concessions

by Robert W. Poole, Jr. and Peter Samuel (a Reason Foundation paper - in pdf form here)

James Oberstar and Pete DeFazio (Ob & Faz) chairmen of the House of Representatives transport committee and a subcommittee respectively don't want the states entering into bad toll concessions.

Reason has just published two powerful pieces on the Texas toll controversies and legislation to which your editor contributed nothing but the odd comment.

One is a terrific, insightful and inspired piece by Robert Poole on what is at stake in Texas:

http://www.reason.org/commentaries/poole_20070511.shtml

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.

The Texas senate has passed a concession freeze bill providing for a moratorium on toll concessions by Texas DOT and except in the Dallas metro area through Sept 2009. This is close to the already passed House bill HB1892E so they say this is a now a bill that goes to state governor - who is nearly certain to veto it.

Reason Foundation has just posted on the questions frequently asked (FAQs) on toll concessions, privatization of existing tollroads and HOT lanes:

Building New Roads through Public-Private Partnerships: Frequently Asked Questions
http://www.reason.org/pb58_building_new_roads.pdf

Leasing State Toll Roads: Frequently Asked Questions

The political game in Austin TX now is to shoot holes in a moratorium so the toll concessions you need are exempt. A moratorium bill SB1267 passed the Texas Senate unanimously according to reports. Texas Legislature Online says the vote information is "currently unavailable for display." The bill was sponsored by Sen Robert Nichols, the former Texas Transportation Commissioner who turned from pro-concession to anti-concession.

Exempted in the senate bill are:

Opponents of private toll concessions in Texas often suggest that it is a new and radical idea, that governmental ownership has been the norm. On the contrary most of the early toll facilities in Texas were charters or concessions to private operators. Government couldn't raise the money to build the facility so they granted entrepreneurs the right to collect toll revenues in return for investing their money - toll charters they were usually called then.

Texas legislators seem to be working toward a moratorium on new private toll concessions with exemptions for areas where concessions have local support - notably the Dallas-Ft Worth metro area.

In those areas regional organizations will have control. TxDOT is emasculated by the House bill which passed overwhelmingly - 130 or so to a handful in the final vote.

Texas acrobatic senator from north Dallas John Carona has done another flip. He's back in the freeze camp. SB1267 freezing toll concessions - with a few exceptions - has been passed by his transport committee after all.

Last week he said a moratorium was bad legislation and he wouldn't move it from his committee, even though he was one of the authors of the bill.