Public Citizen Testimony in Support of HB 1361 — LIRAP Funding
Public Citizen Testimony in Support of HB 1361 -- LIRAP Funding
To: Chairman Brooks Landgraf and the Members of the House Committee on Environmental Regulation
CC: Vice-Chair Claudia Ordaz, Rep. Rafael Anchía, Rep. Keith Bell, Rep. Ben Bumgarner, Rep. Penny Morales Shaw, Rep. Tom Oliverson, Rep. Ron Reynolds, Rep. Steve Toth
Via hand delivery and by email.
From: Adrian Shelley, Public Citizen, ashelley@citizen.org, 512-477-1155
Re: HB 1361, LIRAP funds – Public Citizen testimony in support
Dear Chairman Landgraf and Members of the Committee:
Public Citizen appreciates the opportunity to testify in support of HB 1361, relating to the distribution of funds designated for the low-income vehicle repair assistance, retrofit, and accelerated vehicle retirement program.
$176.2 million is available to spend on local air quality programs.
The low-income vehicle repair assistance, retrofit, and accelerated vehicle retirement program, LIRAP, has been defunct since 2017 when its funding was vetoed by the Governor. Revenue for the program came from vehicle inspection and maintenance fees paid by Texas drivers.1 The remaining balance of funds for the program is in Clean Air Account 151 and totals $176.2 million.2 This is the amount that would be returned to counties, in proportion to the funds collected from Texas drivers. When drivers in Texas paid into the LIRAP program, it was with the understanding that their funds would be used to reduce air pollution.
LIRAP was a successful, incentive-based program to reduce air pollution.
HB 1361 returns LIRAP funding to the counties from which it was collected. The returned funds can be used by the county for any activities permitted by statute.3 This includes:
- The AirCheck Texas Repair and Replacement Assistance Program,
- Remote sensing of vehicle emissions and notification of drivers,
- Smoking vehicle programs,
- Counterfeit vehicle registration enforcement programs,
- Transportation system improvement programs, and
- Other strategies for state and federal compliance with air quality rules and regulations.
LIRAP was a successful program that reduced air pollution from vehicles in order to keep Texas in attainment of federal air pollution standards. Like TERP, LIRAP was an incentive-based program—it provided grants and funding for programs to reduce air pollution. By reducing air pollution from mobile sources (vehicles), LIRAP takes the pressure off stationary sources of pollution (industrial sources).
Air pollution and nonattainment designations cost Texas billions.
Nonattainment designations have consequences from hundreds of millions to billions of dollars. For example, a 2015 study by the Capital Area Council of Governments estimated that an ozone nonattainment designation would cost Central Texas between $0.9 – $1.4 billion annually for up to three decades.4
Public health impacts from air pollution also easily reach into the billions of dollars.
In Central Texas the public health impacts of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) pollution alone exceed $3.4 billion:5
In conclusion, we support HB 1361 because it would direct $176.2 million in LIRAP funds back to the counties in which that money was collected for incentive-based programs to reduce air pollution to the benefit of public health in Texas.