Free Republic

If anything has approximated unanimity in the 80th Texas Legislature, it is the desire to slow down on toll roads. This has left the state’s biggest proponent of toll roads, Gov. Rick Perry, the odd man out. But he’s still the man with the veto pen. The House and Senate last week overwhelmingly approved a two-year moratorium on most toll roads, including the Trans-Texas Corridor. Lawmakers earlier sent a bill to Perry with toll-road restrictions. He vetoed it, and threatened a special session if he didn’t get a bill he could sign. The bill that emerged reportedly meets his terms....

Those persuasion skills were key to Ms. Kolkhorst marshaling support for a partial two-year moratorium on private toll roads. The bill could get lawmakers' final blessing today. The Brenham Republican has emerged as a central figure in the Legislature's efforts to slow down the privatization of Texas roads. She has persuaded nearly all of her 149 House colleagues to back the moratorium, which excludes most North Texas toll projects. Ms. Kolkhorst, 42, has parlayed a blend of persistence, fearlessness, smarts and country charm into a more visible role in Austin. In addition to leading the toll road freeze, she has...

House, Senate passage seem likely The careening vehicle that has been this legislative session's toll road overhaul appeared to pull into the garage about 4:35 p.m. Thursday. At that moment, Republican state Sen. Robert Nichols of Jacksonville, after spending several moments huddling on the floor with Sen. Tommy Williams, sponsor of Senate Bill 792, affixed his signature to a compromise version of the bill, and the two shook hands. "We've got a deal now," Williams, R-The Woodlands, said about an hour later. "This is really going to move transportation issues forward, particularly in large metropolitan areas." The deal was among...

Paul Burka’s blog has a nice update on the legislative efforts to de-rail Gov. Perry’s Trans Texas Corridor project. It hasn’t been stopped yet (reference to bills are bills to halt the TTC): So here’s where we are. HB 1892, the original bill, has been vetoed. SB 792, Carona’s bill, is in conference committee. The governor’s office, through former senator Ken Armbrister, is trying to round up enough votes in the Senate (11) to block an override of the veto. If he is successful, then the governor holds all the cards. He can veto 792 as well, with the calendar...

More projects exempted from private toll road moratorium in unanimous Senate vote. The Texas Senate, after hours of closed-door negotiations stamped out hot spots of dissent, unanimously passed revamped toll road legislation Monday that would supplant a bill languishing on Gov. Rick Perry's desk. Perry, who has made it clear he would veto the first bill, House Bill 1892, immediately signaled that he would allow Senate Bill 792 to become law if the House passes it in its current form. Lawmakers involved in the negotiations say they hope to get SB 792 to Perry late this week in time to...

The Texas House voted 139-1 Wednesday, May 2, to give final approval to a bill that is intended to buy the state more time to review the effects of handing over roadways to private groups. The vote cleared the way for the bill to move to Gov. Rick Perry’s desk. The bill – HB1892 – would place a two-year moratorium on toll road leases with private groups. It also would require a study of the long-term effects of public-private partnerships. Perry, who has touted the benefits of his proposed Trans-Texas Corridor project, had urged lawmakers to reject the freeze but...

AUSTIN — The House gave final approval Wednesday to placing a two-year moratorium on private toll road contracts, sending the bill to Gov. Rick Perry and setting up a showdown over the future of the state's transportation policy. Perry had urged the Legislature to reject the freeze but has stopped short of promising a veto. The House approved the measure 139-1, showing it has broad enough support that lawmakers could vote to override the governor if he tries to kill it. The Senate approved the bill 27-4 last week. The Legislature can override a veto with a two-thirds vote of...

he Texas state auditor has concluded that transportation officials used inflated numbers when they reported an $86 billion funding gap for highways and transportation projects. The audit released April 30 has a familiar ring to it because it is the second scathing review of transportation funding estimates this year in the state. State Auditor John Keel said the $86 billion estimate by Texas Department of Transportation officials should be more like $77.4 billion, but that’s not all. Nearly $38 billion of that estimate took into account undocumented cost estimates from city officials competing for shared transportation dollars. Keel’s team of...

AUSTIN -- The Texas Senate passed its second bill this session creating a two-year moratorium on privately funded toll roads Friday, a sharp rebuke of Gov. Rick Perry's plan to solve the state's transportation problems. Senators voted 27-4 to approve the bill, which would prevent the creation of toll roads made by public entities contracting with private companies. The Senate passed a similar bill earlier, but that version appears dead in the House. The version approved Friday easily passed the House this month by a vote of 137-2. The bill's Senate sponsor, Republican Tommy Williams of The Woodlands, said he...

Wonder why there is all the fuss over toll roads? Well, we're not talking about traditional toll projects. Gov. Rick Perry and his Transportation Commission are pushing private toll road deals that limit free routes and allow the private operator to charge high tolls. As ex-Transportation Commissioner Sen. Robert Nichols, a stickler for details and the author of a bill to halt comprehensive development agreements, or CDAs, has noted, the devil is in the details. These private toll contracts include noncompete agreements like Cintra's. There will be no improvements made to existing roads or new free routes built within a...

