1 1 BEFORE THE NEW YORK STATE SENATE FINANCE AND ASSEMBLY WAYS AND MEANS COMMITTEES 2 ----------------------------------------------------- 3 JOINT LEGISLATIVE HEARING 4 In the Matter of the 2017-2018 EXECUTIVE BUDGET 5 ON TRANSPORTATION 6 ----------------------------------------------------- 7 Hearing Room B 8 Legislative Office Building Albany, New York 9 February 15, 2017 10 9:41 a.m. 11 12 PRESIDING: 13 Senator Catharine M. Young Chair, Senate Finance Committee 14 Assemblyman Herman D. Farrell, Jr. 15 Chair, Assembly Ways & Means Committee 16 PRESENT: 17 Senator Liz Krueger Senate Finance Committee (RM) 18 Assemblyman Robert Oaks 19 Assembly Ways & Means Committee (RM) 20 Senator Diane J. Savino Vice Chair, Senate Finance Committee 21 Assemblyman David Gantt 22 Chair, Assembly Committee on Transportation 23 Senator Joseph Robach Chair, Senate Transportation Committee 24 2 1 2017-2018 Executive Budget Transportation 2 2-15-17 3 PRESENT: (Continued) 4 Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz Chair, Assembly Committee on Corporations, 5 Authorities & Commissions 6 Assemblyman Michael Cusick 7 Senator James N. Tedisco 8 Assemblyman Mark C. Johns 9 Assemblyman Phil Steck 10 Assemblyman James Skoufis 11 Senator Timothy Kennedy 12 Assemblyman Steven Otis 13 Senator Martin Malave Dilan 14 Assemblyman David G. McDonough 15 Senator Thomas D. Croci 16 Assemblywoman Pamela J. Hunter 17 Assemblywoman Alicia Hyndman 18 Assemblyman Edward Ra 19 Senator Leroy Comrie 20 Assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis 21 Senator Todd Kaminsky 22 Assemblyman Walter T. Mosley 23 Assemblywoman Tremaine Wright 24 Assemblywoman Yuh-Line Niou 3 1 2017-2018 Executive Budget Transportation 2 2-15-17 3 PRESENT: (Continued) 4 Assemblywoman Jo Anne Simon 5 Senator Elaine Phillips 6 Assemblyman L. Dean Murray 7 Assemblyman David Buchwald 8 Senator Brad Hoylman 9 Assemblyman N. Nick Perry 10 Senator Roxanne Persaud 11 Assemblywoman Helene E. Weinstein 12 13 LIST OF SPEAKERS 14 STATEMENT QUESTIONS 15 Matthew J. Driscoll Commissioner 16 New York State Department of Transportation 8 18 17 Theresa Egan 18 Executive Deputy Commissioner New York State Department 19 of Motor Vehicles 162 170 20 Veronique Hakim Interim Executive Director 21 Robert Foran Chief Financial Officer 22 Craig Stewart Senior Director, Capital 23 Programs Metropolitan Transportation 24 Authority (MTA) 242 248 4 1 2017-2018 Executive Budget Transportation 2 2-15-17 3 LIST OF SPEAKERS, Continued 4 STATEMENT QUESTIONS 5 Bill Finch Acting Executive Director 6 NYS State Thruway Authority 375 379 7 Bernie Meyer Canaan Supt. of Highways 8 President NYS Association of Town 9 Superintendents of Highways -and- 10 Wayne E. Bonesteel Rensselaer Co. Engineer 11 Legislative Cochair NYS County Highway 12 Superintendents Association 405 414 13 Bill Carpenter CEO, Rochester-Genesee Regional 14 Transportation Authority President, New York Public 15 Transit Association 420 426 16 Alec Slatky Policy Analyst 17 AAA New York State 429 434 18 Paul Gendron Statewide PEF/DOT Labor 19 Mgt. Committee Labor Chair Karen Patterson 20 Statewide PEF/DOT Labor Mgt. Committee Labor Vice Chair 21 PEF 445 22 Scott Wigger Executive Director 23 Railroads of New York 457 462 24 5 1 2017-2018 Executive Budget Transportation 2 2-15-17 3 LIST OF SPEAKERS, Continued 4 STATEMENT QUESTIONS 5 John DelBalso President 6 NY Aviation Management Association 465 7 John Tomassi 8 President Upstate Transportation 9 Association 474 10 John Scott Owner-Operator 11 Excelsior Driving School -for- 12 Empire Safety Council 483 493 13 Spyros Messados Committee for Taxi Safety 495 503 14 Kevin Barwell 15 President Limousine, Bus, Taxi 16 Operators of Upstate NY 513 17 Berj Haroutunian President 18 Black Car Assistance Corp. -and- 19 Guy Palumbo Director of Driver Education 20 Black Car Fund 524 21 Carley J. Hill Chairwoman 22 The FAIR Committee 535 23 24 6 1 CHAIRMAN FARRELL: Good morning. Good 2 morning. I'll try that again. Good morning. 3 AUDIENCE: Good morning. 4 CHAIRMAN FARRELL: All right. 5 Today we begin the 111th in a series 6 of hearings conducted by the joint fiscal 7 committees of the Legislature regarding the 8 Governor's proposed budget for fiscal year 9 2017-2018. The hearings are conducted 10 pursuant to Article VII, Section 3 of the 11 Constitution, and Article II, Section 32 and 12 32A of the Legislative Law. 13 Today the Assembly Ways and Means 14 Committee and the Senate Finance Committee 15 will hear testimony concerning budget 16 proposals for transportation. 17 I will now introduce some of the 18 members, and then Senator Young will do hers 19 and so will Assemblyman Oaks. 20 We have been visited by Assemblyman 21 David Gantt, chair of the Transportation 22 Committee; Assemblyman Michael Cusick, 23 Assemblywoman Pam Hunter, Assemblyman Jeff 24 Dinowitz, chair of the Corporations 7 1 Committee. 