The REAL truth behind today is that Governor Perry called the Legislature’s bluff. He successfully did what he did to win re-election…he got North Texas and Harris County to drink his poison pill last weekend (remember that three extra days he bought himself for arm-twisting by refusing to accept HB 1892), which was evidenced by the unanimous vote of the Senate Monday.

This is why veto overrides are so rare. The whole thing was a ruse. The Senate used HB 1892’s vote margins as leverage to get Perry to the table. They never intended to override him. Harvey Kronberg was right! The rest of this was a foregone conclusion ever since. Our San Antonio guys were ready to vote against this disastrous “compromise,” but voted for it since HB 1892 had a loophole for the corridor. So SB 792 with all it’s horrific flaws was the only means to get a moratorium that also included TTC 35. San Antonio roads were already in both (even stronger language made it into SB 792).

However, there are so many exceptions to this moratorium, that of all the CDAs currently being negotiated, only TTC 35, San Antonio, and El Paso are in it. The moratorium does stop TxDOT from signing more. So here we are again in yet another session where a last minute omnibus transportation bill where the good stuff gets watered down and the bad stuff gets rushed through with people voting on things WITH NO DEBATE. They had a shell of a debate with foregone conclusions at the outset. It ended up being like what happened to Senator Robert Nichols who was sandbagged and brought in and asked for his opinion on the bill AFTER they had the votes to outnumber him.

They had a special room off to the side of the House floor with TxDOT arm twisters…they defeated Macias’ amendment to restore open government and allow PUBLIC access to toll feasibility studies….they shut down EVERYTHING. That’s what they were being told would avoid a special session.

I don’t know how these guys sleep at night when they worry more about missing summer vacation, and hence the commencement of fundraising for the next election, than passing a good bill (stripping this “market valuation” language) or doing what the citizens ask. Don’t get mad at our San Antonio reps who heard you loud and clear; they asked us how to vote…we did the best we could given the circumstances. At least we could get the TTC 35 fixed. It’s the North Texas and Harris County reps that sold the rest of the state out.

If you want to take out your venom on someone, it’s the Senate. John Carona’s office assured us “no compromises” on the key provisions like the buy-back clauses. They said they were pushing to get the equivalent of HB 1892 or better. I beg to differ, it’s worse, far worse! This bill kicks the teeth out of the killer clause that would have chased off private operators for good. Instead, they’re just crippled. We could have knocked it out of the ballpark, but our representatives acted more like politicians than public servants. That market valuation language will bury this state under oppressive tolls if we don’t beat that door down next session. The Senate set the example of caving into the pressure so the House followed suit. They didn’t have the guts to take this Governor down and override his veto. They wanted summer break more than fighting FOR the citizens of Texas. The motivation to avoid special sessions is tied to our politicians’ ability to fundraise. Every day they’re in session, they cannot accept campaign contributions.

Guess Senator Carona’s concerns about high tolls only applies when they’re going to Cintra instead of his tolling authority. Both fleece the taxpayer, except under the PUBLIC toll road fleecing they justify it this way: “at least those high tolls go to build more roads.” Goodie! Are these Republicans we’re talking about here? Because this sounds like tax and spend if I’ve ever heard it.
We did get an amendment that PUT 281/1604 UNDER the moratorium (stronger than previous intent language)…but our REAL problem now is Perry’s NEW language that allows the same “market value” poison to be inflicted on us through PUBLIC tolling entities…we only stopped CDAs, not the toll train. They get you coming and going…

Market valuation just opened a new can of worms. TTC 69 is still on the table though support for it as a CDA is already starting to crack. The best medicine? VOTE the rascals out.

Perry is poison for this State and no one will go up against him even though we handed them the golden opportunity for a showdown with this Governor. Even Rep. Joe Pickett voted with KRUSEE!!!

All we truly got today was TTC 35 in the moratorium…everything else just got worse. The Governor beat them with his billy club and they said Uncle inside of 30 seconds without a whimper. Like Lee Iacocca says in his new book, Where have all the Leaders Gone?

Look, at this Ben Wear story (below)…today was all about making it acceptable to the Governor, and turf battles over the pot of money they can extract from “market-based” highways rather than about the PEOPLE of TX that have to pay for these horrific decisions for generations (with interest!)!

