DALLAS — An overwhelming majority of Texans seem poised to approve the Proposition 1 constitutional amendment on Nov. 4 that would provide an additional $1.7 billion/year of state oil and gas production tax revenues to road projects.
A new University of Texas/Texas Tribune poll found 68% of likely voters favor Proposition 1, the sole statewide proposition on the November ballot, with only 15% opposing it.
Daron Shaw, the poll's co-director and a government professor at UT-Austin, said the survey shows that the appeal of the infrastructure proposal crosses party lines. Next week's result will probably be "a blowout," he said.
Proposition 1 is favored by 73% of self-identified Republican voters, 71% of Democrat voters, and 63% of voters who said they would join the Tea Party if it becomes a viable national political party. Support is strong across the board among rural, suburban, and urban voters, Shaw said.
The amendment would transfer into the State Highway Fund a portion of the revenues from oil and gas production taxes that now flow into the state's rainy day fund, which is officially known as the Economic Stabilization Fund.
The Texas highway fund, also known as Fund 6, includes federal highway grants and reimbursements, state gasoline tax revenues, vehicle registration fees, and other transportation-related fees, charges, and fines.
The rainy day fund currently gets 75% of the energy tax collections over and above what was generated in fiscal 1987, the year when reserve fund was created by a statewide vote. Proposition 1 would move half of the excess revenues into the State Road Fund with the remainder going to the rainy day fund.
The revised allocation was expected to generate $1.4 billion a year for transportation projects when lawmakers voted in 2013 to put the proposal onto the November 2014 ballot. However, latest figures from the State Comptroller's Office put the first year's estimated transfer at $1.7 billion.
The proposed state constitutional amendment stipulates that the new transportation money cannot be used to build toll roads or acquire right of way for them.
Transportation issues were rated as their most important concern when deciding on whom to support in the race for governor by only 4% of the Texas voters surveyed in the UT/Texas Tribune poll. Only 2% of likely voters said transportation is the most important problem currently facing the state, well below the 23% who cited border security, followed by immigration with 11%, and education with10%.
Texas Attorney General Greg Abbot, the Republican candidate for governor, and Democratic gubernatorial candidate state Sen. Wendy Davis have endorsed Proposition 1, but Tea Party candidate Kathie Glass has said it's a bad idea.
Texas instead should use the extra production tax revenues not on road but instead to fund medical facilities, equipment, and fully trained personnel for treatment of Ebola patients, Glass said.
The transportation proposition is being pushed by construction interests and ambitious politicians eager for campaign contributions from them, she said.
"This rainy day is the reason that our Rainy Day Fund exists," Glass said. "Instead of raiding the Rainy Day Fund to benefit transportation cronies, as Proposition 1 would do, we should use those funds to establish an Ebola hospital and pool, with the best equipment and personnel using the most rigorous protocol imaginable."
The rainy day fund is expected to total $8.4 billion when lawmakers return to Austin in January for the biannual 140-day legislative session.
The UT/Texas Tribune internet survey of 1,200 registered voters was conducted Oct. 10 to Oct. 19. The poll has an overall margin of error of 2.8%.
