[Texgreen] Anti-toll forces close to victory in Texas

[Roger Baker]

"... But supporters of tollroads seem to have been struck silent by  
the populist anti-toll frenzy that seems to have gripped so many of  
the legislators..."

<http://tollroadsnews.info/artman/publish/article_1777.shtml>

                  
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2007.03.15
ANTI-CONCESSION SURGE
Texas concession freeze close to veto-proof score in legislature

Opponents of toll concessions in Texas are close to gaining two- 
thirds majorities in both houses of the state legislature.

They have the Senate tied up securely to override a veto by Gov Rick  
Perry with 25/31. But they are also getting close to the two-thirds  
needed to override in the state House also.

As of midnight last night 93 House members out of 150 had signed in  
favor of HB2772 - the bill which provides for a moratorium on signing  
of any toll concessions until Sept 1 2009.

They need only seven more to muster the two-thirds.

Even the House Transportation Committee from which there was  
previously enthusiastic support for concessions and the Trans Texas  
Corridor program has now gone to the freezers with five signed up for  
HB2772. Mike Krusee chairman of that committee and a champion of  
tollroads and concessions has been unable to stem the tide.

Tuesday morning there were 81 reps signed for HB2772 but the freezers  
got another four during the day to run up 85. Wednesday they got  
another eight taking the total to 93 signed.

Krusee said last week he would introduce a compromise bill, but he  
has not done so. As chairman of the committee he has discretionary  
power over handling of the bill which has been referred to him by  
Speaker Tom Craddick, who still apparently opposes the moratorium.  
But supporters of tollroads seem to have been struck silent by the  
populist anti-toll frenzy that seems to have gripped so many of the  
legislators.

Defection of Republicans who had previously supported the program is  
the problem. Robert Nichols author of the companion SB1267 in the  
Senate was a precipitating factor in the turnaround because Nichols  
as a member of the Texas Transportation Commission was one of the key  
instigators of the move to tolling and concessions and was deeply  
involved in some of the early concession negotiation with Cintra.

Nichols coming out against toll concessions was a turn-up like Al  
Gore saying global warming is a sham.

Lisa Loftus-Otway, at the University of Texas Austin follows  
transportation politics. She says several factors have produced the  
turnaround in favor of the freeze:

- a personal rift between Texas Transportation Commission chair Ric  
Williamson and key legislators

- a major grassroots movement against the Texas Transportation  
Corridors in farming and ranching country especially along TTC35

- TxDOT's lack of communication

- a sense among legislators that they had been fooled over the key  
enabling legislation HN3588

She thought that support for the SH121 concession in the Dallas Fort  
Worth area might prevent the freeze movement gaining enough numbers  
in the legislature to win out.

The SH121 concession was at the beginning a TxDOT initiative but it  
was taken over and reshaped by area officials working through the  
North Central Texas Council of Governments. Michael Morris the  
vigorous head of transport at NCTCOG has said that the concession  
freeze would be "devastating" for mobility in the region.
Part-time legislators

Part of the problem is the Texas legislature - popularly called "the  
leege" - a bunch of part-time people who are in session for only five  
months in the first half of every second year, and who face the  
voters in the fall after each legislative session.
Legislators "like sheep"

One observer told us the legislators at the Capitol in Austin as  
often as not vote on legislation "like sheep" not knowing what they  
are voting for but following a leader.

On the matter of toll concessions the anti-toll movement has  
generated much misinformation that has been picked up uncritically by  
the legislators.
Deathly silence at TxDOT

TxDOT's communications are non-existent. The concessionaires have no  
lobby organization or PR either. Misconceptions about the program  
have therefore gone unchallenged.

For the latest count in the state house see

http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/BillLookup/History.aspx? 
LegSess=80R&Bill=HB2772

ADDITIONS UPDATES LIKELY

TOLLROADSnews 2007-03-15 00:39