________________________________

Hitchhikers bogging down toll road bill
House treating Senate legislation as vehicle to move other stalled measures.

By Ben Wear
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Thursday, May 17, 2007
Senate Bill 792’s sprint through the Legislature has run into some head winds.

On Wednesday, odds appeared increasingly slim that the key toll road bill will make it to Gov. Rick Perry’s desk in time to avert a veto on another bill that SB 792 would replace.

And when it does get there, it probably will be carrying a fair amount of baggage.

SB 792, which passed the Senate unanimously Monday and then shot through bill sponsor Rep. Wayne Smith’s County Affairs Committee that evening, is on today’s House calendar.

A growing number of House members, according to Smith’s office, have begun to regard the must-pass toll road legislation as a handy vehicle on which to hang dead or dying bills.

By one estimate, there could be several dozen suggested amendments offered when the bill comes up today.

“I would hope that we could pass 792 without amendments, but that’s not likely,” Smith, a Baytown Republican, said Wednesday. “I hope that the members understand that their amendments should fit the spirit of the bill.”

Translated, that means: Don’t try to put anything on there that Perry wouldn’t like.

Given the rowdy nature of the House, and public pressure about toll roads, that might be asking too much.

For instance, Rep. Harvey Hilderbran, R-Kerrville, said Wednesday that he couldn’t support the bill without an amendment saying that no Trans-Texas Corridor projects would be built west of Interstate 35. Given that the Trans-Texas Corridor plan of cross-state tollways, railroads and utility lines is Perry’s centerpiece transportation policy, that amendment is not likely to sit well with the governor.

“We could end up with another bill on the governor’s desk that he’ll veto” if members push too far with changes, Smith said.

Perry’s office said he has until Friday at 11:59 p.m. to sign or veto House Bill 1892, or let it become law without his signature.

That bill contains many of the same elements as SB 792 — a partial moratorium on private toll road contracts, new limits on the terms of such contracts, sections giving local toll road agencies first shot at turnpikes in their areas — but was judged lacking by Perry.

He made it clear he would veto the bill and raised the specter of calling the Legislature into special session this summer if HB 1892 wasn’t replaced with a bill to his liking.

Senate Bill 792, which began life this session as HB 1892’s twin, became that vehicle.

Senators, the governor’s office and the Texas Department of Transportation spent several days working out the compromise passed by the Senate on Monday. Perry pronounced himself satisfied with that version.

Supporters hoped to run the bill through the House unchanged this week in time for Perry to sign it Friday, before the veto deadline for HB 1892. Under that scenario, HB 1892 would then be recalled from Perry by a legislative resolution and laid to rest.

But the sudden effusion of amendments, along with unease among House members about getting a complex, significant bill late in the session, slowed the process.

To address this, Smith’s office took the unusual step Wednesday of setting up a legislators-only room in a conference room behind the House chamber, complete with maps, the 64-page bill and other educational materials, so lawmakers could go by and learn how it might affect their House district.

At midafternoon, despite a desultory pace of legislating on the House floor, no members had yet visited the room.

If SB 792 does not get final passage in the House until Friday, and is loaded with amendments, it could be difficult to quickly reach accord with the Senate on a final bill. That in turn would force Perry to veto HB 1892, something that Smith and legislators working on the alternative bill have hoped to avoid.

Might they vote to pull HB 1892 back from the governor’s desk even before SB 792 is fully cooked?

No, Smith said. “I think the members would revolt if we withdraw 1892 before the governor signs 792.”

The House got its chance to vote on the Governor’s compromise bill. When the good guys stepped into the House chambers this afternoon to deliberate SB 792, the Governor’s compromise bill, they were ready to defeat SB 792 that spit in the face of Texans. THEN, the grassroots actually managed to stage a coup of its own…

Trans Texas Corridor expert and grassroots hero, David Stall of Corridor Watch, found a loophole in both HB 1892 and SB 792 that WOULD HAVE ALLOWED TXDOT TO EXPLOIT the language to CONTINUE THE TTC! Since TxDOT already signed the CDA private toll contract for the Trans Texas Corridor, they then moved to use a different type of contract to actually build each segment called a “facility agreement.” Unless this type of agreement was explicitly laid out in the moratorium language, we would have all thought we had a moratorium that covered the Trans Texas Corridor but didn’t, leaving the Governor and TxDOT a gaping LOOPHOLE that would have fooled everyone!