AUSTIN — The Texas Senate on Thursday approved a bill placing a two-year moratorium on private toll road contracts and creating a panel to review the terms of those agreements. Gov. Rick Perry had urged the Legislature to reject the freeze. He said the state's current transportation system, which involves public-private partnerships to build toll roads, needs to continue if Texas is to keep attracting big companies and jobs. But growing opposition to Perry's proposed Trans-Texas Corridor — a combined toll road and rail system that would whisk traffic from the Oklahoma line to Mexico — have made some lawmakers...

Warning: Unless you put up a roadblock this minute, soon Florida Republicans will "Dubai" all the state's assets. Once again, Elephants in the Florida Legislature have sold their souls, assuming they ever had any. Routinely, they barter the public interest for a buck. This time, in a scheme that only Halliburton could hail, House Republicans just passed H.B. 7033, giving private companies virtual monopoly ownership of most of Florida's toll roads. (Democratic state Reps. Susan Bucher and Keith Fitzgerald told me they were outraged.) That's right! If the scheme becomes law, corporate interests will be able to make a profit...

Texas’ largest farm organization is once again describing the Trans Texas Corridor (TTC) as a disaster for farming and ranching operations that lie in the potential path of the TTC and a major mistake for Texas itself. The Texas Farm Bureau is also discovering that there are many allies in opposing the massive highway project, some of them members of the Texas Legislature. “Our members are overwhelmingly opposed to the Trans Texas Corridor,” says TFB President Kenneth Dierschke, a grain and cotton farmer from San Angelo. “There’s never been any doubt that the impact on agriculture would be negative, but...

? 2007 WorldNetDaily.com Texas farmers are stepping up their opposition to the Trans-Texas Corridor, a massive highway project that ultimately could take about half a million acres of the state out of agricultural production ? and according to opponents possibly hasten the advent of a North American Union. "Our members are overwhelmingly opposed to the Trans-Texas Corridor," said Farm Bureau President Kenneth Dierschke, a grain and cotton farmer from San Angelo. "There's never been any doubt that the impact on agriculture would be negative, but now we see a growing number of people who believe the TTC would be bad...

AUSTIN – A groundswell seems to be developing in Texas against the privatization of toll roads. And State Senator Robert Nichols is a key leader of the fight. Nichols has filed SB 1267, which would place a two-year moratorium on the privatization of toll roads. Companion SB 1268 prohibits converting existing roads to toll roads – a fight many voters thought they’d already won. Under current law an existing road can still be converted to a toll road even though many have regional or statewide use. “These roads were built with public money for public use,” Nichols said March 6...

The conventional wisdom among conservatives about the benefits of privatizing government programs is being severely tested in a heretofore largely obscure controversy that is now blossoming in America’s heartland. When up to several thousand people gathered in vigorous protest March 2 at the majestic state capitol in Austin, there were echoes of the formative beginnings of similar grassroots protest movements of other eras, in which the organizers were not professional political activists, but rather genuinely fed-up ordinary citizens motivated by a combination of self-interest and patriotism to seek a legitimate redress of grievances. Almost 30 years ago, a similar citizen...

The Trans-Texas Corridor, Gov. Rick Perry’s massive transportation project, hit some speed bumps Friday. A sharply-worded report from the State Auditor’s Office was released - and a member of the Republican leadership in the House filed a bill to repeal the plan, which could encompass up to 8,000 miles. Brenham Rep. Lois Kolkhorst’s bill is almost identical to one already filed by Democrat state Rep. David Leibowitz of Helotes, near San Antonio. With lawmakers from both sides of the aisle questioning the project, organizers of a March 2 are hoping thousands of Texans will make their way to the state...

In what is being projected as an economic boom for the East Texas region (if it comes to fruition), the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) will soon begin work on a feasibility study for an East-West corridor. The announcement was made last week as the TxDOT Commission voted to move forward with the study that will cost an estimated $2 million. The corridor is the brainchild of the Gulf Coast Strategic Highway Coalition. "If we had a major four-lane, east-west highway through Jasper it would mean to us what I-10 means to Beaumont and I-20 means to Shreveport," said Jasper...

Macquarie to buy newspaper chain; critics fear it's to silence Trans-Texas Corridor opponents. One of the foreign firms leasing the Indiana Toll Road is drawing suspicion from some Texans after announcing plans to acquire a chain of small newspapers there. Australia-based Macquarie Media Group last week said it will pay $80 million for American Consolidated Media, which publishes 40 community newspapers and shopping publications serving nine communities in Texas and Oklahoma. Macquarie's sister company, Macquarie Infrastructure Group, last year joined with the Spanish conglomerate Cintra to lease the Indiana Toll Road for the next 75 years. Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels...

A coalition to stop the Trans-Texas Corridor voiced its concerns Sunday in Austin, citing border security and gun rights as key issues not being addressed. The large crowd in attendance at the meeting represented a cross section of Texans and included a veterans group out of Houston. “We didn’t fight a war so our government could give away our land,” said ret. Col. Sam Horton of Houston. World War II veteran, ret. Col. Arthur Peterson of Houston, said national security is at stake because the Gov. Rick Perry-supported transportation project would help erase borders between the United States and Mexico...