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Legislature fails to deliver for toll-weary drivers

Lawmakers leave without giving drivers toll tax relief

By Terri Hall
May 28, 2019

Sometimes a win isn’t gauged by what you pass, but by what you stopped. The results of the 86th legislative session are definitely the later. In short, the taxpayers got very little as far as toll tax relief. With 28 different toll systems and 55 toll projects in place today, without passing toll cessation Texas drivers will never see an end to paying toll taxes nor an end to toll agencies expanding their existing systems out further and further — forever. However, the grassroots opposition to five bad toll road bills that would have handed Texas’ public highways to private, foreign entities in 50-year sweetheart deals along with other giveaways to private toll companies, managed to kill all of them -- the worst being HB 1951 by Matt Krause, a member of the Freedom Caucus.

The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) alone (not to mention the other 12 local toll agencies across the state) has put more than two million Texas drivers into collections for unpaid tolls. Just TxDOT has imposed over $1 billion in fines and fees in addition to the actual tolls owed. The Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority (Austin area) testified before the Senate Transportation Committee last August that of the $100 million its collected in tolls, $85 million was fines and fees. Toll fines and fees are out of control and making Texas drivers virtually an unlimited ATM machine to feed relentless unelected toll bureaucracies — in short, tolling has become a license to steal.

GOUGING: Cintra soaks commuters, charges $3/mile to drive privatized toll lanes on North Tarrant Express

Link to article here.

On this Texas toll road, drivers want to know why they’re paying $15 for just 5 miles
Why some Fort Worth toll roads are charging up to $15
By Gordon Dickson
April 23, 2019
Ft. Worth Star Telegram

Some North Texas drivers say they're alarmed that tolls on some of the Dallas-Fort Worth region's TEXPress lanes are skyrocketing to as much as $15, up from just $1 during less heavily-traveled periods.

Susan Forbes could hardly believe her eyes when she saw the price posted on the electronic sign, which pointed the way to an entrance for the TEXPress toll lanes on Texas 183 in Bedford.

She was about to enter a toll road that would charge her $15 for a distance of less than six miles.

Tolls hit nearly $50 to go 10 miles into DC on I-66

Link to article here.

Toll price of express lane in Washington D.C. spikes to $46 for Tuesday morning commute
Fox 5 - D.C.
May 14, 2019

How much does it cost to get to D.C. from I-66?

On Tuesday, a commuter posted a photo on Twitter showing the toll road nearly reaching $50!

The amount has hit the wallets hard for solo drivers traveling the nine-mile stretch between Interstate 495 and Route 29 in Rosslyn. Those who carpool are able to use the Express Lanes for free. Single drivers have to pay the toll Monday through Friday from 5:30 to 9:30 a.m. in the eastbound direction, and from 3 to 7 p.m. in the westbound direction.

Transit agency would add to Texas transit boondoggles

Link to article here.

Commentary: Mega Transit Agency in Valley Can’t Fix What’s Wrong with Transit Failures

The Texas Legislature needs to ‘Just Say No’ to creating a new Regional Transit Authority.

By Terri Hall | April 22, 2019 - Texas Scorecard

Frustrated by our lack of progress on limited-government, conservative principles in this session of the Texas Legislature?

When you see which transportation bills are moving over others, it’s hard to fathom how a bill to create a massive new transit bureaucracy that can issue bonds, charge tolls, and do no-bid contracts of all sorts takes precedence over things like reforming a toll collection system that’s financially ruining millions of Texas drivers.

There’s been plenty of bad press surrounding the failure of transit both nationally and in Texas, so the legislature needs to ‘Just Say No’ to creating a new Regional Transit Authority as proposed in House Bill 71 (Martinez) and Senate Bill 1721 (Lucio).

Federal lawmakers fear backlash to gas tax hike

Link to article here.

