By Keith Goble
state legislative editor
Despite a $14 million boost in the two-year State Police budget approved by the Oregon Legislature this summer, the state will trim 20 troopers from its roads.
That will leave 309 troopers on patrol - the fewest in nearly 40 years.
The $14 million was earmarked for murder investigations and the state’s methamphetamine problem.
According to The Oregonian, the trooper cuts are necessary, due to increasing costs elsewhere in the budget, such as fuel, equipment and pension benefits.
Department officials said they would need an additional $4.3 million to hire 45 troopers to patrol Interstate 5 round-the-clock. Ninety new troopers could patrol the entire state all hours.
Lawmakers have told agency officials they can appeal to the Legislature’s Emergency Board for additional dollars.
Rep. Dennis Richardson, R-Central Point, who steered the budget through the House, has offered one solution for state police. He is encouraging the agency to identify troopers now at desk jobs who might be put back on the roads.
However, the Oregon State Police Officers Association said it’s not that simple.
“I want to clarify this right now: There are no troopers driving desks who could be on the road,” Dan Swift, president of the police group, told the Statesman Journal. “Someone has to do paperwork and watch over evidence lockers. Those jobs have to be done - and are now doing those jobs.”
Trooper shortages are not unique to Oregon. Many states are fighting similar battles to keep officers on roads.
So much traffic, so few troopers
Reasons for shortages range from troopers heading to local departments that offer better pay, while others are serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. State budget crunches have also hindered efforts to replace retiring troopers.
A tight budget has left Connecticut 47 troopers shy of intended levels, The Associated Press reported. Iowa has 20 fewer troopers than it did in 1970 while traffic on roadways in the state has doubled over the same time.
Nebraska’s trooper ranks have fallen from 505 two years ago to 428 today, largely because of retirements. Meanwhile, lawmakers in the state have approved adding only five new troopers.
In Mississippi, about 30 of the state’s 530 patrol officers have been called to active duty overseas.
The number of troopers in North Carolina has increased by 26 percent since the early ’70s, The AP reported. But the number of licensed drivers has more than doubled and there are 82 percent more vehicles on the road.
North Carolina Gov. Mike Easley had called for adding 50 troopers the state’s force, but lawmakers approved adding only 10.
Despite the constraints, a handful of states are making some progress in their efforts to keep roads staffed with officers.
The Oklahoma Highway Patrol is holding its first academy for new troopers since 2003. More than 60 prospective troopers were accepted for the academy that started Aug. 31.
Even with the expected boost in troopers upon their graduation early next year, the news agency reports the patrol is 93 short of its authorized strength, with another 60 troopers expected to retire in 2006.
Losing the battle to replace retiring troopers in Texas, state legislators approved boosting trooper salaries this year to put them on the same level as police in the state’s metropolitan areas. More than 100 new troopers recently graduated from recruit school with another session slated to start in the spring.
Wyoming lawmakers approved very modest funding to add five more officers for the Highway Patrol, The Jackson Hole Zone reported. Plans are to fund another five next year.
In Pennsylvania, Gov. Ed Rendell has announced his commitment to boost 180 state troopers to active patrol duty over the next year.
The governor recently signed the state’s budget providing for $14.8 million in new State Police funding. The added officers to the patrol would mark the biggest one-time increase in the past 25 years for Pennsylvania.
By Keith Goble
state legislative editor
With fuel prices breaking all records this summer - even before Hurricane Katrina added to the nation’s fuel crisis - state lawmakers across the country are grasping for opportunities to score easy political points with constituents by proposing tax relief.
Truckers and other drivers in Georgia paid less at the pump for most of September, thanks to a moratorium on the state’s 7.5-cent-per-gallon tax on gasoline and diesel fuel. The order included a suspension of the state’s 4 percent sales tax on fuel.
Gov. Sonny Perdue called for the breaks. The Georgia General Assembly and governor then acted to temporarily remove the IFTA obligation on miles truckers traveled in Georgia so they wouldn’t be left holding the IFTA bag at the end of the quarter.
“I believe it’s absolutely wrong for the state to reap a tax windfall from this tragedy,” Perdue said, adding that the goal of the moratorium was to “keep that money in the pockets of Georgia motorists.”
He said the state would forfeit about $75 million in tax revenue.
Georgia lawmakers were not alone in their attempts to relieve the burden of higher prices at the pump. State officials throughout the country are looking at ways to save consumers money. Here is a sampling of what Land Line found.
Wisconsin
Republicans in the Wisconsin Assembly have called on Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle to grant a slight reprieve from high fuel prices in the state.
Representatives Robin Vos, Pat Strachota and Don Pridemore want to give residents in the state a fuel tax holiday for the rest of the year.
A similar plan was implemented last year in Florida. Lawmakers cut the state’s gasoline tax by 8 cents per gallon for the month of August, saving motorists there $59.7 million.
Wisconsin’s GOP lawmakers want to cut the state’s tax on diesel and gasoline by 15 cents per gallon through the end of the year.
“I can’t control OPEC, I can’t control crude oil output in the Gulf, but I can work with my colleagues to try to help people who need help right now with gas prices that are going through the roof,” Vos, of Caledonia, told Land Line.
