Public Policy and Government
Texas
Texas Legislature
Download state legislative district maps for the Texas Senate (683KB PDF document) and House of Representatives (786KB PDF document). For changes affecting the United States House of Representatives, see United States Congress below.
State representatives and state senators, individual legislative measures and their progress through both legislative chambers, committee members and hearing dates, can all be found at Texas Legislature Online or on the individual websites of the Texas House of Representatives and the Texas Senate.
Major Transportation Bills
Download the PDF listing of Major Transportation Initiatives - 78th Legislative Session.
Other Major Bills
Environmental Initiatives
House Bill 1365 - Texas Emissions Reduction Program - Download PDF
Tax Initiatives
Summaries of various bills that both died and passed - Download PDF
Health and Human Services Initiatives
House Bill 2292 - Reorganizing the various state health and human services agencies. Includes a major element in transportation services for state clients. - Download PDF
State Funding
The General Appropriations Act for Fiscal Years 2004 and 2005 can be found online at Legislative Budget Board. Download a PDF of the actual Texas Department of Transportation Appropriation.
Summary of Texas Department of Transportation appropriation for the FY04-05 Biennium:
Small Urban State Funding: $20,118,747
Rural State Funding: $37,363,388
Total: $57,482,135
Download a PDF of the state funding distribution to small urbanized and rural areas.
Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT)
At the direction of the Texas Transportation Commission (TTC), TxDOT has undertaken research in a project entitled Trans Texas Corridor initiative, a $175 billion transportation program to create over 4,000 miles of “corridors” where new tollways, utilities, pipelines, high technology, and high speed rail would be located within a concentrated 4,000+ miles of new right-of-ways.
Texas Transportation Commission (TTC)
Links to future and past Commission agendas and transcripts of proceedings.
United States Government
United States Congress
Download a map of Texas congressional districts (PDF file) for the United States House of Representatives. More information on redistricting is found at the Legislative Reference Library (Texas).
Use THOMAS: Legislative Information on the Internet to obtain information on and text of individual legislative measures, their status and schedule for action, and committee hearings. Information on individual members of the Congress are readily accessible either through THOMAS or their own websites at the House of Representatives or the Senate.
Other Resources include the Congressional Quarterly or CQ.com, Congress.org, Politics.com — all providing Briefing Summaries of the Issues of the Day.
Federal Funding
FY2003 Federal Transit Administration appropriation: Comparison (100KB PDF document) of House and Senate versions.
Reauthorization of the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21)
Though legislative action to reauthorize TEA-21 began in 2003, public transportation has been busy on the issue since year 2000. Both the American Public Transportation Association [APTA] and the Community Transportation Association of America [CTAA] are tracking Reauthorization.
Other Transportation Reauthorization Sites
American Public Works Association and their Government Affairs section.
Surface Transportation Policy Project (STPP).