Aggregates Manager Digital Magazine
Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/756888
AGGREGATES MANAGER / December 2016 39 "Last, but certainly not least, we really do believe that something that has been talked a lot about but hasn't had a lot of progress on in recent years — compre- hensive tax reform — does have legs with a Trump administration," Johnson said, noting that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Speaker of the House Paul Ryan are already working to craft a package of significant changes to both the individual and business tax codes. Congressional changes While the presidential race was clearly a change election, the referendum for change did not extend to the Senate, which was thought by many pundits to be in play, or the House of Representa- tives, which was considered to be fairly safe. Johnson reported that 94 percent of candidates supported by RockPac were returned to Congress. "That's a remark- able number, and it gives us a great base from which to work as we try to move forward with that $1 trillion infra- structure investment and that regulatory reform agenda," Johnson said. Jim Riley, NSSGA senior director of government affairs, noted that RockPac candidates won 229 of the 243 races in the 2016 season, with three races that remained too close to call by the time of the town hall meeting. "If you'd asked anyone in DC even up to even a couple days ago, they would have said the Republicans would hold 50 seats, maybe up to 51," said Ashley Amidon, NSSGA director of government affairs. "Instead, what we are seeing is that they are currently at 51 with two Senate seats up in the air." Early in the evening, Republicans lost Mark Kirk's Illinois Senate seat to challenger Tammy Duckworth, but retained Ron Johnson in a late-breaking victory in Wisconsin. The New Hampshire senate race was close, but Amidon said reports gave Democratic Gov. Maggie Hassan a slight edge over incumbent Republican Sen. Kelly Ayotte. That race could go to a recount. The final pending seat is in Louisiana where Republican State Treasurer John Kennedy will face Democrat Public Service Com- missioner Foster Campbell in a two-way runoff created when none of the field of 24 candidates — including David Duke — achieved a 50-percent majority vote. That seat leans toward a Republican outcome. Looking forward to 2018, Amidon noted that seats in play include 23 held by Democrats, two held by Indepen- dents (including Bernie Sanders' seat), and eight held by Republicans. "Based on how tonight went and depending on how the next two years go, you could possibly see a couple more Republican seats in the Senate," she said. "We hope to see a Senate that will work with us a little bit more on some of those regulatory issues." As expected, the House remained Republican, noted Michele Stanley, NS- SGA director of government affairs. "The Dems had high hopes of getting more than 30 seats, but that didn't happen in the end." The current tally shows 235 Republicans and 191 Democrats in the House, with Democrats picking up seven seats. At the meeting time, nine seats remained undecided, mostly along the West Coast. In terms of members of the Transpor- tation Committee, Committee Chairman Bill Shuster retained his seat in Pennsyl- vania's 9th district, but 12-term repre- sentative and committee member John Mica lost his seat to Stephanie Murphy in Florida's redistricted 7th district. In terms of the committee moving forward, Democrats will have four openings, and Republicans will have three openings. "It will be interesting to see what happens with those seats and who gets put on the committee," Stanley said, noting that there will be 45 freshmen in the House of Representatives in January 2017. On the Senate side, new leadership of the Environment and Public Works Com- mittee is expected to include Sen. John Barrasso (Wyoming) as chair and Sen. Tom Carper (Delaware) as the ranking member. Transportation issues Finally, 23 transportation-related ballot initiatives were voted on during the Nov. 8 election. - Illinois Amendment—Transpor- tation Taxes and Fees Lockbox passed 78.9 percent to 21.1 per- cent. - New Jersey Dedication of All Gas Tax Revenue to Transportation Amendment (Public Question 2) passed 53.56 percent to 46.44 percent. - Louisiana Transportation Fund and Revenue Allocation (Amend- ment 5) passed 53.6 percent to 46.4 percent. - Maine Transportation Bond (Ques- tion 6) passed 61.23 percent to 38.77 percent. - Rhode Island Port Infrastructure Bonds (Question 5) passed 62.83 percent to 37.17 percent. - Washington Carbon Emission Tax and Sales Tax Reduction (Initiative 732) failed 58.52 percent to 41.48 percent. - Virginia Beach Light Rail refer- endum failed 57 percent to 43 percent. The remainder of the projects were not statewide issues, but all passed making it a good election cycle for most transportation projects. AM "It really will be an opportunity for significant regulatory reform on the issues we care about," –Mike Johnson