Congestion pricing: If it can’t make it in New York, can it make it anywhere?

You're reading Route Fifty's State and Local Roundup. To get the week’s news to use from around the country, you can subscribe here to get this update in your inbox every Saturday. In the meantime, be sure to read to the end as we've rounded up headlines from the week.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul’s decision to block a congestion pricing plan for lower Manhattan has unleashed a flood of criticism and thrown into question many of the basic assumptions the region’s leaders have been making about New York City’s future.

ICYMI: The New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which runs the region’s buses and subways, had been working for years to set up a system of tolls to enter lower Manhattan south of Central Park. The system was scheduled to go into effect on June 30. Suburban drivers from the outer boroughs and from New Jersey, along with trucking groups, fiercely opposed the plan. As Route Fifty reported earlier this week, Hochul said Wednesday she would put the plan on indefinite hold.

Why it matters: No U.S. city uses congestion pricing, although it is used abroad in London, Stockholm and Singapore. New York is a natural candidate to be the first American city to try it. Its congestion is extraordinary, even for big cities, and its geography is ideal, the island of Manhattan makes for a natural downtown zone. What’s more, the MTA really needs money to pay for station, track and train upgrades.

Officials in other cities—like Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles and Philadelphia—have discussed congestion pricing as well. Like New York, they’re interested in making it easier to get around their cities, reducing greenhouse gas pollution and potentially raising revenue for other climate-friendly projects. The transportation sector—cars and trucks—is the biggest source of greenhouse gas pollution in the U.S.

But someone has to go first. New York was clearly the farthest along. Until Wednesday.

“This was supposed to be a national model,” said Justin Balik, now the state program director for Evergreen Action, a national environmental group. Previously, he was a lobbyist for New York City’s transportation department when state lawmakers approved congestion pricing in 2019. “It’s obviously going to have ripples and ramifications if [officials in other cities] see the kind of mess New York is making of it at the moment.”

An immediate backlash: Hochul’s announcement came as a jolt. Before her decision, critics of the system garnered more attention than supporters. But blocking the rollout demonstrated how many groups were counting on congestion pricing going into effect: transit advocates, environmentalists, the construction industry, real estate interests, the city’s most prominent business group, and a lot of politicians in state and city government.

That reflects the unusual alignment of forces who put the policy on the books in the first place in 2019, said Balik. “I don’t think I’ve seen as robust a coalition on a single policy,” he said. “The effort to get it over the finish line, which we take for granted in retrospect, was Herculean.”

Turning to Albany: The governor’s actions immediately put pressure on state lawmakers to respond, as they tried to finish their regular session on Friday.

The most immediate consequence of Hochul’s decision is on the finances of MTA. The transit agency is depending on the $1 billion of yearly revenue to issue bonds for new construction. Without the tolls, MTA needs another source of revenue to back the bonds. Democratic lawmakers almost immediately shot down Hochul’s initial proposal to replace the tolls with a new payroll tax on New York City employers. As of this writing, legislators are considering an initial $1 billion payment to MTA—possibly from the state’s informal reserves—and some sort of IOU to the agency in the future. But bonds usually require a definite revenue source.

Nathan Gusdorf, the director of the Fiscal Policy Institute, a left-leaning group focused on New York finances, questioned the use of reserves for the payment. He said it is “an inappropriate use of reserves, which should be used to manage fluctuations in the state economy, not replace permanent sources of revenue. Long-term investment needs, such as the MTA's capital budget, must be funded through stable, recurring revenue measures.”

“Congestion pricing offers a rare opportunity to create a new, reliable source of revenue for infrastructure investment while improving the quality of life in the city,” he added. “Abandoning a stable revenue source in favor of temporary measures is a decision to weaken New York’s fiscal stability.”

