Posted on 03/10/2007 7:58:24 PM PST by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
The Trans-Texas Corridor, the Goliath of Texas road projects, is taking a real bruising from the slingshot crowd these days, with so many Davids piling up stones that critics and supporters alike are beginning to believe it may be stoppable.
In the last few weeks, more than a dozen bills have been introduced in the both the Texas State and House to either stop the project cold or put enough restrictions on it to chill the interest of private investors. In late February, a state audit report revealed that millions of public dollars have secretly been spent on the project and that hundreds of millions more might be needed. At least one legislator is considering calling for an investigation of the Texas Department of Transportation. And thousands of opponents from around the state showed up last week in Austin to march in opposition to the giant toll-road proposal and to testify against it at a public hearing.
Gov. Rick Perry, Transportation Commissioner Ric Williamson, and other top- ranking state politicos are still pushing to get ground broken on the 4,000-mile network of privatized toll highways planned throughout Texas in the next several decades. But with opposition growing on both sides of the aisle, critics are suggesting that supporters of the TTC may find they have a price to pay at the ballot box next time around.
“There’s no doubt there’s a huge groundswell of opposition to the TTC,” said Hank Gilbert, a businessman and rancher who organized a March 2 rally in Austin against the project. “We had between 3,000 and 4,000 people rallying against it. That is huge ... . And when even people like State Sen. Steve Ogden, a co-author of the bill that permitted the privatization of roads, come out and say the Texas Department of Transportation is out of control with the TTC, well, I think that’s the point at which other politicians will realize that those of us who’ve been fighting this thing are not just lunatics.”
Ogden, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, is reportedly considering legislation that would eliminate tolls on all roads once the road is paid for — which generally takes 20 to 30 years — as opposed to allowing the private company that built and leased the road to keep charging tolls for a contract period of 50 to 60 years, as will be the case with the TTC if it goes forward as planned.
But while Ogden, a Republican from Bryan, hasn’t yet introduced a bill to rein in the TTC, others have. State Rep. Garnet Coleman, a Houston Democrat, recently introduced a bill to place a moratorium on all new toll roads in Texas for a period of two years “so that the issue can be studied, rather than rammed down our throats.”
State Rep. Lois Kolkhorst of Brenham has introduced two bills that would effectively kill the TTC. One would “repeal ... authority for the establishment and operation of the Trans-Texas Corridor”; the second would prohibit public pension funds from being invested in private toll roads — cutting billions in funding that private toll road builders would probably try to use to raise capital.
And powerful State Sen. John Carona of Dallas, chairman of the Senate Transportation and Homeland Security Committee, has introduced 10 bills that together would severely curtail private businesses’ interest in building toll roads. Among them is a measure requiring that the price paid for land taken under eminent domain be established by three disinterested voters who live in the county where the land is located, rather than by a judge. Another would limit the length of a toll-collecting contract held by a private entity to 30 years, after which the highway would become a free road. Other bills would limit toll rates rather than letting private companies set them at will, eliminate the “no compete” clauses in toll road contracts that many believe would hamper the state’s ability to maintain and improve other roads, and tie the state gas tax rate to the amount needed for highway building and maintenance, to ensure that tax funds rather than tolls could be used for those projects.
Carona admits he made a huge error in signing the measure that created the TTC. He told Fort Worth Weekly that he and nearly everyone else in the Texas Legislature were “deliberately deceived” by that bill, and that it’s time to put a halt to the TTC. At a hearing he held last week, he said, “About 1,000 people came, and the overwhelming majority were against the TTC.”
He believes an overwhelming majority of state Senate members now oppose the TTC as well, and that, as chinks begin to show in Perry’s armor, the senators are more willing to oppose him on this issue. “The fact is, the death of the TTC and other toll roads is just one gubernatorial election away,” he said. “The opposition to these things is growing daily.”
“I think the bills I’ve proposed will pass in the Senate,” Carona said. “The real question is whether they will get a fair hearing in the House Transportation Committee. I don’t know. [Chairman] Mike Krusee has the power to bury them there.
