The Transportation Trust Fund was created in 1971 as a completely separate pot of money from the General Fund. It is a special fund to be spent only on maintenance and construction of transportation projects. Existing law says no Transportation Trust Fund money may revert or be credited to the General Fund. Unfortunately, that law has been ignored far too long.  Year after year, the legislature votes to overturn that law through the Budget Reconciliation Financing Act (BRFA).

   Over the past two decades, hundreds of millions of Transportation Trust Fund dollars have been diverted to the General Fund, mostly to backfill budget shortfalls. The Governor's budget for fiscal year 2012 transferred another $186 million from the Transportation Trust Fund.

   In addition, the state has virtually shut off our local shares of transportation revenues by cutting them by more than 96 percent. Those cuts would continue under the Governor's proposed budget. We must restore vital funding to our counties and municipalities.

   A constitutional amendment would create a firewall for current and future Transportation Trust Fund dollars. It would additionally restore Highway User Revenue aid to local governments to maintain local roads as originally intended in the establishment of the Transportation Trust Fund.

   Protecting the Transportation Trust Fund enjoys bi-partisan support with 38 co-sponsors of this bill from all parts of the State. We only want the Maryland General Assembly to allow the voters of Maryland to decide whether to put the "trust" back in the Transportation Trust Fund.

  Other proposals tie a proposed gasoline tax increase to a constitutional amendment protecting the Transportation Trust Fund based on the recommendation of the Maryland Blue Ribbon Commission on Transportation Finance. However, this would put an undue burden on Maryland motorists.

   According to the testimony of AAA, "As former House Speaker Cas Taylor so well noted nearly a decade ago, it is largely the huge costs of the two major mass transit systems in a small state that have broken the back of our transportation trust fund. What is needed is another source of funding for mass transit, he said. That additional source of funding for mass transit is exactly what the Commission failed to identify."

   Only 2.9% of the income to the Transportation Trust Fund, or $26 million, comes from Maryland Mass Transit related charges, which is less than revenues raised by a 1 cent increase in the gasoline tax, or an estimated $32.7 million. This problem is compounded by mass transit expenses representing nearly half of the Maryland transportation budget while mass transit accounts for only 5% of miles traveled in Maryland.