PRINTER'S NO. 3312
No. 277 Session of 1986
INTRODUCED BY GREENWOOD, HUTCHINSON, DININNI, PIEVSKY, BURNS,
REINARD, J. L. WRIGHT, CLYMER, WILSON, GLADECK, FOX, KENNEY,
SCHULER, BARLEY, BURD, BUNT AND GRUPPO, APRIL 15, 1986
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON RULES, APRIL 16, 1986
A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
1 Providing for the appointment of a special joint bipartisan
2 committee to evaluate and make recommendations to the General
3 Assembly relative to the formula used to allocate funds for
4 highway maintenance.
5 WHEREAS, On June 18, 1980, Governor Thornburgh signed into
6 law Act 68 which, among other matters, provided a specific
7 formula for the allocation of State highway maintenance funds
8 among the 67 counties; and
9 WHEREAS, The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation
10 utilized a Trained Observer Program (T.O.S.) in 1980 to comply
11 with the law in the determination of the Relative Pavement
12 Quality Index (RPQI). This index and the formula was used for
13 the first time to allocate funds for the fiscal year 1981-1982;
14 and
15 WHEREAS, The law and the basic formula has remained basically
16 unchanged over the last six years even though considerable
17 questioning on the appropriateness of the base allocations and
18 on the relevancy of the factors and weights in the ASHMA formula
1 to the actual needs in the respective counties has been
2 promulgated by the General Assembly and users' groups; and
3 WHEREAS, the Department of Transportation now has developed
4 and implemented a Systematic Technique to Analyze and Manage
5 Pennsylvania's Pavements (STAMPP) which more accurately assesses
6 the actual roadway needs on 100% of the system annually. The
7 STAMPP Index was used as part of the RPQI for the fiscal year
8 1985-1986 distribution. The Department of Transportation also is
9 presently implementing a Bridge Management System which will
10 determine actual bridge needs on all bridges biannually;
11 therefore be it
12 RESOLVED (the Senate concurring), That the President pro
13 tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of
14 Representatives each appoint three members of their respective
15 chambers, two from the majority party and one from the minority
16 party, to form a bipartisan committee to evaluate the
17 appropriateness of the current formula and its effects on this
18 Commonwealth and its various counties in light of potentially
19 more reliable and relevant data systems. The committee shall be
20 advised by Department of Transportation officials and shall
21 assess the impact of formula alterations on department
22 maintenance organizations. When significant adverse changes
23 occur, making a transition over a period of years shall be
24 considered to lessen the impact; and be it further
25 RESOLVED, That the committee shall recommend revisions as may
26 be necessary by November of 1986, with the intent of
27 incorporating these changes in the allocation procedures for
28 maintenance funding for fiscal year 1987-1988.
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