So in order to make certain the Trans Texas Corridor was IN FACT PART OF the moratorium, Rep. Lois Kolkhorst, original author of the moratorium bill, passed an amendment to fix it. Once she did, now the only way to prevent the TTC was to support SB 792 since HB 1892 didn’t stop the corridor.

Now that said, there was a HEAP of HORRIFIC provisions in SB 792 that we still attempted to fix. The BIG WIN was Rep. Joe Farias adding an explicit amendment (not just an intent dialogue like we did with HB 1892 since Wentworth left the door open to tolling 1604) to ensure both 281 AND Loop 1604 are INCLUDED in the moratorium.

Rep. Nathan Macias (backed up by our San Antonio delegation and many rural reps) tried to defend open government by preventing a clause that made toll feasibility studies and financial forecasts CONFIDENTIAL. We realized both HB 1892 and SB 792 made these studies that are currently PUBLIC, CONFIDENTIAL. Of course, Mike Krusee stood up to defeat it along with some North Texas legislators who were more concerned about getting this compromise bill to the Governor than passing a bill that promotes open government and transparency. Every rep who voted AGAINST open government ought to pay a price!

Many reps shared our concerns about the market valuation provisions, but at the end of the day, they preferred getting a bill through that the Senate (who suddenly made nicey nice with a detested Governor rather than grow a back bone) and Governor would accept. There were technical problems with HB 1892 that North Texas wanted to fix and it was clear they were pulling their support from HB 1892 (with the help of Senator Jeff Wentworth who worked the House floor the ENTIRE debate!). Also, the TTC was not under the moratorium in that bill, so we directed our reps to support the amended SB 792, in spite of it being gutted. We shouldn’t have to hold our noses to get what the PEOPLE clearly want. I particularly applaud our San Antonio reps for being willing to stick with us AGAINST SB 792, but for the sake of the TTC, we asked them to vote FOR it.

There’s plenty in SB 792 to claim victory, but it presents even more BAD provisions we’ll have to tackle next session when both TxDOT and CDAs will sunset. Victories include getting the TTC, 281/1604, and El Paso under the moratorium, much tighter CDA provisions like limiting non-competes for the contracts NOT under the moratorium, end to ALL CDAs in 2009, doubling TxDOT’s bonding capacity, and requiring public disclosure of toll rates and other financial information PRIOR to any contracts being signed.

The bill passed 145-2, with Rep. Macias and Rep. Riddle protesting the bad provisions and due to their colleagues rejecting their attempted reforms. Macias said, “I didn’t want to look back 4 years from now and regret voting for such a bad bill.”

Let’s remember…if the Governor signs SB 792, we will have achieved a private toll moratorium on 281/1604 and the TTC that NO ONE thought possible only 5 months ago! It’s still a MAJOR victory for the grassroots….we killed $106 billion total in private toll deals currently on the table that would have given a foreign company access to our wallets for 50+ years!

Link to article here.

Just days after Alliance 69 asked the Governor to veto the county powers/private toll moratorium bill, HB 1892, at a press conference last Friday, the Harris County Commissioners shot back by withdrawing their membership from Alliance 69 due to them taking a position advocating a private toll CDA Trans Texas Corridor approach to getting interstate 69 built. Harris County is against the Trans Texas Corridor and believes I-69 should be built as an interstate as originally planned, not as a toll road. Yesterday’s move by Harris County is quite a blow to the pro-CDA, pro-toll “yes” men in Alliance 69.

May 15, 2007
County lawmakers vote to drop out of I-69 alliance

By BILL MURPHY and RAD SALLEE
Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle

Commissioners Court voted today to withdraw the county’s membership in the Alliance for I-69 Texas, an organization that has long supported converting U.S. 59 through East and South Texas into an interstate highway.

Harris County has paid $50,000 in annual membership fees to the alliance, a coalition of counties, towns, chambers of commerce and others.

“It has always been my position that we spend too much money on membership fees and get no real value for the dollars we spend,” said Commissioner Sylvia Garcia.

The vote on County Judge Ed Emmett’s motion to withdraw from the organization was unanimous.

The county is at odds with the I-69 alliance over its request that Gov. Rick Perry veto a state transportation bill because it includes a two-year moratorium on long-term contracts between the state and private firms to build and operate toll roads for profit.

