Mission:
The "Coalition for Donor State Equity" has been established to educate and advocate for greater equality for states that pay more into the HTF than they receive back. This coalition will be led by the technical resources of individual donor states and rely on the financial, grassroots and technical participation by other highway users – largely within donor states. This broad coalition has one specific goal: realizing the highest rate of return possible during each highway bill reauthorization.
Given the expected political dynamic and realities the donor equity battle faced during SAFETEA LU's authorization, the next reauthorization will need to focus on two key elements. First, broaden the number of Members and states that are participating in the effort to achieve greater donor equity. The second is to establish a broad, accessible, user-friendly grassroots network. During the last reauthorization, the effort focused on key players and important Congressional leaders. Unfortunately, some of those relationships have been lost due to both leadership changes within the Congress and the retirement of individuals key to the last reauthorization process.
Frequently Asked Questions:
- Q:
- What is a donor state?
- A:
- A state that pays more into the Highway Trust Fund than it receives back in transportation funding.
- Q:
- What is "rate of return"?
- A:
- An expression of the funding a state receives, relative to the amount it contributed in federal user fees on motor fuel.
- Q:
- What is "scope"?
- A:
- A percentage derived in dividing the programs utilized within the Equity Bonus Program (Minimum Guarantee in TEA 21) divided by the total of all programs.
- Q:
- Why is "scope" important?
- A:
- It is the calculation the Department of Transportation utilizes in providing the guarantee promised by the Equity Bonus Program. Rate of return is a rather simple figure to calculate. What makes the DOT rate of return somewhat more complicated is the fact that Equity Bonus or Minimum Guarantee is not a guarantee for all the programs within the bill. In fact, the scope of SAFETEA LU is 90.2%.
- Q:
- When does SAFETEA LU expire?
- A:
- September 31, 2009
- Q:
- How long does a highway bill conference take?
- A:
- While never a completely accurate way to predict the future, the past is often a good indication. Following are the lengths of the last five successful conferences for a highway reauthorization:
- STURA (1987): 26 calendar days
- ISTEA (1991): 21 calendar days
- TEA21 (1998): 49 calendar days
- SAFETEA LU (2005): 63 calendar days