Gas tax for infrastructure sparks fears of political backlash

By: Laura Davison and Mark Niquette | May 01 2019 Intermodal News

Democrats and Republicans are quick to talk up a bipartisan infrastructure deal. Yet neither party wants to take the political risk of paying for it when all options are toxic—including the obvious choice of raising the national gas tax.

Increasing the gas tax is so politically fraught that it hasn’t been touched in 26 years and it didn’t even come up at a meeting at the White House Tuesday between President Donald Trump, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer to discuss an infrastructure plan.

Freedom Caucus gas tax increase Nancy Pelosi Elizabeth Warren

California local governments push congestion tax to get into LA

Link to article here.

California Cities Push Congestion Tax
Southern California governments lobby to impose congestion tax on Los Angeles motorists.
The Newspaper.com
April 4, 2019

A group of California counties and cities is desperate to join European colleagues in imposing a congestion tax on commuters. The Southern California Association of Governments issued a federally funded report last week exploring the feasibility of tolling drivers who enter downtown Los Angeles, raising money for transit and bicycle lanes.

The study looked at various LA neighborhoods to determine where gridlock could best be exploited to raise funds. The options included Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), Hollywood, the downtown area, the San Fernando Valley, Santa Monica and Westside. The researchers said the tax would increase the number of people using bicycles by nine percent and walking by seven percent. According to the report, Angelenos will enjoy paying the charge because of these benefits.

congestion tax Los Angeles London congestion pricing London congestion tax

Mixed bag legal opinion over co-mingling of funds for toll roads

Mixed bag legal opinion over co-mingling of funds for toll roads
Attorney General can’t figure out what a toll road is
By Terri Hall
May 19, 2018

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton issued a mixed legal opinion regarding whether or not Prop 1 and Prop 7 funds that are prohibited from being used on toll roads could be co-mingled with projects that have toll lanes in them. Rep. Joe Pickett requested the opinion in response to the public backlash when it was discovered the Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority was attempting to use Prop 1 and Prop 7 funds on its US 183 toll project.

To the average voter, when it states: “Revenue transferred to the state highway fund under this subsection may be used only for constructing, maintaining, and acquiring rights-of-way for public roadways other than toll roads,” it’s pretty clear that means any part of a road, including the right of way, cannot be a toll road. But apparently that’s not clear to the Attorney General whose legal opinion chose to punt rather than protect taxpayers from an accounting trick being used by toll bureaucrats to skirt the Texas Constitutional Amendments overwhelmingly approved by Texas voters in 2014 and 2015.

toll roads Prop 1 Prop 7 Ken Paxton Texas Attorney General

Funding shortfall due to TxDOT's failure to fund priorities

IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 25, 2018

Conservative Grassroots Leaders say,

“Highway-funding shortfall problem is TxDOT’s own making.”

Governor, lawmakers need to demand accountability first

Austin, TX - A Texas-sized highway-funding problem is heating up, and three grassroots groups who lead a statewide coalition of anti-toll road activists who support the “no more toll roads – no more debt” policies of Governor Greg Abbott and Lt. Governor Dan Patrick are fighting well-funded, toll-loving special interests.

Texans Uniting for Reform and Freedom (TURF), Texans for Toll-free Highways PAC, and Grassroots America - We the People PAC contend the much-lamented funding shortfall is largely due to the Texas Department of Transportation’s (TxDOT) bloat and mismanagement of funds. While metropolitan areas scramble to re-allocate funds to advance projects without tolls, as Governor Greg Abbott and Lt. Governor Dan Patrick directed last November, the anti-toll groups argue TxDOT intentionally squandered the nearly $5 billion a year in new funding on low priority projects so they could force toll roads on urban commuters.

Trump coalition letter presses Abbott to keep 'No Toll' promise

Link to story on it here.

