legislation

July 2 2009 should be recorded as an important date in tollroad history. It was the day Chinese regulators gave the green light to Sichuan Expressway Company's Initial Private Offering (IPO) of shares in Shanghai, while in Texas, USA the legislature adjourned for 18 months slamming the door on investor pikes.

Allen & Overy, a major international law firm say in a commentary that US Senate bills 884 and 885 would "compound the capital starvation of the US transportation network" and could "end the US market for tollroad P3s" (public private partnerships, also known as longterm leases, or concessions). They say S884 titled the "Transportation Equity for All Americans Act" (S.

California's legislators left it right up until the deadline but when they finally voted it was with clear majorities to go with tolling on the busiest carpool lanes in the LA area. They get around $210m of federal funds originally reserved for New York City central area pricing. To be tolled under the plan are carpool lanes in the center of the I-10 and the I-110.

The Dulles Greenway is getting advantageous new arrangements for regulation of its concession that are a rebuff to oppoents. Activists have been trying to freeze toll rates and give regulators arbitrary powers. Under a new bill HB1140 the operators of the privately built tollroad in northern Virginia get to increase their tolls up to amounts already approved by regulators through 2012. The Greenway runs 23km (14 miles between Dulles and Leesburg VA.

Texas governor Rick Perry, Monday, signed SB792, the heavily fought over tollroads bill, saying it allows needed roads to be built while expanding the powers of local communities to develop toll projects.

In a statement about the bill Perry said:

There's a little noticed killer clause in concession freeze bills voted out of the Texas legislature Wednesday (May 2) - a ban on refund formulas based on estimates of future toll revenue in case of early termination by the state - so-called termination for convenience.

Regional authorities in Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads are given tolling & concession powers in HB3202 a complex and much fought over transport funding bill passed by the Virginia legislature Apr 4.

Major focus in the mainstream media coverage has been the bill's increases in taxes, although tolls offer far greater potential for raising new revenue that the rather minor proposed increases the tax on motor vehicle insurance premiums and in the state diesel fuel tax.