Establishing that Access to Public Transportation System is a Basic Civil Right

WHEREAS, the U.S. Constitution guarantees to all persons various civil rights to include equal access to opportunities that promote our individual welfare and enable our pursuit of happiness regardless of race, age, religion, nationality, gender, sexual orientation, or physical and financial ability; and

WHEREAS, the right of access to public transportation has been the subject of great attention and investment since the passage of the Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA); and

WHEREAS, despite considerable investment, the public sector has yet to provide equal transportation access for many Americans disadvantaged by physical, economic, education, and/or health care hardships; and

WHEREAS, public resources continue to subsidize more and wider roads, free parking and the location and relocation of jobs and services farther away from existing, underfunded transit services and communities, many of them impoverished and/or heavily populated with minorities or disabled persons; and

WHEREAS, this worsening isolation of American communities and citizens and the resulting economic and human consequences continue to be documented extensively by the Federal Reserve Bank, the American Community Survey, the Brookings Institution and others.

THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the NAACP calls for potential funding sources for more affordable public transportation to include state and local government Tax Increment Financing districts and county assessments of regular, periodic development impact fees on employers whose facilities are located more than 1,000 feet from an existing transit route with fees scaled based on employers' annual gross revenues; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the NAACP calls for another revenue source which would require states and local governments to devote a share of their transportation spending at a rate of no less than the statewide share of households without vehicles, and would distribute public transportation funding to counties or multi-county transit agencies based on the share of households without vehicles in their jurisdictions; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the NAACP calls for the public sector to explore the opportunities for affordable public transportation to include buses, vans, shuttle buses, and other means of transportation and for the public sector to consider the financial, social, and environmental affordability issues related to access to public transportation; and

BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED, that the NAACP declares access to public transportation to be a basic civil right that is accessible to all regardless of a citizen's address, race, age, religion, nationality, gender, or sexual orientation, or physical and financial ability.