Sell out: House Committee passes bill to hand TX roads to private for-profit corporations
Sadly, eight other members of the Committee voted with Phillips against stiff public opposition to HB 2255. They were: Drew Darby, Allen Fletcher, Linda Harper-Brown, George Lavender, Armando Martinez, Joe Pickett, Eddie Rodriguez. Representatives Yvonne Davis voted against, Ruth Jones McClendon was present not voting, and Dennis Bonnen was absent.
Phillips had to withdraw his bill Monday due to objections and concerns by Committee members. He brought it up in Committee again Wednesday morning and several members reluctantly voted for it and several voted against -- it was a picture of chaos as Phillips tried to shore-up his Committee to vote against the taxpayer. At that time, the Committee had not even been furnished with a copy of the substitute bill (he had changed the bill) when Phillips called it up for a vote.
By evening when the Committee reconvened, they were handed the substitute bill moments prior to being asked to vote and Rep. Davis brought up significant issues with the authority granted to TxDOT to remove the requirement of competitive bidding. The North Tarrant Express project involves four highways in Tarrant County and the bill would grant TxDOT the authority to enter into a controversial Comprehensive Development Agreement (CDA also known as a public private partnership) without competitive bidding and allow the initial winning team to get the development rights with a right of first refusal on ALL future projects WITHOUT competitive bidding.
One of the concerns with CDAs is it replaces traditional low-bid, competitive procurement contracts with "best value" bidding rather than requiring the lowest price for the taxpayer, a process open to favoritism and cronyism. Despite Davis' concerns, the Committee passed the bill, casting doubt on the so-called "conservative" credentials of many of its members.
Why we must keep the current BAN on public private partnerships (PPPs), known as CDAs in Texas, in place:
- Grants private, even foreign, entities MONOPOLIES for 50 years
- Means the loss of control over Texas infrastructure & toll tax rates, Texans can’t go to a corporation’s Board of Directors to request relief from high toll rates as they can with elected officials. It’s taxation without representation and the marriage corporations with the State.
- Eminent domain for private gain -- to take private property in the name of a public use then hand it to a private interest, for a private benefit for a HALF CENTURY
- Terms of contract kept secret from the public until AFTER the deal is signed.
- Ends competitive bidding and even grants the initial winning team right of first refusal on all future segments without competitive bidding.
- Limits the expansion of free roads (to guarantee congestion on the free routes)
- Manipulates the speed limits to drive more traffic to the toll road
- Charges toll rates as high as 75 cents PER MILE (these are PUBLISHED rates for both the LBJ & North Tarrant Express CDAs in DFW) or 80 cents per mile (for I-35 according to Denton Record Chronicle, Feb. 13, 2011)
- Puts the taxpayer on the hook for the losses while the private investors are GUARANTEED PROFITS in the contracts
- Allows private corporations the power to tax
- Use massive amounts of public money & debt to subsidize/prop-up toll projects that can't pay for themselves. This model doesn’t remotely resemble the claim that the ‘user’ pays for the road. On two PPPs in DFW, $500 million dollars in gas taxes, and another $1.5 BILLION in PABS and TIFIA loans are subsidizing the LBJ project and $500 million in gas taxes and $1 BILLION in PABS and TIFIA loans are subsidizing the North Tarrant Express.
- Eliminates due process in contesting fees, interest, and penalties, with the possibility of losing your car’s registration for failure to pay what they say you owe
Rep. Larry Phillips' signature issue this session has been to expand TxDOT and un-elected toll authorities' ability to enter into controversial highway contracts and their ability to use risky financing schemes (like using borrowed money to secure more borrowed money, like building roads with credit cards) to toll Texas roadways, even existing roads. The sheer volume of anti-taxpayer legislation coming out of Phillips' Committee is staggering. The public has been undaunted in its opposition to these anti-taxpayer, anti-sovereignty, anti-property rights policies. Now these bills (HB 1112, HB 2255, HB 2475) go before the full House where the grassroots will work to ensure this legislation ends up on the ash heap. The Senate has already railroaded every CDA bill through its Committee.