The Senate's Trust Fund reauthorization measure would have to go before voters in the fall because it dedicates additional general fund revenue to transportation capital spending.

The revenue measure was backed by road industry and road labor organizations, and groups like the AAA and the NJ Motor Truck Association.

However, environmental and transportation reform groups and local elected officials backed the Campaign's approach. The American Lung Association called on Legislators to force NJ Transit to stop buying diesel buses. Officials from Hopewell and Leonia asked for tighter regulation of trucks and greater investment in pedestrian safety. The New Jersey Environmental Lobby said Trust Fund spending had become less accountable since it was created in the 1980s, and now amounted to a blank check to NJ DOT and NJ Transit.

The League of American Bicyclists pointed out that NJ DOT had so far failed to deliver on Governor Whitman's 1998 pledge to construct 200 miles of bikeways per year - a clear case in point on the need to present legislated transportation spending and policy targets to NJDOT.

New Jersey Future, a smart growth group, opposed the legislation because even the relatively weak language referring to transportation policy consistency with the NJ State Plan had been removed from the bill before it reached committee.

The Tri-State Transportation Campaign's approach to Trust Fund reauthorization - embodied in proposed amendments to the Senate Trust Fund legislation - would tie Trust Fund spending to goals that would prioritize investment in highway maintenance and mass transit, constrain sprawl-inducing road projects and direct more funding to rail freight, clean buses, traffic calming and a state-wide bikeway network (MTR #267).

This agenda was laid out in testimony Thursday by Tri-State Campaign director Janine Bauer. Democrats on the Senate panel in fact proposed the Campaign goals as amendments to the draft bill. They were out-voted 3-2 by committee Republicans who backed the bill as presented by Senate President Donald DiFrancesco.

An element in the bill that passed requires NJ DOT annual capital programs to conform to a 5-year "capital investment strategy" that the DOT would have to establish next March. But the strategy's goals would be set by NJDOT and could also be changed by the agency annually.

The Senate legislation still must be heard by the budget committee before moving to the Senate floor. The State Assembly has yet to be heard from on Trust Fund reauthorization, but action on the Trust Fund is reportedly needed before the end of June.

In press comments this week, Governor Whitman expressed continuing unease with the financing aspects of the Senate proposal, since they would hike transportation spending without any new revenue, reducing availability of general funds.

The Tri-State Campaign's Trust Fund amendments are on the Internet at www.tstc.org