LGC 11.35 — Lincoln Transportation Improvement Act — PASSED

[Pyro]

Speaker ZMUN, I respectfully object to the final vote proceeding.

I request additional time be administered for discussion and debate.

Any bill providing that additional funds be spent on a regional project should offer a ballpark figure to the effect of $1M, $10M, etc. Furthermore, Section II-C is irrelevant as Lincoln does currently utilize a quality rail service in LincolnRail. Again, if more funding is to be dedicated to expanding LincolnRail, we should offer a general figure to how much will be spent.

Last, passing this bill as-is offers communities a small, two-year window to, potentially, dramatically alter their public infrastructure. If this timetable is left in the bill, I am afraid I will be forced to vote against passage.

[Pyro]

Nay

[Pyro]

I offer the following amendment.

The Lincoln Transportation Improvement Act

Section I. Title

1. This bill will be cited as the Lincoln Transportation Improvement Act.

Section II. Improving Transportation Access

1. The Lincoln Department of Transportation and Infrastructure shall be tasked with a public transit improvement directive.

a. The scope of this directive shall be the improvement of LincolnBus and LincolnRail services.
i. Improvements shall include, but are not limited to, the construction and integration of new vehicles, the hiring of public transit officials, bus and rail route extension, bus and rail route implementation, construction and integration of terminals and bus stops, and the development of new or upgraded transport technology.

b. This directive must investigate access to public transportation and furthermore seek to ensure no community within Lincoln is greater than 10 miles from public transportation.

c. Department officials must report their findings and proposals to the Governor of Lincoln by no later than January 1st, 2024.
i. At this time, the Governor of Lincoln may submit to the Lincoln General Court a final proposal for consideration.

Section II. Improving transportation access
A. Under this plan, no community will be greater than 10 miles away from any form of public transportation, whether it be a bus, train, or subway line.
B. More funds to ensure that rural communities have access to public transportation
C. Will provide more funding to ensure high quality, rail service similar to Europe.

Section III. Implementation

1. This legislation shall take effect immediately.

Cities and towns have until no later than January 1, 2025 to implement public transportation or  to expand public transportation services from an existing provider (etc. the MBTA).
The planning and construction of the railway system will begin immediately and will be expected to be completed no later than January 1, 2038.

I have designed this as a general framework to guide the Dept. of T&I to accomplish the goals of the original bill.
This keeps in mind the existing public transit options, LincolnBus and LincolnRail, the latter being our high-speed rail system.

[Pyro]

Aye