2 And Mr. Oaks, Senator -- Assemblyman 3 Oaks. I was going to move you up. 4 SENATOR ROBACH: You should have been 5 a Senator. 6 ASSEMBLYMAN OAKS: Yes, we've been 7 joined by Assemblyman McDonough, 8 Assemblyman Johns, Assemblyman Ra, and 9 Assemblywoman Malliotakis. 10 CHAIRWOMAN YOUNG: Thank you. 11 Good morning. I'm Senator Catharine 12 Young, and I'm chair of the Senate Standing 13 Committee on Finance. And I'm joined today 14 by several of my colleagues. First, Senator 15 Diane Savino, who is vice chair of the 16 Finance Committee; Senator Liz Krueger, who 17 is ranking member; Senator Joe Robach, who is 18 chair of the Senate Standing Committee on 19 Transportation; Senator James Tedisco, 20 Senator Todd Kaminsky, Senator Marty Dilan, 21 Senator Tom Croci, and Senator Tim Kennedy. 22 Mr. Chairman? 23 CHAIRMAN FARRELL: Yes, thank you. 24 But before I start, I would like to 8 1 remind all of the witnesses testifying today, 2 and our colleagues on the bench, to keep your 3 statement within your allotted time limits so 4 that everyone can be afforded opportunity to 5 speak. And you'll see we have the clocks 6 there -- they're on the dais and they're on 7 the wall, so you can see them. 8 Now we will go to our first witness, 9 and that is the New York State Department of 10 Transportation, Matthew Driscoll, 11 commissioner. 12 Good morning again. 13 COMMISSIONER DRISCOLL: Good morning. 14 Thank you. Good morning, everyone. 15 Chairperson Young, Chairperson Farrell, 16 Chairperson Robach, Chairperson Gantt, and 17 members of the Finance, Ways and Means, and 18 Transportation Committees, thank you for the 19 opportunity to discuss Governor Cuomo's 20 Executive Budget as it pertains to the 21 Department of Transportation for the 22 2017-2018 state fiscal year. 23 I'd like to begin with stating how 24 honored I am to serve as the 12th 9 1 commissioner of the Department of 2 Transportation. During the course of my more 3 than 20 years of public service, I've worked 4 with many talented, dedicated and wonderful 5 individuals -- none more so than those I now 6 have the opportunity to work with at the 7 Department of Transportation. Their 8 extraordinary professionalism and work ethic 9 are the reasons that New York State's 10 multimodal transportation systems are among 11 the most dependable and highly regarded in 12 the nation. 13 I'd like to take this opportunity to 14 publicly thank the women and men of the 15 department. Thank you for all you do. 16 As the previous owner of successful 17 small businesses, I came to understand and 18 appreciate the inherent value of a dollar, 19 and as such, I did all I could to control 20 expenses while maximizing returns on the 21 investments that I made. I instilled that 22 same discipline throughout my tenure as mayor 23 of the City of Syracuse. And now, as 24 commissioner of a state agency with an 10 1 $11 billion annual budget, I bring that same 2 approach to this department. 3 I've worked with Governor Cuomo to 4 institute a performance-based accountability 5 culture within DOT that has demonstrated that 6 government can be run more efficiently and 7 that the public's money can be spent more 8 effectively. 9 The department aggressively 10 streamlined the project selection, design, 11 procurement and delivery processes. As you 12 well know, DOT is successfully using new 13 procurement methods such as design-build, 14 prequalification of contractors, and best 15 value, in addition to the traditional 16 design-bid-build procedure, to deliver its 17 capital program. I'll talk more about these 18 procurement techniques in a few moments. But 19 perhaps little known is the entrepreneurial 20 spirit that these new techniques have 21 enabled, including the design, development 22 and deployment of new innovative construction 23 methods and the use of state-of-the-art 24 materials such as precast bridge elements, 11 1 rapid-set or ultra-high-performance concrete, 2 and slide-in bridge construction. These 3 innovative methods have reduced both the cost 4 and the time it takes to design and deliver 5 construction projects. And as we all know, 6 the more efficient we are with taxpayers' 7 money, the better off we all are. 8 Last year I pledged to this committee 9 that I would address the department's process 10 to accelerate construction and ensure that 11 the Department of Transportation's capital 12 program is creating jobs and facilitating 13 local economic development. I have done 14 that, and have since directed the department 15 to accelerate the award of projects so that 16 construction can begin earlier. By 17 accelerating the timing of procurements, we 18 will now take full advantage of the limited 19 construction window in the Northeast.