The county wants the bill signed into law because another largely unrelated provision would empower the Harris County Toll Road Authority to build toll roads on Texas Department of Transportation right of way.

Emmett said the I-69 alliance, acting on advice from state highway officials, appears to have given up on building Interstate 69, and now supports constructing a Trans-Texas Corridor toll road roughly parallel to the existing U.S. 59.

The Trans-Texas Corridor system, pushed by Perry, would be a network of toll roads, railways, and pipelines contained within wide rights of way crisscrossing the state. The Texas Department of Transportation contends that funding the state’s future highway needs, including one along U.S. 59, requires the public-private partnerships that the moratorium would temporarily suspend.

“The alliance’s interests have changed since Harris County joined it,” Emmett said. “The original intent was to upgrade U.S. 59 to an interstate.”

John Thompson, I-69 alliance chairman and Polk county judge, said I-69 will remain a viable project so long as lawmakers do not ban the private-public contracts that may be needed to build it.

The moratorium and related provisions, however, would have been “devastating” to I-69 plans, Thompson said.

He said the only part of the House bill that the alliance objected to was the moratorium on these contracts. It did not object to the provision relating to TxDOT and the Harris County Toll Road Authority.

Even if a tolled corridor is built parallel to U.S. 59, Thompson said he still favors converting the present road into an interstate through East Texas, with the toll road being used mainly by heavy trucks going long distances.

On Monday, the state Senate unanimously passed a compromise bill that might satisfy both sides. The bill, SB 792, is expected to be fast-tracked in the House for a possible vote Thursday.

A TxDOT spokesman said the department does not comment on pending legislation.

I-69, sometimes called the NAFTA Highway (for North American Free Trade Agreement) was conceived as a corridor connecting Mexico and Canada with the U.S. heartland. The Texas segment would be 800 to 1,000 miles long and skirt suburban Houston.

Whatever plan ultimately emerges, completion of the project would cost billions of dollars and take decades.

If Governor Perry and his buddy, Transportation Commission Chairman Ric Williamson, can no longer write their own ticket on private toll contracts (CDAs) due to the moratorium bill HB 1892, they decided to make PUBLIC toll entities just as insidious as private ones with a provision in the “compromise” bill SB 792. That provision is called “market valuation.” It essentially allows the PUBLIC toll entity to view the toll project as an asset (Ric Williamson’s stated goal) on the open market like these private companies do, and would handle the project like a private toll contract and determine an upfront payment to be paid to the government based on its determined worth. This is just like Cintra offering Dallas officials $2.8 billion up front for Hwy 121 in exchange for the right to collect tolls for 50 years.

In short, “market valuation” translates into the HIGHEST POSSIBLE TOLLS for our citizens, which is one of the primary complaints of using these private toll contracts.

So if this “compromise” bill, SB 792, passes with this language, the moratorium is useless since the PUBLIC toll entities would now function like these private toll companies. Dennis Enright, Public Private Partnership expert who testified at Senator John Carona’s hearing March 1, said CDAs cost 50% more and that toll projects should remain in the PUBLIC sector. But inject this “market valuation” scheme, and you end up with the same high toll escalation and increased costs to motorists as the private toll contracts. Williamson actually chided the Legislature for trying to keep the tolls as low as possible with traditional turnpikes. Instead of just selling public bonds to finance the construction of the road and charging tolls until that bond debt is retired like a traditional toll road, Perry and Williamson (and their road lobby friends) want to siphon our hard earned income into their toll road slush fund.

Our highways belong to TEXANS and they’re not “assets” for Perry or Willliamson to maximize the value of. The point of toll projects is to accelerate road projects and provide transportation not to treat them as assets for sale. Our highway system cannot infuse “market” principles. We have a limited government supply of highways; it’s not a ubiquitous product in a competitive environment like choosing between the many different types and brands of potato chips. There’s only ONE Hwy 281, and only ONE Hwy 121. This “market” approach is more akin to state run capitalism through the granting of monopolies than it is free market as they would have us believe.

Contact your State Representative NOW to ask them to change this bill!

ACTION ALERT!
CALL YOUR REPRESENTATIVE RIGHT NOW and ask them respectfully but firmly to:

“Stand strong in support of the provisions in HB 1892. You need to keep taxpayer protections and strip the ‘market valuation’ language in SB 792 to make this bill acceptable! Be ready to override any Governor veto.”