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Coalition's call for 'No new toll taxes' from Trump creates problem for Abbott in Dallas

Grassroots Coalition wants Governor to keep his promise, while they go on offense against Trump plan for tolls

(April 18, 2018 - Austin, Texas) The Texas Conservative Grassroots Coalition's latest project - strong opposition to parts of the Trump infrastructure plan, which calls for toll roads and corporate welfare public/private partnerships - is being led by Texans Uniting for Reform and Freedom (TURF), Texans for Toll-free Highways, and Grassroots America - We the People PAC. The Coalition's opposition was voiced in a letter to President Donald J. Trump and expresses widespread displeasure among Texas conservative grassroots leaders with Trump's infrastructure plan.

"While some have called the Trump proposal DOA on Capitol Hill, we take nothing for granted and made the trip to D.C. to deliver it to the White House personally to ensure the President got the message from a BIG, red state with 38 electoral votes - we don't want tolls!" declares Terri Hall, Founder/Director of Texans for Toll-free Highways and Texas TURF.

JoAnn Fleming, Executive Director for Grassroots America - We the People PAC stated, "We are much more confident that Texas - under the leadership of Gov. Greg Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick - will make much sounder transportation decisions than the far-flung bureaucracy in Washington, which makes no actual progress in stopping wasteful practices or balancing the federal budget! This is why we support a federal block grant of our federal highway funds back to Texas with a bare minimum of federal strings."

JoAnn Fleming Trump infrastructure proposal Trump tolls Abbott no toll promise

Toll bureaucracies irked at cap on toll fines

Link to article here.

Lawmakers clash with toll bureaucracies over cap on toll fines
By Terri Hall
March 11, 2018
Selous Foundation for Public Policy Research

It’s a great day for Texas drivers as a new law takes effect capping the toll fines and fees on some Texas tollways to $48 a year. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton issued an opinion just as the law took effect that said the new law applies to all toll entities, but only under a limited section of the Transportation Code — Chapter 228. This has put toll agencies, like the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT), on a collision course with lawmakers over the interpretation of how broadly the law impacts certain toll projects.

Paxton did assert the new law applies to “an entity operating a toll lane pursuant to Section 228.007(b), Transportation Code,” which brings in every type of toll entity. However, most toll projects are not governed by agreements with TxDOT under Chapter 228, so toll bureaucracies argue the new law, passed as part of SB 312 last year, only applies to a handful of toll projects.

Greg Abbott SB 312 toll fines Ken Paxton Dan Patrick Tony Dale

Cost of driving down, but tolls, taxes erase any gains for taxpayers

Cost of car ownership down, but tolls, taxes continue to rise
By Terri Hall
January 31, 2018

Americans should be celebrating the lower cost of driving between 2016 and 2017, but the tolls and taxes being imposed by government threaten to erase any gains motorists might have enjoyed. According to a recent report by the U.S. Department of Transportation, Transportation Economic Trends of 2017, the number of miles traveled by Americans went up 7.9% since 2014 (17.3% since 2000) with a slight 2.2% drop in the overall cost of private transportation (including a .5% drop in the cost of buying a new or used vehicle and an 11.5% decrease in fuel costs). However, taxes on vehicles increased 2.1%, parking fees and tolls (imposed by government) rose 2.8%, and car maintenance and repair went up 1.7%. With car insurance spiking 6.2% and housing costs soaring 6%, these cost increases effectively erase any cost savings motorists experienced.

Several developments compound the frustration of motorists who can’t seem to cut a break. Many cities across America tilt left, politically, and they’ve declared war on cars and use gasoline taxes collected from motorists in order to erect impediments to driving through a variety of traffic calming and social engineering gimmicks.

tolls cost of driving

Tolls hit $44 one way in D.C., how long before we see same in Texas?

Link to article here.