Can the MTA board rebuke the governor? The MTA board approved the congestion pricing in March, so it would presumably have to adopt changes to that plan at its next meeting, scheduled for June 24. State Sen. Liz Krueger, a Democrat who chairs the finance committee, warned that backing out of congestion pricing “created a financial and fiduciary crisis” for the board. Without an alternative revenue source, she said, the board “open themselves and the MTA up to lawsuits over multiple contractual agreements that have already been put in place.”

But the MTA board rebuking a governor is basically unheard of, explained Rebecca C. Lewis of City & State New York. Gubernatorial appointees make up five of the 14 votes on the board, while suburban leaders control another five and New York City has four votes. “They have not shown any gumption to buck any governor that I've ever seen,” Transport Workers Union President John Samuelsen told Lewis. “But if it was ever going to happen, I could see it happening now.”

Transit troubles: In February, MTA had stopped issuing construction contracts for major upgrades because of the numerous lawsuits filed to block those plans. Now, the prospect of making those improvements has gotten worse.

“It’s not looking good. It’s looking bleak,” said Kate Slevin, the executive vice president of the Regional Plan Association. “We’re talking about the loss of projects like ADA accessible stations, new signals along several subway routes … 500 new electric buses, new bus depots that are modern and efficient. It’s a real tragedy for New York.”

Aside from the network improvements, the lack of toll revenues also jeopardizes the funding that the MTA needs for basic repair and maintenance work, she noted. After all, the congestion pricing plan took shape after the 2017 “summer of hell” marked by subway derailments, chronic delays and overcrowding all caused by faulty infrastructure.

“We could be looking at 2017 Summer of Hell as a way of life, and that’s a terrible burden not just for transit riders but for our entire regional economy,” Lisa Daglian, executive director of the Permanent Citizens Advisory Committee to the MTA, told CityLab.

Environmental fallout: When London implemented its congestion pricing system, Slevin said, greenhouse gas emissions dropped by 20%. New York had hoped to see similar drops in vehicle pollution, which would also lead to health improvements for people breathing the air in Manhattan. “Congestion pricing had multiple goals,” she said. “It had a goal to manage traffic, to make streets safer, to reduce air pollution, to improve public health and to invest in transit. Even if there’s a stopgap revenue measure, you’re not meeting any of the other goals it was intended to provide.”

Political ramifications: Hochul’s move might have been intended to placate suburban voters before the November elections, when several New York congressional seats could determine party control of the U.S. House. But the gambit could backfire if Donald Trump wins the presidential election, Balik warned.

One of the reasons why it took so long to roll out New York’s congestion pricing plan is because the MTA had to get federal approval for the environmental review, but the Trump administration delayed it. So, Balik said, the state had to wait until the Biden administration took over to get things moving again.  

If New York tries to reinstate congestion pricing later, it might not get the chance, he said. “This really needs to be in place now, while the federal government has already signed off on it,” Balik said. “I never underestimate [Trump’s] ability to monkey with things; however, it’s a taller order if it’s already up and running.”

Meanwhile, Hochul could face political fallout for canceling congestion pricing, too.

“This is not the end of the end of the discussion by any means,” Slevin said. “I think the situation is going to get a lot more difficult for Gov. Hochul. She’s going to be blamed for every subway delay, every bus that’s stuck in traffic, every person who can’t pick their kid up from daycare on time. She promised us better transit and cleaner air, and we're still expecting her to deliver on that promise.”

Keep reading as there’s more news to use below, and if you don’t already and would prefer to get this roundup in your inbox, you can subscribe to this newsletter here. We’ll see you next week.

News to Use

Trends, Common Challenges, Cool Ideas, FYIs and Notable Events

• EXTREME HEAT: 2023 set record for US heat deaths. The death certificates of more than 2,300 people who died in the U.S. last summer mention the effects of excessive heat, the highest number in 45 years of records, according to an Associated Press analysis of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data. With May already breaking heat records, 2024 could be even deadlier. And more than two dozen doctors, public health experts, and meteorologists told the AP that last year’s figure was only a fraction of the real death toll. Coroner, hospital, ambulance and weather records show America’s heat and health problem at an entirely new level. Meanwhile, much of California and the Southwest were caught under a heat dome this week. It brought high temperatures that were 20 to 30 degrees hotter than normal for early June, the National Weather Service said.


