SB248, the Safe Passing Bill, which is co-authored by Senator Rodney Ellis and Chairman John Carona, will be presented to the State Senate Transportation and Homeland Security Committee on Wednesday, February 14 at 8:15 am. Your attendance is needed to show support of SB248. The Hearing will take place in room E1.016 of the Capitol. Witnesses are ready to present their testimony; therefore, with respect to the Senators' time, we need only the presence of concerned cyclists as a show of support.

With the Senate Transportation Committee Hearing approaching next week, it is urgent and important that you contact your SENATOR if he/she is on the Senate Transportation Committee. The Senate Transportation Committee members are: Senate District 2 - Senator Bob Deuell (R), Senate District 3 - Senator Robert Nichols (R), Senate District 4 - Senator Tommy Williams (R), Senate District 8 - Senator Florence Shapiro (R), Senate District 10 - Senator Kim Brimer (R), Senate District 13 - Senator Rodney Ellis (D), Senate District 14 - Senator Kirk Watson (D), Senate District 16 - Senator John Carona (R), Senate District 25 - Senator Jeff Wentworth (R), Senate District 29 - Senator Eliot Shapleigh (D).

If you are not sure who your state senator is, follow this link: http://www.fyi.legis.state.tx.us/ and enter your adress to find out who represents you.

Please send a letter and contact your Senator if you live in his/her district to show your support of SB248. This is the most important legislation for cyclists in Texas' history. We will be protecting the lives of cyclists throughout the state.

The next TxDOT meeting is in Duncanville, Texas, on January 25, 2007. We are asking our Dallas-area members to try to make an appearance at the meeting to show support of the Enhancements issue. Texas Bicycle Coalition staff will be on-hand to speak on behalf of Texas cyclists. We need to show that cyclists are against the decision to rescind funds from Enhancements. Our presence is pertinent to getting the decision reversed and bringing funding back to projects that will allow alternative transportation to be more viable in communities throughout the state.

Go to our website for more information on the Enhancments issue: www.biketexas.org/Enhancements

The Texas Downtown Association has provided their website as a resource for the issue as well. For a glance at the TxDOT meeting agenda and other relevant information, you can go to their website as well: http://www.texasdowntown.org/news.php

The TBC worked with the National Conference of State Legislators to organize a bike ride for attendees of the Conference in San Antonio on Friday, December 8, 2006. A chilly December morning brought out legislators, family, and staff to ride the scenic route through San Antonio. The hearty group was in good spirits preparing for their ride with hot coffee and baked Mexican patries before being fitted for bikes and helmets. With everyone geared-up, the group departed the hotel at 6:30 a.m. for the 10 mile tour through town.

 The ride was hosted by Texas State Senators Leticia Van de Putte (D) of San Antonio and Jeff Wentworth (R) of San Antonio. Senator Leticia Van de Putte and Senator Jeff Wentworth arrived at the beginning of the ride to cheer on riders and support the efforts of their local teams. This was the second NCSL Bi-partisan ride that TBC has supported this year. The first ride was in August with Texas State Senator Rodney Ellis (R) and Tennessee State Senator Jim Tracy (D) hosting the event in Nashville, Tennessee. That event proved to be a huge success as well with sixteen elected officials and twenty-five legislative staff riding the Stones River Greenway.

Thank you all for taking the time to take our Membership Survey. We are currently evaluating the data and will post the results of the survey as it becomes available.

If you have any questions regarding the survey, please feel free to contact our membership director at: This email address is being protected from spam bots, enable JavaScript to view it.

The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) Bicycle Advisory Committee (BAC) met on November 29, 2006, at the TxDOT office complex on Riverside Drive in Austin. The main topic of the meeting was the upcoming TxDOT call for proposals for the Safe Routes to School program. 

The call is expected around January, 2007 with up to $30 million available to communities across the state.  The monies are from the 2005 Federal Transportation Bill, know as SafeTEA-LU.

Enhancements funding has been saved from further cuts!

Updates to Enhancements Issue:

TxDOT

TBC

Texas Bicycle Coalition has initiated an aggressive grassroots campaign to spread awareness of the issue and gain support for reversing the decision including the following actions:

* In addition to the research, Texas Bicycle Coalition also recently met with 30 members of the U.S. Congress representing Texas in Washington D.C. regarding Enhancements last week.

* Texas Bicycle Coalition has sent multiple action alerts and have generated scores of letters that were hand-delivered to the TxDOT Commissioners and to members of Congress.

* Texas Bicycle Coalition has testified and/or generated attendance at almost every TxDOT Commission hearing since the rescissions were announced in November 2006.

* Texas Bicycle Coalition has helped form a coalition that includes preservation, historic, and economic development organizations to resist the Enhancement cuts.

* Texas Bicycle Coalition met with both the State House and Transportation Committee Chairs on the issue (Representative Krusee and Senator Corona). The Senate Committee then passed a resolution rebuking TxDOT.

* Texas Bicycle Coalition has worked with the National Enhancements Clearinghouse and Environmental Defense Fund to get advice and assistance on strategy and research.