“On the other hand,” he added, “Krusee won his last election by a surprisingly narrow margin, and he will have public rage to deal with on this. Of course, if he intends to leave his position as an elected representative and enter the private sector, he may have another agenda. But if he wants re-election, he may realize that following the governor’s lead on the TTC hook, line, and sinker is not the best road for him to take.”
Krusee said he handles bills before his committee fairly. “But it’s up to every member to convince the committee that the hearing won’t be a waste of time, that there is some support and reason to listen to it.”
Coleman said he thinks the TTC can be stopped only if legislators in both houses “feel the heat and know it’s going to be an election issue.”
The recent state auditor’s report may provide plenty of ammunition for the election debates. Auditors concluded that millions of dollars in public funds had already been used for the TTC, in both direct and indirect costs, while Perry has repeatedly said that no public monies would be used to fund the project. And much of the money spent on the TTC was taken from funds set aside for other projects, the report said. At least $52,000 used to pay for TTC advertising — billboards and radio spots — was listed as “engineering” expenses.
The report also noted that Cintra Zachry LP, the partnership hired to develop a comprehensive plan for TTC-35, the 333-mile stretch of toll roads from San Antonio to Dallas, had not met all of its 2006 insurance requirements until October of that year. If Cintra Zachry can’t cover its liabilities under the contract, auditors noted, “it is possible that plaintiffs could seek recovery of these damages from the state.”
The report also noted other problems: Public money would pay for 55 percent, or $16.9 billion, of the rail projects touted as part of the TTC package. The state would be responsible for collecting from toll-jumpers. Under the contracts, the state could be forced to build some segments of the corridor that the private firms didn’t find profitable.
And auditors said TxDOT may have been seriously underestimating the cost of the corridor. The agency has put the price tag of the entire 4,000-mile network at $145 billion to $184 billion, but auditors said one 560-mile stretch alone —from Laredo to Oklahoma, paralleling I-35— will cost more than $105 billion.
“I think that auditor’s report is particularly damning,” said Carona. “The most damning thing, I think, was that the governor, when he announced the Trans-Texas Corridor, said that no public funds would be used for its development. And the auditor now says that $90 million in public funds have already been used, and that number is climbing daily.”
Gilbert said that in light of the auditor’s report, Kolkhorst may ask the attorney general to investigate TxDOT over the subterfuge on TTC spending. She could not be reached for comment.
Proponents of the TTC say it remains the answer to Texas’ current and future transportation problems. Williamson, the commissioner, has insisted, publicly and repeatedly, that with Texas’ population expected to double in the next 30 years and with the shortfalls the state is facing in highway funding, allowing private corporations to build and run toll roads is the only possible solution.
His sentiments were echoed by former Fort Worth Mayor Kenneth Barr, currently a member of the TTC advisory committee. “There’s just not money available to build all of the roads that we need,” he told the Weekly. “That means that goods will not move efficiently and people will not move, and there’s a cost associated with that.” However, he said, the transportation agency has done a poor job communicating that to the public. “There is an awful lot of dialogue that needs to be held that hasn’t been held,” he said.
Terri Hall, founder and director of Texans Uniting for Reform and Freedom, a statewide group fighting the TTC, said the situation is worse than that. “TxDOT continues to operate in complete denial of the reality of the situation. The governor’s Business Council’s own report — done by the Texas Transportation Institute — says that toll roads are not necessary. The sky will not fall if we don’t build the TTC.”
Staff writer Eric Griffey contributed to this story.
I agree. It's tough to imagine that people think the SPP, which has its own website, does not exist. They are truly stupid. On the other hand, finding a stupid State senator isn't that difficult. Finding a stupid State senator and holding him or her representative of the whole is playing stupid. I stand corrected.
"The doubling will not be coming from the AMERICAN citizens increasing their birth rates in Texas.
Stop the illegal intruders."
well duh of course it is. That was not my point. If the population doubles then the highway fund will more than double. Thus no need for toll roads.