Find out who your reps are here.

You may contact each representative by calling the Capitol switchboard: (512) 463-4630 and/or via email below:

San Antonio State Representatives:

Rep. Joe Farias, joe.farias@house.state.tx.us
Rep. David Leibowitz, david.leibowitz@house.state.tx.us
Rep. Nathan Macias, nathan.macias@house.state.tx.us
Rep. Joe Straus, joe.straus@house.state.tx.us
Rep. Joaquin Castro, joaquin.castro@house.state.tx.us
Rep. Trey Martinez-Fischer – trey.martinezfischer@house.state.tx.us
Rep. Frank Corte – STREP123@aol.com
Rep. Ruth McClendon-Jones – ruth.mcclendon@house.state.tx.us
Rep. Jose Menendez – jose.menendez@house.state.tx.us
Rep. Robert Puente – robert.puente@house.state.tx.us
Rep. Mike Villarreal – michael.villarreal@house.state.tx.us
Rep. Edmund Kuempel – edmund.kuempel@house.state.tx.us

See letter from House Transportation Committee Chairman James Oberstar and Vice Chair Peter DeFazio here.

Press Release

Committee Leaders Warn States Against Rushing into Public-Private Partnerships Involving National Highways

Committee Chairman Jim Oberstar and Highways Subcommittee Chairman Peter DeFazio object to highway ventures involving public private partnerships, also known as PPPs.

By Jim Berard (202) 226-5064

The Chairmen of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure and the Subcommittee on Highways and Transit are warning states against rushing into public-private partnerships involving national highways.

In a letter sent to governors, state legislators, and state transportation officials on Friday, Committee Chairman James L. Oberstar (Minn.) and Subcommittee Chairman Peter A. DeFazio ( Ore. ) said many such arrangements, also called PPPs, do not protect the public interest.

“Although we invite all financing options to be on the table as we evaluate opportunities to increase investment in our nation’s infrastructure, we strongly caution you against rushing into PPPs that do not fully protect the public interest, the integrity of the national system, and which do not constitute a sustainable national system of transportation financing,” the Chairmen wrote.

The letter expressed strong concerns over states and local authorities leasing toll facilities to private operators.

“These deals make good business sense to the companies that are investing in the projects, but we have serious concerns about whether these transactions offer a net balance of benefits for the American public,” it read.

The letter further cited the Bush Administration’s efforts to promote highway PPPs, to the point of drafting model legislation for states to adopt. The Committee is preparing a discussion paper to present its concerns in more detail and answer the Administration’s claims.

The Chairmen advised the states that the Committee could take action against some PPPs in the next surface transportation bill, due in 2009.

“The Committee will work to undo any state PPP agreements that do not fully protect the public interest and the integrity of the national system,” the letter read.

The Senate SOLD US OUT! Call your Reps to tell them to CHANGE SB 792! We expect the provisions from HB 1892 to become LAW! The Senate voted on an 80 page bill the Governor is pushing without even reading it…SB 792 has an exception for the Trans Texas Corridor I-69 project to move ahead using a private toll CDA and added “market valuation” language that would turn tolling authorities into mini-Cintras! Apparently the senators were more concerned about missing their summer vacations due to the Governor’s special session threats than they were about REPRESENTING YOU!

What happened to Senator Kevin Eltife who said “we’ve created a monster” in TxDOT. What happened to Senator Steve Ogden who said he was righting past sins this session having felt betrayed by toll road legislation author Mike Krusee in 2003? What happened to John Carona and David Dewhurst who warned of sky high toll escalation in the hands of a foreign company? What happened to the 27 senators who voted FOR HB 1892 only to cave to a dictator in less than a week? This Senate just weakened the Legislative branch of government. We’re headed for a full throttle dictatorship under a rogue Governor.

It’s nothing short of stunning…we need to UNLEASH VOTER FURY and show these guys that they ought to FEAR the voters more than Mr. 39% Perry’s veto pen! Flood them with RELENTLESS phone calls and emails! WE ARE the owners of government, not the foreign companies salivating over our PUBLIC highways and the Governor they’ve got in their hip pocket! We will accept nothing less than the moratorium with needed protections becoming LAW!

