Bill would terminate passenger rail compact membership

The Transportation and Telecommunications Committee heard testimony Jan. 31 on a bill that would repeal Nebraska’s membership in the Midwest Interstate Passenger Rail Compact (MIPRC).

The compact provides opportunities for Midwestern state leaders to advocate for passenger rail improvements.

Under LB747, introduced by Kearney Sen. Galen Hadley, the state would terminate its annual $15,000 membership.

The state joined the compact in 2001 to promote passenger rail services in the Midwest, Hadley said, but the Legislature has not appropriated funds for membership costs for at least four years. The Legislature should either pay its current dues and begin to advocate for passenger rail services or withdraw from the compact, he said.

Monty Fredrickson, director of the state Department of Roads, testified in support of the bill, saying the membership and projects associated with MIPRC can be costly for the state.

One of the proposed passenger rail lines being considered extends from Chicago to Des Moines and through Council Bluffs, Fredrickson said, but providing services west of Des Moines into Nebraska would require the state to supply significant funding for operating subsidies.

DiAnna Schimek, Lincoln City Council member and former commission member, testified in opposition to the bill, saying it is important to have an entity in the state that is paying attention to trends in other transportation areas besides roads.

“When the original bill passed [to join the compact] the cost was $25,000 per year, with the promise that as more states joined the compact the membership cost would go down,” Schimek said. “And that has happened.”

“I really think that for that small price it is good for us to know what is going on nationally and in other states,” she said. “It forms a solid group to plan and make the contacts that need to be made.”

Bob Kuzelka, a Lincoln resident, also testified in opposition to LB747, saying passenger rail service has not been discussed this much since the state joined the compact.

“The purpose of this bill is not to discuss cost aspects, but whether Nebraska should be concerned about passenger rails in the future,” he said. “If we are concerned, we should be involved in the compact.”

The committee took no immediate action on the bill.