Public Hearing on Tolls – This Friday at 1pm

Dear Friends and Neighbors,

This Friday, January 31, the Transportation Committee will hold a public hearing on tolls. The hearing is scheduled to begin at 1:00 p.m. in room 1E of the Legislative Office Building (300 Capitol Avenue, Hartford). If you want your voice to be heard, I strongly encourage that you either testify in person or submit written comment to the Transportation Committee at TRAtestimony@cga.ct.gov.

The Governor’s most recent toll proposal, released as a working draft, includes 12 toll gantries for “Large Commercial Trucks” at specific bridges around the state including locations on I-91, I-84, I-94, I-395 and Route 8.

To review the document, you can click here.

Here are some observations about the proposal:

• In Section 8, the language could be interpreted to mean that tolls could be expanded to passenger vehicles after July 1, 2022 – Line 273
• A Transportation Policy Council will be established to create and oversee important policy matters. The Council will consist of mainly political appointees with a disproportionate number of officials appointed by the majority party. – Line 309
• Plans developed by the Department of Transportation will be deemed approved if not acted upon by the Transportation Council within 15 days. This not only removes legislative oversight but allows for projects to proceed without approval from the Council – Line 421
• The Department of Transportation may propose, and the Transportation Policy Council may approve, changes to the toll rate by the rate of inflation or a rate based on the construction cost index, whichever is greater. This provision removes any legislative oversight on toll rates and allows potentially unchecked increases – Lines 142-148
• The governor will have the ability to declare an emergency in “the existence of extraordinary circumstances” and with “at least three-fifths of the members of each chamber of the General Assembly” vote to change the provisions of the plan, which could include raising toll rates or expand tolling to include other vehicles like passenger cars. The tolling provisions may also be expanded to protect bond holders. – Lines 279-294

Tolling only commercial trucks may also be a major problem due to a pending lawsuit in Rhode Island which may prohibit this practice on constitutional grounds. If Connecticut proceeds with construction of these toll gantries and the case is decided against trucks-only tolls, the state will have spent millions in construction costs – and possibly significant legal expense – without generating a dime in revenue unless tolling is expanded to other vehicles.

In addition, commercial truck operators are already heavily taxed by both the state and federal government. The State of Connecticut collects revenue from out-of-state trucks through interstate compacts including apportioned registration fees and revenue from fuel use taxes. Data collected by the American Transportation Research Institute and the Motor Transport Association of Connecticut shows that a typical tractor-trailer truck pays $8,610 in state fees and an additional $8,906 in federal fees.

If you are considering testifying in person, the committee has created procedures for what is likely to be a crowded hearing – please contact me if you would like more information.

Sincerely,

Tami Zawistowski – State Representative – 61^st Assembly District

As always, if you have questions or concerns regarding state government, please contact my office at (800) 842-1423, or email me at tami.zawistowski@housegop.ct.gov. You can also follow my legislative activity on my website at www.RepZawistowski.com.