• WATER: Indigenous nations approve historic water rights agreement with Arizona. A historic agreement reached between the Navajo, Hopi and San Juan Southern Paiute Tribes and the state of Arizona is headed to Congress for approval. The deal, which all three tribes have now approved, marks a historic milestone for Indigenous nations that have fought for decades for their fair share of the water coursing through their ancestral lands. It cements tribal rights to water resources. Water claims with New Mexico and Utah had already been settled. Arizona had been the lone holdout. The deal also calls for the federal government to allocate $5 billion toward the building of critical infrastructure to link the territory’s surface water and groundwater sources to the communities that need them.


• INFRASTRUCTURE: Water restored in Atlanta following break that lasted days. Crews in Atlanta have completed repairs to a key water main whose break, among others, contributed to a huge swath of the city spending days without safe drinking water. Water service is “slowly being brought back online to allow system pressures to rebuild,” officials said Wednesday, following a vast, sometimes intermittent breakdown that began May 3. Mayor Andre Dickens said the city is developing a $5 million fund to assist affected businesses and a plan to enact recommendations made by the Army Corps of Engineers, which is helping evaluate Atlanta’s water infrastructure to tackle any vulnerabilities. Dickens conceded Wednesday morning his administration had fallen short early in the crisis on clear and timely communication—a response to critics who’ve said the mayor could have responded more effectively.


• OPEN RECORDS: New Jersey revamps public records law. Gov. Phil Murphy signed legislation on Wednesday overhauling access to the state’s public records, likely making it harder for the public and media to access some documents, according to critics. One provision in the legislation permits officials to charge commercial interests as much as twice the cost of producing records. Other language authorizes agencies to sue requesters they accuse of interrupting “government function.” The new law also ends a requirement for towns to pay attorneys’ fees in court cases they lose over records requests. The last provision could make it prohibitively expensive for members of the public and news reporters to challenge local and state governments in court, according to the bill’s opponents, including civil rights groups, the state’s press association and dozens of others who testified at committee hearings this year.


• VOTING: Colorado enacts first-in-nation law making in-person voting available inside all jails. Thousands of Coloradans incarcerated in the state’s jail system will now be able to vote in person while in custody, under a new law that’s the first of its kind in the U.S. The law, which Gov. Jared Polis signed late last week, requires Colorado’s county jails to provide at least six hours of in-person voting in the days before Election Day. It also requires that facilities set up a location for mail-in ballots to be deposited. While Denver and some other U.S. cities have established in-person voting programs, no state has ever required its system of jails to convert space into temporary polling places for the people inside of them. More than 9,200 Coloradans were incarcerated in the state’s jails in the first three months of this year, according to state data. More than 60% of them are still awaiting trial and have not been convicted.


• IMMIGRATION: Arizona voters will decide the fate of the Texas-style border law. The Republican-controlled Arizona Legislature gave final approval Tuesday to a proposal asking voters to make it a state crime for noncitizens to enter the state through Mexico at any location other than a port of entry, sending the measure to the Nov. 5 ballot. Arizona’s proposal, approved on a 31-29 vote by the state House, would allow state and local police to arrest people crossing the border without authorization. It would also give state judges the power to order people convicted of the offense to return to their countries of origin. The proposal bypasses Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs, who had vetoed a similar measure in early March and has denounced the effort to bring the issue to voters.


• HOUSING: Massachusetts House OKs $6.5B bill to expand affordable housing. The Massachusetts House approved their version of a sweeping housing bill late Wednesday that the Speaker of the House Ron Mariano called the “largest investment in affordable housing and housing production in the history of Massachusetts.” The House bill includes $6.5 billion in bond authorizations, tax credits, and policy initiatives designed to increase housing production, streamline affordable housing development and preserve existing public housing in Massachusetts. The bill is a rewrite of legislation that Gov. Maura Healey introduced in the House in October and doesn’t include her proposal to give cities and towns the authority to approve taxes on high-end property sales with the money going to pay for affordable housing.