The Wisconsin governor, however, is pushing an alternative to ease the burden on consumers. The measure is stalled in the Assembly judiciary panel. It would repeal the state’s minimum markup requirement for diesel and gasoline.
The rule has been in place since the 1930s.
AB505, sponsored by Assemblyman Jeffrey Wood, R-Chippewa Falls, would strike provisions in state law requiring markups of 3 percent for wholesalers and 6 percent for retailers.
If signed into law, the governor’s office said fuel prices would drop about 9 cents “virtually overnight.”
Hawaii
A law that took effect Sept. 1 in Hawaii limits the wholesale price of gasoline, making it the first state in the nation to cap prices. The price-cap formula - which does not apply to diesel fuel - is intended to ease Hawaii’s inflated gas prices by tying the prices to a weekly national average instead of a West Coast benchmark.
New Jersey
Legislators from both sides of the aisle in New Jersey are looking to curb the tide of rising fuel prices.
Assemblyman Jeff Van Drew, D-Cape May, said he is considering legislation that would mimic Hawaii’s price cap - and include diesel fuel.
Van Drew is not alone in his pursuit of rescuing beleaguered drivers.
Assemblyman Francis Bodine, R-Moorestown, said he plans to introduce a bill once lawmakers head back to the capitol in November that would bar anyone from selling fuel for more than 10 percent above its cost.
Missouri
Democrats in the Missouri House were unsuccessful in getting Gov. Matt Blunt to expand the agenda of the recently completed special session to include a two-week fuel tax holiday.
The proposed tax holiday would cut Missouri’s 17-cent-per-gallon tax on diesel and gasoline to 7 cents per gallon.
“I’m just like everybody else,” said House Minority Leader Jeff Harris, D-Columbia. “I’m tired of paying high gas prices. This is a way to give consumers, businesses and truckers immediate relief at the pump.”
Harris said the direct revenue loss from the tax holiday would be about $18 million.
Blunt, a Republican, doesn’t appear too keen on the idea. Jessica Robinson, a spokeswoman for the governor, told the Columbia Daily Tribune the proposal is a “risky scheme.”
Despite the governor’s refusal to allow lawmakers to consider the proposed tax holiday, Harris said he would consider bringing the matter up again when lawmakers return to the capitol for the regular session that begins in January.
Pennsylvania
Responding pressure from Pennsylvania residents about rising fuel costs, Gov. Ed Rendell said he might ask state lawmakers to temporarily lift the state’s per-gallon fuel tax.
A loss of tax revenue wouldn’t come without a cost, Rendell said.
“There’s a price that we pay if we do that,” Rendell told news reporters. He said it would “take a big hunk” out of the $2 billion the tax generates each year for road and bridgework throughout the state.
Michigan
In Michigan, state Rep. Robert Gosselin, proposed a measure to drop the state’s sales tax on gasoline - but only after a certain point.
The bill - HB4841 - would drop the 6 percent sales tax if the price pushes above $2.30 per gallon for regular unleaded.
However, Gosselin, R-Troy, said the move would save motorists only a few cents per gallon.
According to The Detroit News, the tax would cost Michigan $3 million a year in sales tax revenue for every penny that gas prices rise above $2.30.
Arkansas thumbs nose at federal steer axle weight limits
By Jami Jones
staff editor
Truckers can count on a few things to remain consistent state to state.
One thing is - well was - the federally mandated weight and size limits on the national network of highways and interstates.
Recently, Arkansas played the grandfather trump card and decided to enforce a 12,000-pound limit on steer axles in the state.
OOIDA member Jimmy Kendall, a car hauler out of California, found that out the hard way. He entered the state on Interstate 40 at West Memphis, AR. Shortly thereafter, he was confronted with an accusation by a member of the Arkansas Highway Police that he was overweight on his steer axle.
Kendall was given a warning and bought a $400 permit - on the spot - to run in the state.
Randy Ort with the Arkansas Department of Transportation confirmed that the state is, in fact, enforcing a 12,000-pound steer axle weight limit.
He said Arkansas officials’ interpretation of the federal regulations is that the state can grandfather in the lower limit. But, he went on to say that Arkansas’ interpretation was under review at the federal level.
That review consisted of some meetings with federal officials with the Federal Highway Administration.
Nancy Singer with the Federal Highway Administration said this case with Arkansas is the first instance the feds are aware of in which a state is enforcing a lower weight limit on the national network.
She said Federal Highway Administration officials have had several discussions with the Arkansas Highway Police and their legal counsel on the issue of steer axle weight limits.
As part of those discussions, the feds provided both U.S. Code and Code of Federal Regulation references that call for states to honor a weight limit of 20,000 pounds on a single axle, including a truck’s steering axle, when the commercial vehicle is operating on the Interstate System or on a reasonable access route connecting thereto.
Despite the initial meetings, Ort confirmed that Arkansas was continuing to enforce the lower limit and will continue to do so until a decision is made.
Rick Craig, OOIDA director of regulatory affairs, said the process could be slow and drawn out, but ultimately the feds could compel Arkansas to comply with the federal standards.
“They will probably give Arkansas a pretty good chance to straighten it out,” Craig said.
“They could cut off federal funding, but you don’t see that very often. They try to give them a whole lot of time before they drop the hammer and start taking the federal money away from them.”
For the time being, Ort and Singer confirm meetings are ongoing between state and federal officials.
