In the case of prospective transit project sponsors seeking to use PPP approaches, the question of whether a state or local transit agency can procure a project using a PPP approach is first governed by state law. The laws of states noted in Exhibit 14 allow varying levels of participation by the private sector in transportation projects.11 In addition, authorization in certain states is limited to specific agencies and therefore might not be available to transit authorities given their regional or local focus. Hence transit agencies in many states are governed by separate statutes or local ordinances. As a result there are still many state and local transit agencies with no current legal capacity to apply PPPs as an alternative to traditional approaches to project delivery, finance, and operations.
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11 See Study Deliverable 2, Literature Review of Public-Private Partnerships for Transit Capital Projects in the United States, Section 1.C.