Groundhog Day: Dewhurst and Texas Senators sell constituents down Rick Perry's TTC toll roads for the FOURTH consecutive legislative session
Betrayal Again
Trans-Texas Corridor Slipped into Bill in Senate
Terri Hall
Texans Uniting for Reform and Freedom (TURF)
Copyright 2009
Monday night, an amendment authored by Senator Glenn Hegar was slipped into the TxDOT Sunset bill, HB 300, that authorizes all the Trans Texas Corridor (TTC) contracts called CDAs (for both TTC-35 & TTC-69) to continue.
It also says no provision, restrictions, or “protections” in HB 300 apply to it, despite the repeal of the actual TTC language from the code. Senator Hegar assured Senator Dan Patrick on the floor that the TTC is dead, then slips in this floor amendment that deliberately allows it to continue!
Senator Robert Nichols, who brokered the backroom deal to make it happen, sent a press release all over the state claiming he voted to abolish the TTC, when he and others did just the opposite!
HB 300 is now over 1,000 pages long with little time left in the session to read it or know what’s in it, much less to be able to strip out all the bad provisions. HB 300 now goes to conference committee where 5 members of the House and 5 members of the Senate will hash out what stays in and what goes. The session ends Monday, June 1. Strong eminent domain reform died in the House yesterday.
HB 300 abandoned the original Sunset committee recommendations long ago, and it’s been loaded up with some horrific provisions like:
Add to that, Speaker Joe Straus from San Antonio did not name either Rep. David Leibowitz or Rep. Lois Kolkhorst (who carried and fought for many of our GOOD amendments in the House version of HB 300) as one of the 5 conferees from the House who will decide which amendments stay in and which ones are stripped from the bill.
This bill simply has too much baggage for taxpayers to choke down, so we need to KILL HB 300.
The Legislature can pass what’s called a safety net bill that will push TxDOT’s Sunset to next session.
At this point, we don’t want a special session on TxDOT, because no meaningful reform of TxDOT is possible as long as Rick Perry still holds a veto pen.
© 2009 TURF: www.texasturf.org
To search TTC News Archives clickHERE
To view the Trans-Texas Corridor Blog clickHERE
Trans-Texas Corridor Slipped into Bill in Senate
Terri Hall
Texans Uniting for Reform and Freedom (TURF)
Copyright 2009
Monday night, an amendment authored by Senator Glenn Hegar was slipped into the TxDOT Sunset bill, HB 300, that authorizes all the Trans Texas Corridor (TTC) contracts called CDAs (for both TTC-35 & TTC-69) to continue.
It also says no provision, restrictions, or “protections” in HB 300 apply to it, despite the repeal of the actual TTC language from the code. Senator Hegar assured Senator Dan Patrick on the floor that the TTC is dead, then slips in this floor amendment that deliberately allows it to continue!
Senator Robert Nichols, who brokered the backroom deal to make it happen, sent a press release all over the state claiming he voted to abolish the TTC, when he and others did just the opposite!
HB 300 is now over 1,000 pages long with little time left in the session to read it or know what’s in it, much less to be able to strip out all the bad provisions. HB 300 now goes to conference committee where 5 members of the House and 5 members of the Senate will hash out what stays in and what goes. The session ends Monday, June 1. Strong eminent domain reform died in the House yesterday.
HB 300 abandoned the original Sunset committee recommendations long ago, and it’s been loaded up with some horrific provisions like:
- Selling our highways to foreign toll operators (CDAs)
- Continuing the Trans Texas Corridor
- New loophole to toll existing freeways
- Raiding public employee retirement funds to invest in these risky CDA deals
- Up to a 10 cent gas tax hike (without ending gas tax diversions or any meaningful reform of TxDOT!)
- An increase in speed limits UP TO 85 MPH on the TTC & toll roads (with the intent to lower speed limits on competing free roads)
- Adding license plate cameras on state highways
Add to that, Speaker Joe Straus from San Antonio did not name either Rep. David Leibowitz or Rep. Lois Kolkhorst (who carried and fought for many of our GOOD amendments in the House version of HB 300) as one of the 5 conferees from the House who will decide which amendments stay in and which ones are stripped from the bill.
This bill simply has too much baggage for taxpayers to choke down, so we need to KILL HB 300.
The Legislature can pass what’s called a safety net bill that will push TxDOT’s Sunset to next session.
At this point, we don’t want a special session on TxDOT, because no meaningful reform of TxDOT is possible as long as Rick Perry still holds a veto pen.
© 2009 TURF: www.texasturf.org
To search TTC News Archives click
To view the Trans-Texas Corridor Blog click
posted by Porkus Maximus Tex: at Thursday, May 28, 2009
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