When the $2.0 billion in fiscal year 2020 general fund appropriations for highway formula programs given to states last Friday is combined with the $37.6 billion in formula obligation limitation provided to states on January 24 and the $601 million in exempt funding outside the appropriations process provided to states on October 1, 2019, the total comes to $40.2 billion in total funding resources for highway formula programs given to states in fiscal year 2020.

This is a lot of money, but it is actually $207.6 million less than the FY 2019 equivalent. The reason: even though the initial distribution of full-year obligation limitation is $963 million higher in 2020 than it was in 2019, the amount of general fund appropriations added by Congress “on top” of the regular program dropped by $1.17 billion below the 2019 level.

States will receive a final tranche of highway funding around Labor Day in the “August redistribution” of obligation limitation away from allocated (non-formula) programs at the Federal Highway Administration that won’t be able to obligate funds by the end of the fiscal year on September 30 and to state DOTs that will be able to do so. This August redistribution was $4.2 billion in 2018 and $4.0 billion in 2019. We don’t know precisely what it will be in 2020.

Because of differences in formula shares, particularly in the general fund bridge program and the annual Texas 95 percent tax payment minimum, some states are still net winners to date in 2020 while many are net  losers. Texas is the biggest winner, getting $72.3 million more in 2020 than they did in 2019 at this point in the process, while Maine got $24.9 million more than last year. Washington State is the biggest loser in terms of general purpose formula money, at $108.6 million below last year, but a huge chunk of that is because in 2020, for the first time, they failed the Interstate pavement condition standard and had nearly $123 million of their 2020 funding diverted as a penalty that can only be used to upgrade those Interstates. California’s total is $66.3 million below last year.