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Transportation:
Funding Relating to Airports

Our Position: oppose
Bill Number: sb245s5
Sponsor: Sen Curtis Bramble (R-Provo)
Legislative Session: 2008 General Session

Bramble's bill would prohibit an airport operator from using airport funds to build, equip or operate a light rail line.  The final version of this legislation allowed for the diversion of public funds, such as registration fees and sales taxes, to be used by Salt Lake City to pay for its share of the construction of a light rail line to Salt Lake Airport.

Status

3/6:  The final version, SB245S5, allows the diversion of auto registration fees and sales taxes to allow Salt Lake City to pay for its share of a light rail line to Salt Lake Airport.

Incredibly, most Salt Lake and Utah County senators voted in favor of this bill.  On Friday, 29 February, it passed on a 20-6-3 vote.  Only the senators listed below voted against this legislation.

Fife            Mayne           Romero          
Jones         McCoy           Stephenson

It moves to the house with only a few days to go.  It's critical to let your representative know before March 5th to stop this bill.

Bramble substituted the current text for the original bill text in committee on Friday, February 22nd.  The committee, Senate Government Operations and Political Subdivisions, approved the bill for favorable recommendation to the full senate on a 4-2-0 vote.  Only Senators McCoy and Romero voted against this ill-advised legislation.  The senators listed below voted in favor.

Buttars, D. C.
Hickman, J.
Jenkins, S.
Knudson, P.

Action Needed

Below are some talking points you might want to use to ask Governor Huntsman to veto this bill.

1)  Light rail and inter-terminal subways or monorails are and will continue to be an integral part of airport infrastructure.  This absurd policy, apparently pushed strongly by Delta Airlines, will hobble responsible planning, funding and management of Salt Lake Airport.

2)  Airport funds are used to pay for parking lots and parking structures.  It's illogical to allow airport funds to be used for one mode of transportation to the airport, the automobile, but not for a cleaner, more efficient mode, light rail.

3)  Some of the money diverted from registration fees and sales taxes are currently being used for building roads and other public services.  Instead of paying for airport infrastructure with funds needed in other areas, airport infrastructure should be built with airport fees.

4)  Salt Lake City International Airport is one of the three top daily commuter destinations in Utah.  The other two are the central business district in Salt Lake City and the University of Utah.  Even after the construction of a light rail link between the airport and downtown, it will still be important to link the airport with the International Center and future public transit along the west side of the Salt Lake Valley, possibly constructed in conjunction with the Mountain View Corridor.  SB245S5 will make that project more difficult too.

More information

Contact

The phone number to Governor Jon Huntsman for the Salt Lake area is 801/538-1000, and the in-state, toll-free line for folks calling from outside the Salt Lake area is 800/705-2464.  You can also send him a written message from his website.

To get e-mail and phone contact information for your representative or senator, consult the legislative district maps.

Background

The information below relates to an earlier version of the bill.

Federal funding is often granted for a transit construction project after a long wait.  Because of the solid local funding lined up for these projects, UTA's excellent record of construction management, and the high rate of mass transit use in Utah, UTA was granted approximately $500 million for the four light rail lines and the commuter rail line to Provo.

Bramble, who accepted a $500 contribution from Delta Airlines for his 2004 re-election race, is echoing Delta Airlines' corporate argument that all the revenue generated by the airport must be used only for runways and terminals.  Part of the local funding package assembled to qualify for the federal matching grant is approximately $30 million in airport revenues to pay for a portion of the light rail line to the airport.

If Bramble's bill were to pass, it could invalidate the whole financial package.  We can't allow Bramble's narrow-minded devotion to a corporate sponsor to undermine transit progress in two counties.

In a 25 September 2007 story in the Deseret Morning News, Nicole Warburton wrote,

"The anticipated funding will total about $500 million of the more than $2 billion cost to build the five rail lines, said Mike Allegra, UTA's chief capital development officer and assistant general manager. Local sales tax dollars from Salt Lake and Utah County residents will fund the remainder.

With the letter in hand, Allegra says his agency can now develop a firm finance plan and schedule the rail lines' construction. The letter will also give contractors more clarity in knowing what projects should be built under state or federal regulations, he said.

UTA general manager John Inglish said the letter of intent, known as a memorandum of understanding, was an unprecedented agreement between a state agency and the Federal Transit Administration. Normally, transit agencies approach the federal government for funding on projects one-by-one, not as a package deal, he said."