LETTERS.REFORMS NEEDED IN NEW JERSEY TRUST FUND Editor: I read with interest your April article "Is it the End of Pay-as-You-Go in Transportation Finance?" Readers may be interested in fiscal reforms I am proposing in New Jersey. Since 1984, New Jersey's transportation trust fund (TTF TTF TrueType Font (file extension; Windows) TTF Transportation Trust Fund TTF Thyroid Transcription Factor TTF Timber Trade Federation TTF Time-to-Treatment Failure (endpoint in clincial trials) ) has served the state well. But as we enter a new century, it has become clear that the focus and fiscal structure of the trust fund need to be reformed. First, we need to chart a financial blueprint that will restore the fund's fiscal integrity by reducing its bonded indebtedness and increasing funding for pay-as-you-go projects without raising taxes. Over the years, the Years, The the seven decades of Eleanor Pargiter’s life. [Br. Lit.: Benét, 1109] See : Time trust fund lost sight of its primary mission as a pay-as-you-go fund for fixing the state's transportation problems and became a debt fund used to balance budgets and pay for routine operational costs that are more appropriately paid for out of the state budget. These are good times in New Jersey. Our economy is strong, and our bond rating was recently raised by Moody's and Standard & Poor's. We don't need to raise taxes to renew the trust fund for 2000 and beyond, and I'm pleased Governor Christie Whitman agrees that transportation funding must be a budget priority. Her endorsement of this concept is encouraging news for New Jerseyans because it improves the fiscal direction of the TTF and charts a responsible course for a responsible future. We also need to change the prime objective of the trust fund from one of economic development to traffic mitigation. Recently, the Texas Transportation Institute The Texas Transportation Institute (TTI) is the largest transportation research agency in the United States. Created in 1950, primarily in response to the needs of the Texas Highway Department (now the Texas Department of Transportation), TTI has since broadened its focus to released a study revealing that the annual hours of traffic delay experienced per driver in New Jersey rose from 15 in 1982 to 38 in 1997. New Jersey drivers understand the negative impact traffic congestion The condition of a network when there is not enough bandwidth to support the current traffic load. congestion - When the offered load of a data communication path exceeds the capacity. can have on the quality of life in our densely populated state, but gridlock Gridlock A government, business or institution's inability to function at a normal level due either to complex or conflicting procedures within the administrative framework or to impending change in the business. is also of vital economic concern. Some fast growing regional economies, such as that of Atlanta, Ga., are beginning to stagnate stag·nate intr.v. stag·nat·ed, stag·nat·ing, stag·nates To be or become stagnant. [Latin st because of an inability to accommodate the transportation needs of a growing business center and a booming population. We need to invest wisely today to assure a high quality of life and a strong economy five years from now. We can do that by reallocating transportation trust fund resources to bolster state efforts at reducing sprawl development, fostering increased use of mass transit and supporting innovative alternatives such as telecommuting telecommuting, an arrangement by which people work at home using a computer and telephone, transmitting work material to a business office by means of a modem and telephone lines; it is also known as telework. . Donald T. DiFrancesco Senate President New Jersey MORE ON HOW STATES CAN HELP WELFARE RECIPIENTS BECOME SELF-SUFFICIENT Editor: Thanks for Jack Tweedie's "Building New Paths Out of Welfare" in the April 2000 issue of State Legislatures. The article provides an interesting glimpse of a strategy that states can use to help welfare recipients become truly self-sufficient. Policymakers who want to learn more about how the states mentioned in Tweedie's article are implementing this strategy can consult two recent publications. For a detailed account of how states can use TANF TANF Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (previously known as AFDC) funds for postsecondary education and training, policymakers should consult "State Opportunities to Provide Access to Postsecondary Education Under TANF," by Mark Greenberg, Julie Strawn and Lisa Plimpton of the Center for Law and Social Policy. That publication is available online at www.clasp CLASP - Computer Language for AeronauticS and Programming .org/pubs/jobseducation/postsecondary. For a detailed account of the 12 most promising strategies to move TANF recipients into jobs, policymakers should read a new publication from the Educational Testing Service The Educational Testing Service (or ETS) is the world's largest private educational testing and measurement organization, operating on an annual budget of approximately $1.1 billion on a proforma basis in 2007. , "A Piece of the Puzzle: How States Can Use Education to Make Work Pay for Welfare Recipients," by Anthony P. Carnevale of the Educational Testing Service and Kathleen Reich of the Social Policy Action Network. The publication is available online at www.span-online.org. Bound copies may be ordered at no cost from the Educational Testing Service, Communication Services, Rosedale Road, Mail Stop 50-B, Princeton, N.J. 08541. Kathleen Sylvester Director Social Policy Action Network District of Columbia District of Columbia, federal district (2000 pop. 572,059, a 5.7% decrease in population since the 1990 census), 69 sq mi (179 sq km), on the east bank of the Potomac River, coextensive with the city of Washington, D.C. (the capital of the United States). |
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