Early voting for the November 4 General Election began Monday, October 20, and ends Friday, October 31.

Central Texans understand the need for good roads. And, we know what it takes to build them. As a result, the Public Policy Council of the Greater Killeen Chamber of Commerce recommends that you vote for the Constitutional Amendment being proposed in this General Election, “providing for the use and dedication of certain money transferred to the state highway fund to assist in the completion of transportation construction, maintenance, and rehabilitation projects, not to include toll roads.”

A substantial need for additional transportation funding has been created by a number of factors. Included are:

• the growth of the state’s population and economy;
• an increase in the number of vehicle miles driven on public roadways;
• improvements in vehicle fuel economy;
• no change to the state gasoline tax;
• increased maintenance costs due to the age of our roads; and,
• damage to public roads, in some areas of the state, due to increased oil and gas exploration.

In this election, Texas voters will have the opportunity to begin to solve this problem by voting for this Amendment, which will allow legislators to allocate funds from the Economic Stabilization Fund (known as the Rainy Day Fund) for the purpose of investing in highway improvements. If approved, this Amendment will result in a steady stream of additional highway money that can be used by transportation administrators to plan and build new highways. Funds cannot be used for toll roads. The Amendment will not raise taxes or fees.

We know that approval of this Amendment is not a 100% solution to highway funding. There are additional steps that can be taken, but we believe this is a great start.

The Public Policy Council of the Greater Killeen Chamber of Commerce recommends that you vote for the proposed Constitutional Amendment in the upcoming election.

Fore more information, watch the video below.

---