• JUVENILE JUSTICE: More teenagers could be tried as adults in North Carolina under bill heading to governor. More young people accused of serious crimes in the state would have their cases tried automatically in adult court, under legislation that received final General Assembly approval on Wednesday. The changes would rework some bipartisan juvenile justice reforms that took effect over four years ago addressing 16- and 17-year-old offenders. The 2019 “Raise the Age” law says that cases of 16- and 17-year-olds accused of the most serious felonies must be transferred to adult court after a notice of an indictment is handed up. The language now heading to Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper’s desk would end the transfer requirement for most of these high-grade felonies and simply place the cases of these youths in adult court right away. Civil rights advocates have sternly criticized the bill, saying it will do more harm than good.


• TOO MANY TOURISTS: Juneau, Alaska, looks to curb tourism with new rules. Cruise aficionados looking to experience Alaska's capital may have to vie for permission to disembark and step foot on land, under a new agreement between the city and major cruise lines that sail there. The agreement seeks to limit the number of daily cruise passengers who can arrive in Juneau to 16,000 on Sundays through Fridays, and to 12,000 on Saturdays, effective in 2026. The measure intends to limit the congestion and wear and tear tourists can cause a city. Visitors to Juneau skyrocketed to a record 1.6 million last year, after the pandemic depressed numbers for two years. Other popular cities have taken similar measures to limit tourists. For example, Venice, Italy, in April became the first city in the world to charge day-trippers a fee just to enter on peak days.


• ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: Here’s how Utah is thinking about AI in schools. Utah is the latest in a growing list of states to issue guidance on how to handle AI in the classroom. The Utah State Board of Education approved a set of recommendations at its May meeting that explains what AI is and gives relevant existing laws currently in place, like child privacy. It also has “guiding principles for AI use,” examples of responsible AI use, and prohibited uses and special considerations. The AI framework from the Utah State Board of Education comes ahead of what one expert calls a “really important school year.” That’s because it “presents a window of time where districts and schools can get ahead and be proactive in creating conditions to ensure equitable access to AI, improving literacy around AI, and making sure opportunities [with AI] are being considered and the risks are being mitigated.”


• RACISM: Colorado to study systematic racism under new law. Colorado will study the lingering effects of slavery and systemic racism on Black Coloradans under a law signed by Gov. Jared Polis on Tuesday—but only if fundraising goals are met. The new law establishes the Black Coloradan Racial Equity Commission to conduct the study with History Colorado. The study and any recommendations from it are expected within two-and-a-half years. Then, the commission will conduct an economic analysis of systemic racism’s financial impact on Black Coloradans. But first, the commission needs to raise at least $785,000 by June 30, 2025. If that deadline isn’t met, donations will be returned and the study won’t happen. 


• SOCIAL MEDIA: Utah sues TikTok again. The state of Utah is accusing TikTok of profiting off of “virtual strip clubs” involving minors. That’s according to a heavily redacted complaint filed in court on Monday, which details a live-stream feature that attorneys for the state say promotes sexual solicitation and exploitation of young people. This is Utah’s second lawsuit targeting TikTok after it filed a consumer protection case in October claiming the company intentionally designed “addictive features” to lure in young users and keep them using the app for long periods of time. TikTok filed a motion to dismiss the suit, which the court will consider during a hearing scheduled June 13. In response to the latest suit, a TikTok spokesperson said the company has “industry-leading policies and measures to help protect the safety and well-being of teens.”