Out of control: Commuters clobbered with $44 one way in tolls
By Terri Hall
December 22, 2017

Tolls hit $44 one way to go 10 miles on Interstate 66 in Virginia. Rub your eyes and read that again. Tolls have become the new ‘drug’ of choice for politicians and bureaucrats. It’s become a legalized form of highway robbery. While elected officials try to navigate the mess they’ve made by unleashing unelected transportation bureaucrats with the unfettered power to enter into secret contracts with foreign corporations behind closed doors and giving them carte blanche access to commuters wallets with virtually no limit, it’s no wonder toll rates have reached unsustainable levels in a few short years after state lawmakers embarked on the grand toll experiment.

With little checks and balances, commuters are now locked into congestion misery or face financial hardship the likes of which have never been seen in America simply to get to work. For many, working will no longer pay the cost of getting there. It’s not just I-66, but also interstates 95, 395, and 495. Express toll lanes, often referred to as ‘managed’ lanes, are the new normal in many metropolitan areas, especially in states that jumped on board early due to the influence of Bob Poole and the Reason Foundation — like Florida, Texas, and Virginia.

Rick Perry Greg Abbott Managed lanes public private partnerships I-66 toll lanes

Abbott, Patrick: 'No more tolls'

Abbott, Patrick tame rogue highway department, scrap toll projects
By Terri Hall
November 17, 2017

It’s not very often that the lowly taxpayer gets a win this big, but it finally came. After 12 years of wrangling over toll roads, Governor Greg Abbott and Lt. Governor Dan Patrick came to the rescue issuing a final decree ending toll roads in Texas. The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) ignited a taxpayer revolt when it proposed 15 new toll projects as part of the update to its ten year plan — the Unified Transportation Plan (UTP). Not only did TxDOT try to railroad a litany of toll projects, it adopted a plan to use Prop 1 and Prop 7 funds that are constitutionally protected from going to toll projects to finance the US 183 toll project in Austin.

Abbott campaigned on the promise of fixing Texas roads without raising taxes, fees, debt or tolls. He reiterated his position in his first State of the State address in 2015 as well as when he announced his Texas Clear Lanes initiative that was to focus funding on the state’s most congested roads.

Greg Abbott Texas toll roads, Dan Patrick

OUTRAGEOUS: MoPac tolls top $8 to use toll lanes in rush hour

Link to article here.

Tolls top $8 for commute on newly opened MoPac toll lanes
By Terri Hall
October 24, 2017

It didn’t take long for toll rates to exceed affordability. The newly opened toll managed lanes on MoPac (from Lady Bird Lake to Parmer Lane) in Austin topped $8 to go 11 miles, and cost $6.28 to drive the northern 6 miles during the evening commute. That’s just in the first week of operation. If you think that’s insane, that’s because it is. No one should have to pay over $1 a mile to get to or from work in a reasonable time. Texans pay a litany of road taxes, primarily the gasoline tax, to pay for public highways. Twice in as many years, Texas voters gave the largest boost in road funding to the state highway fund — totaling nearly $5 billion more per year. Yet supercharged toll roads continue to come online virtually unabated.

Toll managed lanes like those on MoPac use congestion pricing. The toll you pay no longer relates to the actual cost of building the road you’re driving on. Now tolls vary based on the level of congestion, rising and falling continually throughout peak hours, potentially changing in 5-minute intervals. Toll roads often provide time reliability, but today’s congestion tolling means you don’t have price reliability. A study done in 2016 by the Texas Transportation Institute at A&M, found that congestion tolling both angers and confuses the public. It states one of the biggest challenges is public acceptance.

Mopac toll lanes, congestion tolling

GONE: Trump yanks P3s and private toll roads from plan

Link to article here.

Trump pulls the plug on private toll roads, centerpiece of infrastructure plan
By Terri Hall
Setpember 30, 2017

It’s big news for taxpayers, but for the special interests who have been pushing public private partnerships (P3s) and toll roads as the way to fund $1 trillion in upgrades to America’s infrastructure not so much. This week, President Donald Trump officially pulled the plug on P3s as the centerpiece to his infrastructure plan.

