Highway funding

[mattdavis11]

I've been searching for information on road funding in various states and haven't been able to find much pertinent information to answer a few questions, so I thought I'd ask here.

To be specific, I'm looking for information on Florida's and California's funding mechanisms for highway maintenance and development. I know the feds have the national gas tax set at 18.4 cents per gallon, and the state taxes are at various levels, but I haven't been able to find much more info.

My questions are, again for Cali and Florida,

How is the state gas tax distributed?

Is there a constitutional (state) provision that mandates a percentage go to the schools or other state provided service?

What percentage of the federal gas receipts comes back to the state?

Are there any other state taxes collected that are ear marked specifically for the highways, out side of registration, etc...? Is that money divied up? Does everthing go into a general revenue fund and then get split up?

If you would like to answer those questions, that would be nice, but a point in the right direction to information for those states would be greatly appreciated, if at all possible.

Thanks,

Matt

[Arizona_928]

In Arizona It's called Photo Radar!

[RWebb]

visited the DOT web sites yet?

look for a FAQ

or write or e your state senator & repr. and ask them

[mattdavis11]

I wouldn't have asked if I hadn't looked first. DOT websites are great for some things, such as programs and construction info, spending, etc.., but the comptroller of public accounts (Texas) or similar is a great resource to analyze how the state coffers are divied up. However, it gets very complicated, really fast. For instance, Texas has a fund for gas revenues, 3/4 of those receipts are dedicated to highway infrastructure, 1/4 goes to the available school fund. That's constitutional, but we also pull some money from the General Revenue Fund. What do the other states do? I suppose I could read the appropriations bill for each state and congress, but that won't tell me much about what % is automatically appropriated by previous actions of the legislature, assembly, ect...

We have some pretty smart guys here, so I thought I'd ask. Is there a budget analyists in the bunch from either state?

I don't need to talk to my state/rep senator about this stuff, and I probably couldn't get the information out yours either. Not being snotty, but really....