said Melaniphy. “If we have strong investment in high-speed rail, it will be an opportunity to generate real-estate and land use income for the private sector as well as local tax revenue for communities for decades to come.”

High-Speed Rail in America 2015? survey was conducted by Techno Metrica for APTA. The survey includes 1,005 interviews using random digit dial sample of both landline and cell phone numbers. At the 95 percent confidence level, the margin of error for the respondents’ overall sample is +/-3.2 percentage points.

The American Public Transportation Association (APTA) is a nonprofit international association of 1,500 public and private sector organizations, engaged in the areas of bus, paratransit, light rail, commuter rail, subways, waterborne services, and intercity and high-speed passenger rail. This includes: transit systems; planning, design, construction, and finance firms; product and service providers; academic institutions; transit associations and state departments of transportation. APTA is the only association in North America that represents all modes of public transportation. APTA members serve the public interest by providing safe, efficient and economical transit services and products.  More than 90 percent of the people using public transportation in the United States and Canada ride APTA member systems.

Operation Lifesaver_FotorWashington – The Operation Lifesaver, Inc., (OLI) board of directors today (Sept. 23) announced that Joyce Rose will complete her tenure as OLI President later this year, after three years with the national nonprofit rail safety education organization.

OLI Board Chairman Bill Barringer said, “On behalf of Operation Lifesaver’s board, I express sincere thanks to Joyce Rose for her strong leadership. Under her watch, OLI experienced financial growth from increased federal funding and new contributors; launched the high-profile, ongoing “See Tracks? Think Train!” public awareness campaign; streamlined the process for becoming an Operation Lifesaver authorized volunteer; and increased the organization’s online and social media presence. Joyce leaves Operation Lifesaver with the organization well-positioned for future success.”

Said Rose, “I know that Operation Lifesaver will continue to make progress in the years to come in its core mission – educating drivers and pedestrians to make safe choices near tracks and trains. While I have greatly enjoyed working with the amazing OL team over the last three years, I am excited to pursue new opportunities assisting the transit community with meeting new federal safety requirements.”

Before joining Operation Lifesaver in December of 2012, Rose served as staff director for the Railroads Subcommittee of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. She previously served as a professional staff member of the Highways and Transit Subcommittee. Before joining the House T&I Committee staff, Rose worked for the U.S. Senate Committee on Appropriations from 1988 to 2001 as the professional staffer responsible for Federal transit and rail funding issues, pipelines and hazardous materials, and transportation research.

Barringer noted that the Operation Lifesaver board of directors will conduct a search for Rose’s successor.