In fact, everything that has been done is a result of actions taken by the legislature. That Perry would promote a fee based road is a good fiscally conservative policy, plus it is congruent with the reality that the legislature has not been willing to raise the gas tax.
So while Perry doesn't have the authority to implement, he does have ability to put this issue(and others) on the front burner. In the case of a multi-modal corridor, the concept was developed over a decade ago and languished in a drawer until he pushed it onto those who have to act on it.
So now, we have a group of legislators who have finally stepped up to the level of rhetoric. It will be interesting to see what and when the come with something.
Excuse me for being cynical and suspicious, but I recognize how the legislators could see this as a way of dealing not only with roads but also with that nagging, unresolvable problem of school funding.
Sorry, I maybe didn't make it clear I was referring to Sen. Roberts, the senior U.S. Senator from Kansas. He knew all about the K.C. "inland port" -- he was just shining on a constituent who a) asked an awkward question and b) made a reference to "the NAFTA Highway" which the good Senator interpreted as a bullsteerable lack of specific knowledge about the project. If the constituent (who was a union shop steward, I believe, which if Sen. Roberts knew it might have influenced his decision to try to bullsteer the guy) had made instead very specific references to NASCO and SPP and called some of the appropriations bills by their names and numbers, then perhaps Roberts would have decided the jig was up and that he had to address the issue instead of blowing it off the way he did.
Roberts is a Republican, by the way, in his fifth term as Senator with a lifetime ACU rating of 87 and a 2006 rating of 84 (versus 94 lifetime for third-termer Brownback). He's very definitely a member of the Club.
Non sequitur. You may want to consider, however, some very damning quotes from some West Texas millionaires who told Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, when she visited them on an "exploratory" campaign fund-raising trip, to forget about running for governor in 2006 and get back up to D.C. instead. They bluntly told her, in a conversation reported in amazing detail in the Houston Chronicle -- I think the story's source had to be Hutchison herself -- that they had a very large amount of money invested in Perry and they fully intended to get their money's worth out of him. (They then proceeded to give him a whole lot more.)
Perry's bought. Q. E. D.
No it isn't. It's letting the usual grasping "pigs at the trough" get access to state sources of revenue, under the guise of a public-private co-venture. It's Wall Street getting into the public revenue stream and skimming for their own benefit. It's public corruption raised to the level of policy, with the help of brainiac study papers ginned up on demand by wonks at the American Enterprise Institute as cover.
..... plus it is congruent with the reality that the legislature has not been willing to raise the gas tax.
It's congruent with elected politicians' constant hunger for virginal revenue sources that are the fons et origo of all serious political vig. And with the inconvenient political fact that advocating a state income tax in Texas is politically suicidal, notwithstanding that the late Bob Bullock, who is no doubt crisping nicely in hell, engineered a back-door way for the legislature to introduce one without any particular legislator's having to leave his fingerprints on it.
Thanks for the vote of confidence. But your retort guarantees that one of us doesn't get it, and sorry, I don't think that's me.
The authority to convert existing roads into toll roads lies with the regional authority(RMA), not the state or Perry. The legislature gave this authority to the RMAs.
Never heard of an RMA -- that your way of saying you're plugged into the issue and I'm not, so obviously you get it all and anybody who doesn't know what an RMA is, can't?
Creating extra layers of government is an old exercise in the sheep-shearing Northeast. New York City has so many "government" bodies, most people can't name them all. I don't care who you say the Lege gave authority to -- the responsibility is still theirs, and they had better not have given away the people's property to private interests for tolling. And they had better think twice before they allow anyone -- TexDoT, I don't care who -- to start putting toll booths on paid-for highways.
Also, this issue of converting existing roads is exaggerated by those that try to imply that a thoroughly modern road with adequate capacity is being converted.
Okay, then unexaggerate it -- show us that the commuter routes mapped by Rick Perry's DoT are all falling apart and due for rebuilds. Something tells me you can't shoulder that load, and that you're casting aspersions {that "exaggerated" crack) that you can't make stick.
