In this issue: Is reducing car travel a wise policy for GHG reduction? Express toll lanes back on Maryland’s agenda Miami toll road provider taken over by state A new metric for comparing transit project cost-effectiveness What electric vehicle chargers will cost America Amtrak’s costly climate alternative News notes Quotable quotes Is Reducing Car Travel a Wise Policy for Greenhouse Gas Reduction Goals? California is one of a handful of states that have set targets for reducing the amount of driving, as measured by vehicle miles of travel (VMT). An Aug. 18 Streetsblog article headline put it …
The growing national debt and the future of federal transportation spending
The national debt is going to affect the future of transportation funding, and the public-private partnership community needs to understand why and what the implications for P3s may be. The most recent parts of the story began on Aug. 1, when Fitch Ratings downgraded the federal government’s bond rating from AAA to AA+. For a company, that might not be a big deal, but for the government of the world’s largest economy, the downgrade was a shot across the bow. This was the second time a rating agency took such an action with the federal …
Examining the control state and local governments have over public pension plans
State and local governments have the sole authority under the law to establish retirement benefit plans for their employees. As the legal plan sponsor, each government has the right to determine the retirement benefits provided, the structures and policies for funding the benefits promised, the investment of the retirement plan’s assets, and the governance and administration of the plan. This authority is in the very nature and purpose of being the plan sponsor in the first place. A good technical resource describing this authority can be found in the Public Pension Governance Series published by …
The DOJ’s weak antitrust case against Google
Is Google engaging in anticompetitive behavior, or is it simply the best choice out there? A U.S. Department of Justice antitrust lawsuit against Google starts tomorrow. The case, USA v. Google, launched in 2020 when the state of Colorado filed a lawsuit claiming that Google used anticompetitive means to achieve its high market share. Since then, several other states and the Department of Justice have added several more antitrust claims, and the case is set to be heard starting Sept. 12. Plaintiffs are asking the court to invalidate Google’s default search engine status across multiple …
Massachusetts’ proposed cigar tax increase would not improve health outcomes
The intent to limit tobacco use among youth is to be applauded. However, given Massachusetts’ already extremely low rates of youth smoking and the unintended consequences stemming from the state’s recent ban on flavored tobacco products, S.1848 should raise concern that the state will enlarge the already substantial illicit tobacco trade, push sales and tax revenue to other jurisdictions, and punish premium cigar stores and lounges that have almost no appeal to youth. The Illicit Market and Youth Smoking Massachusetts’ ban on flavored tobacco products went into effect in June 2020. Jacob James Rich, a …
California’s Age-Appropriate Design Code Act threatens the foundational principle of the internet
Executive Summary In September 2022, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 2273, the California Age-Appropriate Design Code Act (AADC). The AADC is a far-reaching law that imposes many new requirements on most businesses in California. Among other problematic provisions, the California Age-Appropriate Design Code Act imposes on websites an age-assurance requirement. Regulated businesses are required to estimate the age of their users with “a reasonable level of certainty appropriate to the risks that arise from the data management practices of the business.” Alternatively, they must apply those privacy and data protections to all consumers. …
Blame Congress for air travel delays and air traffic control problems
The good news is that demand for U.S. air travel has fully recovered from its near collapse during the COVID-19 pandemic. But the bad news is that the aviation system is having trouble coping with surging demand. To be sure, several airlines have had meltdowns this year, but federal policies—set largely by Congress—have played a key role in these air travel problems. In 2020, Congress provided large-scale grants and loans to passenger airlines, aiming to preserve airline jobs so the airlines would be ready when growth resumed. Unfortunately, most U.S. airlines downsized their workforces, offering …
Debunking the myth that vaping causes popcorn lung
Popcorn lung, formally known as bronchiolitis obliterans, is a disease that causes an irreversible narrowing of lung airways. This rare condition initially gained media attention in the early 2000s due to a cluster of cases among microwave popcorn plant workers. In recent years, news media have frequently purported a link between the disease and vaping nicotine. But is there really a connection between popcorn lung and vaping? Here’s what you need to know to separate fact from fiction about popcorn lung, its potential causes, and whether there is a link between the disease and e-cigarette …
California needs to limit the use of solitary confinement
California lawmakers are again considering legislation limiting the use of solitary confinement. Assembly Bill 280, the California Mandela Act on Solitary Confinement, aims to reduce the use of segregated confinement in the state’s prisons, jails, and private detention facilities. On any given day, there are, on average, 4,000 California inmates in solitary confinement, and the proposed changes could reduce this number by as much as 70 percent. Long periods of solitary confinement can have severe and lasting psychological, neurological, and physiological consequences that significantly worsen the longer a person remains solitary. Symptoms include anxiety, depression, …
That SAFE Banking Act for legal cannabis companies stalls in the Senate, again
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has said that federal legislation addressing some of the banking challenges facing the legal cannabis industry is a priority this year. However, despite Sen. Schumer’s support, new concerns have emerged within his caucus that may endanger proposed solutions. The Secure and Fair Enforcement (SAFE) Banking Act has been billed as the answer to banking woes for cannabis companies and a version of it has been introduced in every Congress since 2013. The U.S. House of Representatives first passed the bill in 2019 and has passed it seven times in …
Surface Transportation Board signals revival of heavy-handed freight rail regulation
After decades of excessive economic regulation nearly destroyed the U.S. railroad industry, Congress responded by encouraging market mechanisms to replace regulators’ whims. Unfortunately, in a decision involving a large coal shipper and a major railroad, the Surface Transportation Board has attempted to expand its narrow power to police rail carriers’ common carrier obligations in a manner that undermines Congress’s preference for private contracting between carriers and their customers. In doing so, the Surface Transportation Board privileged one customer over its competitors and other rail shippers, which also contradicts congressional intent. In U.S. and British common …
How Utah can reduce smoking-related deaths
Revising its nicotine vaping restrictions would allow Utah’s Department of Health and Human Services to correct a mistake and reduce the number of smoking deaths. In Sept. 2021, Utah banned the sale of e-cigarettes with a nicotine concentration higher than 3%, mostly in response to the rise in youth vaping. Most of the vaping market consists of e-cigarettes that have nicotine in the 4% to 6% range. Now, Utah’s Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) is considering changes as part of a settlement resulting from a legal challenge by the Utah Vapor Business Association. …
