American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) relief funding provides an opportunity for Alabama to jump-start public transportation across the state. Alabama Arise joined 81 partner organizations Wednesday in a letter asking lawmakers to allocate ARPA money to public transportation. The full text of the letter is below.

Letter text

Dear Governor Ivey, Lieutenant Governor Ainsworth, members of the Cabinet and the Alabama Legislature:

Public transportation creates jobs, improves lives and keeps people connected to their communities. As you consider how to allocate the remaining estimated $1 billion of state funds from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), we strongly encourage you to support Alabama’s public transportation systems. Specifically, we ask you to invest $20 million of ARPA funds into Alabama’s Public Transportation Trust Fund (PTTF).

The PTTF was established in 2018 but remains unfunded to this day. Alabama is one of only three states that provide no state funding for public transportation. A 1952 constitutional amendment bars the Alabama Department of Transportation (ALDOT) from using revenue from the state gas tax or license fees for public transportation, which is how most states fund public transportation. Instead, nearly all money for public transportation in Alabama comes from federal dollars administered by ALDOT.

It is clear to the undersigned organizations that the COVID-19 pandemic only worsened the harm resulting from lack of state support for public transportation. Limited funding has forced some local transit systems to curtail specialized services for riders with disabilities or serious health conditions.

We know robust investments in public transit will provide strong benefits for people across Alabama. Greater access to work, school, child care and medical care are just a few examples of how public transit is critical not only for an individual’s quality of life but for the state’s economic development and prosperity.

We urge you to invest $20 million in the PTTF using ARPA’s designated revenue replacement funds. This move will allow those funds to go even further by matching incoming federal dollars for public transportation. And it will make Alabama a better place to live and work for years to come.

Thank you for your consideration.

Signatories

Sincerely,

82 Alabama community-based organizations:

1. AIDS Alabama
2. Alabama Arise
3. Alabama Black Women’s Roundtable
4. Alabama Coalition Against Domestic Violence
5. Alabama Coalition for Immigrant Justice
6. Alabama Forward
7. Alabama Rivers Alliance
8. Alabama Rural Ministry
9. Alabama State Conference of the NAACP
10. All Nations Church of God (Montgomery)
11. All Saints Episcopal Church (Mobile)
12. Amalgamated Transit Union Local 770
13. American Association of University Women Alabama (AAUW)
14. American Association of University Women (AAUW) – Huntsville Branch
15. Anniston First United Methodist Church – Church & Society Committee
16. Baldwin County Trailblazers
17. Bay Area Women Coalition, Inc. (Mobile)
18. Beloved Community Church, UCC (Birmingham)
19. Birmingham Footmad
20. Birmingham Friends Meeting (Quakers)
21. Bold Goals Coalition (Central Alabama)
22. Childcare Resources (Birmingham)
23. Christian Methodist Episcopal Church – Birmingham District Lay Leadership
24. Church Women United Montgomery
25. Citizens’ Climate Lobby – Alabama
26. Collaborative Solutions (Birmingham)
27. Communities of Transformation
28. Community Action Association of Alabama
29. Community Enabler (Anniston)
30. Eastwood Neighborhood Association (Birmingham)
31. Edgewood Presbyterian Church (Homewood)
32. Fairhope Unitarian Fellowship
33. Faith in Action Alabama
34. First Presbyterian Church of Birmingham
35. GASP
36. Grace Presbyterian Church, PCUSA (Tuscaloosa)
37. Greater Birmingham Ministries
38. Gulf Coast Creation Care
39. ¡HICA! Hispanic Interest Coalition of Alabama
40. H.I.V.E. Alabama
41. Heritage Training and Career Center (Montgomery)
42. Holy Comforter Episcopal Church Gadsden Missions Committee
43. Hometown Action
44. Immanuel Presbyterian Church PCUSA (Montgomery)
45. Independent Living Center of Mobile
46. Inspire United Appeal Fund Corporation (Mobile)
47. Jackson District Women’s Home and Overseas Missionary Society A.M.E. Zion Church
48. Jobs to Move America
49. League of Women Voters of Alabama
50. Lighthouse Community Development Corporation (Mobile)
51. Low Income Housing Coalition of Alabama
52. Mary’s House Catholic Worker (Birmingham)
53. Mission Committee, First Presbyterian Church of Auburn
54. Mobile Environmental Justice Action Coalition
55. Monte Sano United Methodist Church – Missions Chair
56. NAACP Tuscaloosa Branch
57. National Federation of the Blind of Alabama
58. Neighborhood Concepts, Inc. (Huntsville)
59. North Alabama Peace Network
60. One Roof (Birmingham)
61. Open Table United Church of Christ (Mobile)
62. Ozanam Charitable Pharmacy, Inc. (Mobile)
63. Project Hope to Abolish the Death Penalty
64. Sisters of Mercy Alabama
65. SPLC Action Fund
66. St. Luke’s Episcopal Church (Jacksonville)
67. St. Peter AME Church (Montgomery)
68. SWEET Alabama (Birmingham)
69. Systems Change/Economic Justice Workgroup – Greater Birmingham Ministries
70. The Downtown Jimmie Hale Mission (Birmingham)
71. The Horizons School (Birmingham)
72. The Institute for Community, Youth & Family Services (Birmingham)
73. The Right Place, Inc. (Anniston)
74. The Sisters (Tuscaloosa)
75. Thrive Alabama (Huntsville)
76. Transform Alabama
77. Transit Citizens Advisory Board (Birmingham)
78. Trinity United Methodist Church (Homewood)
79. Unitarian Universalist Church of Birmingham
80. Unitarian Universalist Church of Huntsville
81. YMBC Civic Forum (Birmingham)
82. Youth Towers Incorporated (Birmingham)