We’re Texans, now act like it!

ACTION ALERT!
CALL YOUR REPRESENTATIVE RIGHT NOW and ask them respectfully but firmly to:

“Stand strong in support of the provisions from HB 1892. You need to keep taxpayer protections and strip the ‘market valuation’ language in SB 792 to make this bill acceptable! Be ready to override any veto.”

Find out who your reps are here.

You may contact each representative by calling the Capitol switchboard: (512) 463-4630 and/or via email below:

San Antonio State Representatives:

Rep. Joe Farias, joe.farias@house.state.tx.us
Rep. David Leibowitz, david.leibowitz@house.state.tx.us
Rep. Nathan Macias, nathan.macias@house.state.tx.us
Rep. Joe Straus, joe.straus@house.state.tx.us
Rep. Joaquin Castro, joaquin.castro@house.state.tx.us
Rep. Trey Martinez-Fischer – trey.martinezfischer@house.state.tx.us
Rep. Frank Corte – STREP123@aol.com
Rep. Ruth McClendon-Jones – ruth.mcclendon@house.state.tx.us
Rep. Jose Menendez – jose.menendez@house.state.tx.us
Rep. Robert Puente – robert.puente@house.state.tx.us
Rep. Mike Villarreal – michael.villarreal@house.state.tx.us
Rep. Edmund Kuempel – edmund.kuempel@house.state.tx.us

San Antonio Area Senators who voted FOR the Governor’s bill:
Sen. Leticia Van de Putte, leticia.vandeputte@senate.state.tx.us
Sen. Jeff Wentworth, jeff.wentworth@senate.state.tx.us
Sen. Carlos Uresti, carlos.uresti@senate.state.tx.us
Sen. Judith Zaffirini, judith.zaffirini@senate.state.tx.us

We’ve come so far, we cannot let the special interests win now…

Let’s keep it simple. There’s a reason why the City, counties, and the State chose a Saturday to hold an election…classic low turnout allowing BIG government to get even bigger. So if you’re the guy trying to pull a fast one on the taxpayers, YOU WIN by virtue of more people shopping for Mother’s Day and gearing up for Spurs magic instead of getting around to voting for little known candidates and a bond package sold to voters as FREE, “It’ll only cost you a ‘yes’ vote.” And frankly, we couldn’t even endorse a candidate in so many races because there wasn’t a clear anti-toll candidate, that many just stayed home because there wasn’t anyone to vote for.
So San Antonio’s big employers (think Zachry) and the Greater Chamber types had their votes pull more weight than the average taxpayer about to get fleeced by paying DOUBLE the cost for every project over the life of a very pricey 40 year loan. Expect your property taxes to continue to skyrocket to bail the City out of this one…

Also expect your roads to get torn up all over the City, all at once, with no alternative routes planned by our friendly neighborhood pro-toll Public Works Director, Mr. Tom Wendorf and his partner in crime, TxDOT. And since 17 of these projects have no identified funding to complete them, expect the City to come back to the taxpayers with more tax increases or bond debt to put them all back together again.

District 8 candidate, Jacob Dell, pointed out that only 53% of the City’s budget goes to fund government necessities required in the City’s charter, the remaining 49% is non-governmental, non-essential fluff like $800,000 in corporate welfare to Express Jet for advertising and $515 million in property tax breaks for the world’s biggest billionaire, Bill Gates, in the Microsoft deal. That’s how the City gets away with coming to the voters to approve a $550 million, 40 year bond (loan). They fail to squander the taxes YOU ALREADY GIVE THEM so they can claim there’s no money for necessities like roads and drainage.

Drainage issues in particular have bubbled to the surface in the past 5-10 years due the City’s horrible planning and flawed development practices. They’ve allowed such rampant development that now areas of the City that NEVER had flooding or drainage problems now have them. The Army Corp of Engineers has had to change the floor plains and is requiring homeowners who have been in their homes for decades without any problems to have flood insurance. AND, the taxpayers now have to bail out the City’s overdevelopment with Prop 2 long-term debt to fix the out of control drainage problems.

There’s a high price to pay for being too busy to vote…re-election or a bond passing does not a mandate make. We’ll weigh in on the run-offs soon…but expect an endorsement for Jacob Dell in District 8!