The president said simply, “They don’t work.”

Trump mentioned it in a meeting with members of the House Ways and Means Committee on Tuesday as the president met with lawmakers to discuss tax reform. Citing the failure of the Interstate-69 P3 contract done under Vice President Mike Pence when he was governor of Indiana, the state recently had to sever the contract, take over the project, and issue its own debt to get it finished.

toll roads Donald Trump

Victory! Tolls come off several Texas highways

Tolls come down: Precedent set as toll comes off two Texas highways
By Terri Hall
August 19, 2017

The bureaucrats couldn’t fight the momentum. Texans have been calling for tolls to come off roads once they’re paid for and thanks to passage of Senate Bill 312, the Texas Transportation Commission voted to do just that on Camino Colombia SH 255 in Laredo and on Cesar Chavez Border Highway in El Paso. To add icing on the cake, the Dallas City Council also voted to deep six the controversial Trinity Toll Road after a 20 year battle, and the Commission is also mulling changing plans on US 183 North in Austin to expand it as non-toll instead of tolled. All that in a matter of weeks.

The last time tolls were removed from a road in Texas was in 1977 — forty years ago. But it’s not without some wailing and gnashing of teeth by the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) and the Commission that governs it.

Joe Pickett SB 312 toll removal Camino Colombia Cesar Chavez Border Highway

Texans angered over SH 130 bankruptcy deal that wipes out money owed to taxpayers

Zero: Money owed taxpayers for SH 130 toll road erased by bankruptcy court
By Terri Hall
July 8, 2017

The defunct SH 130 tollway just emerged from bankruptcy court and the news isn’t good for taxpayers. In 2007, the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) entered into a Comprehensive Development Agreement, or public private partnership, with SH 130 Concession Company, a subsidiary of Spain-based Cintra and Zachry Toll Road 56, which had ownership dispersed among Australian and many other foreign entities. The 41-mile southern stretch of SH 130 opened in November 2012, designed to be a bypass around congested downtown Austin. But the traffic never materialized and the private concession company sought bankruptcy protection in March 2016. According to the terms that emerged from bankruptcy court, all of the private entity’s $1.4 billion debt was wiped away, leaving federal taxpayers left holding the bag for the $430 million federally-backed Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA) loan given to the private entities.

Texas taxpayers feel betrayed. Former Texas Transportation Commission Chairman Ric Williamson swore under oath before the Senate Transportation Committee on March 1, 2007, that if the private entities went bankrupt, the Texas taxpayers would get the road back free and clear of any debt. Free and clear means no debt obligations, and therefore no need to continue to charge tolls for usage. However, that didn’t happen. Instead, new owners were brought in, Strategic Value Partners, $260 million in new debt was issued, and the new private company will continue to charge tolls until the contract is up in 2062 — for a road that now owes virtually no debt compared to its original $1.4 billion.

SH 130 bankruptcy Cintra Donald Trump SH 130 Concession Company Macquarie Jim Chanos

Reforms make it to Governor's desk

IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Terri Hall, Director,
Texas TURF, & Texans for Toll-free Highways
(210) 275-0640

Anti-toll reforms finally pass Texas legislature

Reforms changed in conference, but still cripple future toll roads

(Austin, TX - Sunday, May 28, 2017) As the Texas legislature comes to a close tomorrow, a must-pass bill to continue the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT), SB 312, cleared its final hurdle yesterday evening. The House passed a strong anti-toll bill May 17, adding several good anti-toll measures pushed by grassroots pro-taxpayer groups for over a decade. But rather than concur with the strong House version, the Senate chose to reject the House version (which signaled trouble ahead), forcing both the House and Senate to appoint a conference committee to work out the differences in the bill.

This is where the chicanery usually happens, and it did.

The House suspended the rules and rushed a vote to concur with the conference committee's changes and the Senate followed before it adjourned Saturday evening as well - pushing passage of a 100-page bill before anyone could read what was in it.