Go on, show us all those four-lane roads are disintegrating. But careful, now, I've been driving over there now and then, and I might be familiar with one you say is toast; and in any case there are plenty of Austinites around who can set the record straight.
Most FReepers don't buy into the North American Union....they get their tinfoil out when its discussed.
They don't want to see the "Extra-Political" end run that is snowing so many....the elites have finally figured out how to userp the legislative process....and now we will see it happening everywhere....always when its too late.
Of course, it is not just the poorly informed who post bad information. Some know the facts and post mis-info to promote their agenda.
Your phrase, "extra layers of government", indicates that you also don't know much about the Texas Constitution and Home Rule. In Texas, power is decentralized to the extent that sometimes the local govt has equal or more authority than the state. Creating Regional Mobility Authorities gives locals more power. Also look at how water authority is de-centralized to the 19 regional water authorities and local water districts.
This prevents the cities from ganging up on the rural areas.
In fact, if we look at the only gas tax increase that has been proposed, we see how it benefits only the 8 largest cities. It contained no revenue for the TTC or the rest of the state. This tax increase was floated by Michael Stevens, the head of the Governor's Business Council and a property developer in Houston.
It is undeniable. The Texas population growth is inevitable. Texas will have to build, maintain, and improve roads and other infrastructure. The only issue is who will pay for the roads. Obviously, there is going to be mix of toll roads and free roads. Texans will have to pay higher fuel taxes and tolls. The only question is whether the mix will be higher tax increases-fewer tolls or lower tax increases-more tolls.
It is interesting to note that many in the legislature are calling for a 2 year moratorium on toll roads. That is because in two years there will be a power shift in Austin.
Today, you have Perry and Craddick protecting West Texas/rural Texas.
In two years, Hutchinson will be governor. She is from Dallas and the wife of Ray Hutchinson, the developers' bondsman of choice.
Craddick barely held on to his speakership in this session. His two challengers were from Houston and Waxahatchie(DFW). He will be replaced by one of them in 2 years.
I don't mean to imply that this issue of East Texas vs West Texas or urban vs rural is the only game in play, only that it should be considered in how things play out.
More important is the inevitable gas tax increase. There has not been anything proposed by an elected official, only by those well connected. There has also been some editorializing in the media. Based on this, we can accurately speculate on the what might eventually be proposed in the legislature.
What we see is an 8-12 cent increase and indexing to constuction material cost inflation. Although we can't say with certainty what it will be, for discussion purposes only, I will use the 12 cent increase and the one cent per year indexed increase.
Keep in mind, although we are talking about a gas tax to benefit the roads, 25% of the gas tax goes to schools. The legislature has been agonizing with this nagging school funding problem for years. You can see that 3 cents of a 12 cent gas tax increase going to schools would solve a lot of the problem, make their job easier. So they are not thinking just about roads.
Now, let's look at the indexed gas tax increase. We can use the one cent per year estimate but we don't know what it actually will be. Given the worldwide demand for oil and the cement shortages, I suspect that it will average out to be more than one cent per year. Whatever the amount, it is automatic.
Once the legislature puts that in place, they never have to raise the tax again, it is a automatic, built-in gas tax increase. That ia a legislator's dream. Also, keep in mind, 25% of it goes to schools. Now, we have automatic, built-in tax increases for roads and schools. That is a legislator's wet dream.
But if you want to gripe about Perry while the legilature bends you over, go ahead.
You are also contradicted by the fact that toll roads are on the menu in numerous states, not just Texas.
If you want to, we can discuss the power of the TX Guv? Or, we could discuss the power of the Speaker, who happens to be from West Texas, or more precisely, from where cotton and oil overlap. Or, we could diccuss toll roads in the context of West Texas versus East Texas.
Hutchinson chose not to run because polls said she couldn't win the primary.
Which is the same reason Strayhorn ran as an independent instead of as Republican.
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