No sooner than our call to contact your congressman and Senator Hutchison to call off the Federal Highway Administration dogs trying to interfere with STATE legislation, HB 1892, did we find out that U.S. Congressman Nick Lampson (Houston area) went after Secretary of Transportation Mary Peters in the House Committee on Transportation THIS VERY MORNING!

Your calls and interaction with our federal representatives are working, not to mention Harris County and its toll authority wants HB 1892 to pass as much as we do! HB 1892 is also a bill that allows counties, not TxDOT and thus private partners, the FIRST right of refusal to build toll projects. The battle over 121 in North Texas is being exploited by Perry to defeat HB 1892.

Here’s a glimpse of the gems by Lampson:

“Madam Secretary, NTTA (North Texas Toll Authority), declined to bid on SH 121 because of extortion by TxDOT, not out of it own free will.”

“Proffering policy advocacy by FHWA at this delicate juncture in our legislative process is HIGHLY INAPPROPRIATE.”

Kudos to Rep. Lampson.

_______________________________

May 11, 2007

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

WASHINGTON, D.C. – During a House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee hearing today, Congressman Nick Lampson (D-Stafford) strongly questioned U.S. Department of Transportation (“DOT”) Secretary Mary Peters regarding DOT’s interference with a bill passed by the Texas state legislature concerning public control of state toll roads.  The Texas Department of Transportation (“TxDOT”) had recently coordinated with the DOT”s Federal Highway Administration (“FHWA”), resulting in policy letters to TxDOT that highlighted certain policy disagreements with the state legislature’s bill, H.B. 1892, as passed.  The bill now awaits a publicly acknowledged, forthcoming veto by Texas Governor Rick Perry.

“The federal government should not be interfering with Texas counties’ control over their own toll roads, and more importantly, should not be interfering with any state issue, period,” said Congressman Lampson.  “I am pleased to be working with Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison on this issue so that we can protect matters that are rightfully within the jurisdiction of the Texas state legislature.”

H.B. 1892, as originally passed, would allow for the North Texas Tollway Authority to bid on the development of toll roads on State Highway 121, located in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.  This legislation, and FHWA’s subsequent letters, have major implications for several major toll roads throughout Texas, including Harris County.  At today’s Committee hearing, Congressman Lampson questioned Secretary Peters as to why the DOT issued multiple letters highlighting its views on this particular state legislature issue.  These letters, in no uncertain terms, threatened to block federal highway funding for state roads if H.B. 1892 is implemented in its current form as passed.

“County officials are rightfully upset about the actions of Governor Perry, TxDOT, and the FHWA, and I will continue to work with them and my Texan colleagues in Congress to address their concerns in the future,” added Congressman Lampson.

After leading the press to believe he was going to make an “announcement” at a press conference Friday, May 11, where he would threaten to call continual special sessions until he got his way with HB 1892, Governor Rick Perry was a no show.

Instead, he trotted out all the usual tollers, most from North Texas, and one from the Port of Corpus Cristi to opine about HB 1892. The only real news to come of it was when Ben Wear asked one, out of only two questions from the press, about the viability of tolling I-69 in South Texas. Alan Johnson with the Harlingen Chamber of Commerce then admitted I-69 from Corpus Cristi to about Victoria isn’t toll viable (which is how they plan to build/fund the I-69 corridor, with a CDA toll contract).

Judy Hawley with Port of Corpus Cristi, also made a noteworthy statement that without CDA PRIVATE toll contracts, it will greatly impede their ability to keep GLOBAL trade moving and inhibit their ability to continue building trade corridors. My question is this? Why should Texas taxpayers have to pay for a TRADE CORRIDOR to benefit PRIVATE GLOBAL CORPORATIONS? And why should Texans bear the brunt of our Nation’s commerce? Texas taxpayers pay for these trade corridors through environmental studies, legal costs, and engineering as we already have for the Trans Texas Corridor TTC-35 plans. Let the private companies build their own trade corridor…go offer private landowners a great price for their land and build their own private trade route. You may ask what’s the difference between the private money going into a CDA and a private trade route companies do on their own? EMINENT DOMAIN!

That’s why these private hogs at the trough are pushing this on us without a public vote…they want to marry the corporation with government so they can exploit the government’s unique power to forcibly take people’s private land at rock bottom prices through eminent domain. It takes away a pesky little thing like free market and freedom of choice!