• TRANSPORTATION: Colorado’s new approach to highways—not building them. State highway departments today have largely rebranded as transportation agencies, but building, fixing and expanding highways is still mostly what they do. So it was notable when, in 2022, the head of the Colorado Department of Transportation called off a long planned widening of Interstate 25, reports The New York Times. The impetus? Climate change. Transportation is the largest single contributor to greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S. Within a year of the rule’s adoption in 2021, the state had canceled two major highway expansions and shifted $100 million to transit projects. A regional planning body in Denver subsequently reallocated $900 million from highway expansions to so-called multimodal projects, including faster buses and better bike lanes. Now, other states are following Colorado’s lead. Last year, Minnesota passed a $7.8 billion transportation spending package with provisions modeled on Colorado’s greenhouse gas rule. Maryland is considering similar legislation, as is New York.


• CORRECTIONS: At least 220 people died in Ohio jails over 4 years. Of the 220 incarcerated Ohioans who died since 2020, more than 75% of those—166 people—had yet to be tried for the crime for which they were being held. That’s the finding in a special report “Dying Behind Bars in Ohio” from the Cincinnati Enquirer, Columbus Dispatch and USA TODAY Network Ohio. The papers further found that jail personnel ignored serious medical conditions and injuries, withheld life-saving medicine and equipment, failed to stop the flow of illicit drugs that inmates later used to overdose, did not adequately monitor prisoners at risk for suicide and may not have properly reported deaths to the state. But Ohio officials, inmate advocates and relatives of the dead say the death toll is the product of a justice system that asks Ohio’s county jails to do work they are not properly staffed, prepared or funded to do.


• CLIMATE CHANGE: Governor orders zero-emission heating systems in Maryland buildings. Gov. Wes Moore on Tuesday ordered the Maryland Energy Administration to develop standards to phase in zero-emission heating equipment for all buildings in the state. The executive order requires state agencies to deliver plans by Nov. 1 that move each agency toward achieving the state’s climate goals, and directs the Department of Transportation to expand infrastructure for zero-emission vehicles. The order is the latest move in Moore’s plan to cut overall emissions in the state by 60% by 2031, to “achieve 100% clean electricity” by 2035 and to reach net zero by 2045.

Picture of the Week

New York City Mayor Eric Adams “puntastically" launched a new effort Monday to expand New Yorkers’ access to public restrooms across all five boroughs, with a special shout out to  Flushing. Called “Ur In Luck,” the Department of Parks and Recreation over the next five years, will build 46 new restrooms and renovate 36 existing restrooms, adding to New York City’s nearly 1,000 existing public restrooms. At the same time, the city is making wayfinding to the city’s public restrooms better by introducing a new Google Maps layer that New Yorkers can activate on their phones to easily find the locations of every public restroom operated by a wide-range of agencies and civic institutions citywide. And finally, the city is establishing a joint taskforce to assist in siting and fast-tracking approvals for 14 new high-tech, self-cleaning automatic public toilets on city sidewalks and plazas. Observers have long been advocating for the city to update deteriorating public restrooms and make them more accessible and easier to find, a criticism faced in other cities. “Part of making New York City a more livable city is tackling the little things—the things we don’t think about until we need them,” said Adams. “Access to public restrooms is high on that list, maybe even number one or two.”

What They’re Saying

"There's something wrong with the plumbing in Cincinnati."

That’s how the new podcast “Backed Up” from Cincinnati Public Radio starts. The six-episode series will delve into “a mystery in Cincinnati” around why untreated sewage is dumped into local waterways and sometimes backs up into people’s basements. The two hosts, WVXU local government reporter Becca Costello and podcast coordinator Ella Rowen, promise to demystify “one of the most complex systems of public infrastructure—our sewers.” The first episode, which dropped this week, starts by looking into what a combined sewer system is, the history of sewer infrastructure in Greater Cincinnati, and the federal consent decree that charges the Metropolitan Sewer District of Greater Cincinnati with coming into compliance with the Clean Water Act. Episodes will be released weekly. The next one debuts June 12, and investigates what is causing sewage to back up in Cincinnati and why hasn’t it been fixed yet.