Robert Nichols

Killing the private toll road bill made national news!

We did it! Not only did we send a message to Texas lawmakers and special interests that the Rick Perry era of toll roads is over, we also sent a message to the Trump Administration that private toll roads are dead on arrival in Texas!

Watch the Bloomberg story on it here.

public private partnerships Donald Trump Bloomberg

VICTORY: Grassroots KILL private toll bill, secure Abbott's vision for toll-free future

IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT: Terri Hall, (210) 275-0640

Defeat of private toll road bill affirms Abbott's pledge to voters

Promise to fix roads without new tolls or debt gets bipartisan support

(Austin, TX - Friday, May 5, 2017) Texas taxpayers can breathe a sigh of relief tonight as a bipartisan effort to defeat expansion of private toll roads in Texas went down in flames by a vote of 79-51 in the Texas House. Taxpayer champions Rep. Jeff Leach (R - Plano), Rep. Jonathan Stickland (R - Bedford), and Rep. Joe Pickett (D - El Paso) led the floor fight, noting 90% of Democrats and 95% of Republicans oppose new toll roads in Texas, and both party platforms oppose privatized toll roads in particular. Governor Greg Abbott promised to fix Texas roads without new tolls or debt, and the Texas House delivered on that promise today by killing Rep. Larry Phillips HB 2861.

Pickett and Stickland made impassioned speeches opposing the bill. Leach emphasized both party platforms oppose this type of toll project and that the voters just gave the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) $5 billion a year in new funding by passing Proposition 1 and Proposition 7.

Joe Pickett public private partnerships HB 2861 Larry Phillips Comprehensive Development Agreement Jeff Leach Jonathan Stickland

Trump floats gas tax hike after tolls get cold shoulder

Link to article here.

Trump floats gas tax increase after cold reception to privatized toll roads
By Terri Hall
May 5, 2017

It’s tough being a change-agent. Newly minted President Donald Trump came into office with high hopes of a major infrastructure overhaul. With the nation’s crumbling bridges, pothole stricken roads, and millions of commuters choking in urban congestion, Trump had a big plan to harness the private sector through public private partnerships (P3s) to address congestion by adding toll lanes. The problem is those privatized toll lanes grant private, usually foreign, entities monopolies over vital public highways where the companies are given the exclusive right to extract the highest possible tolls for 50-99 years.

With the pushback to P3s coming fast and furious from working class families to truckers, Trump has begun to change his tack. After meeting with members of the trucking industry this week, Trump has floated the idea of a federal gas tax increase to raise the revenue necessary for the big infrastructure fix. Truckers prefer a gas tax increase to tolls.

Here’s the back story. The National Highway Trust Fund, which is funded with a federal gasoline tax of 18.4 cents per gallon, has teetered on the edge of bankruptcy for over a decade while the gas tax has remained unchanged since 1993. Inflation has diminished its buying power over the last 24 years, and members of congress have been reluctant to raise it. Under President George W. Bush, many Republicans pushed road privatization and implementing toll ‘managed’ lanes as the means to finance road projects as perpetual road funding shortfalls plagued the highway system.

public private partnerships Donald Trump federal gas tax incease

SH 130 Edition Trailer

Texans know what they like:

The Pitfalls of P3s

Full Film Now Online!

Lawmakers leave without giving drivers toll tax relief

Commentary: Mega Transit Agency in Valley Can’t Fix What’s Wrong with Transit Failures

Gas tax for infrastructure sparks fears of political backlash

Conservative Grassroots Leaders say,

“Highway-funding shortfall problem is TxDOT’s own making.”

Governor, lawmakers need to demand accountability first

Link to story on it here. IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Coalition's call for 'No new toll taxes' from Trump creates problem for Abbott in Dallas

Grassroots Coalition wants Governor to keep his promise, while they go on offense against Trump plan for tolls

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