THE FACTS ABOUT TOLL ROADS IN BEXAR COUNTY

By Jeff Judson – San Antonio Tea Party, SVP & board member

A local single-issue activist has recently been spreading misinformation about local transportation funding, and the efforts of State Senator Donna Campbell and me.

Terri Hall misstates the truth about a $10 motor vehicle registration fee, alleging that it will lead to the construction of toll roads in Bexar County.  The fact is, this fee will help PREVENT the building of toll roads in Bexar County, not require them.  All major road expansions in San Antonio are already planned as toll roads, unless funding is found to build them as pay-as-you-go non-tolled roads. The legislature has failed for decades to solve this funding problem so we must do what we can locally to prevent toll roads from being our only option.

HB 1573 that authorizes the new fee was introduced by two San Antonio Democrats, and was going to pass no matter what Senator Campbell did. But Campbell used her influence on the Senate Transportation Committee, at the urging and with the assistance of Jeff Judson, to prevent these funds from going to public transit by requiring that the funds be spent entirely on roads. As originally written and passed in the House, the funding would have gone to the Advanced Transportation District, controlled by VIA Metropolitan Transit.

Out of 181 members of the Texas Legislature, 150 voted to allow the fee. Senator Campbell was not the impetus or author behind the legislation, but merely one of 150 votes. Anyone reading Terri’s email would not come away with that impression, but her false narrative can be easily refuted by looking at the legislative history of the bill.

To be clear, the bill does not state anywhere that revenue from the 83 cents per-month equivalent fee has to go or should go to toll roads. These decisions are made at the local level. The county chooses which projects to fund with the fee and the MPO votes on whether or not it will include tolling. But without new funding for roads, all new road expansions will be tolled.

Toll lanes have been a part of plans to expand Northern Bexar County highways for years, as evident in repeated news coverage of these toll proposals both this year and last year. It’s absurd to lay the blame on a freshman state senator and Terri Hall knows this. She’s playing fast and loose with the facts.

Here are the facts that Terri Hall gets completely WRONG:

1. HB 1573 is NOT Senator Campbell’s bill.
2. It’s NOT a toll bill and it doesn’t specify any money for toll roads.
3. All tolling decisions are made at the local level and require an MPO vote.
4. Campbell NEVER proposed managed lanes on these roads. They were proposed LAST SUMMER before Campbell was even elected.
5. Voters were NOT illegally bypassed. We are not a direct democracy and most fees take effect with the Legislature’s approval and Governor’s signature. In this case, EVERY state legislator in the entire greater San Antonio area voted for the bill, and the fee must be re-approved every year by a vote of the elected county commissioners’ court.
6. Ms. Hall implies tolls will be slapped on existing free lanes. That’s FALSE and Senator Campbell authored and passed a bill to prohibit this.
7. Despite attempts to blame Campbell, the bill would have passed without her vote. She only got involved to ensure no money went to San Antonio streetcars. A tax on drivers to fund rail would have been the true travesty and Senator Campbell stepped in to protect taxpayers.
8. Ms. Hall also fails to mention that Senator Campbell was the only senator who fought to remove Loop 1604 from a public-private partnership that made it eligible for tolling. Terri Hall never mentions these courageous acts in her criticisms of Senator Campbell.
9. The bottom line is this: We must find at least $4 billion in additional road funding at the state and/or local level just to maintain current conditions on our state highway system.  Without new funds, ALL NEW ROAD EXPANSIONS WILL BE TOLLED AND/OR FINANCED WITH DEBT.  The only other option is gridlock, which is California’s policy, and will be the policy for Bexar County if we don’t pursue other solutions.

Senator Campbell is opposed to gridlock, is opposed to road debt, is opposed to any new tax that increases the size and scope of government.  She introduced numerous bills to find new funds, helped pass the biggest boost to highway funding in over a decade without raising taxes, and filed legislation to end diversions from the gas tax. Senator Campbell is opposed to toll roads, but making a complete transition from tolling to pay-as-you-go funding without new transportation dollars isn’t going to happen overnight.

Let’s work together to solve this road funding crisis, and stop pointing fingers at conservative lawmakers like Senator Campbell who are working hard to find real solutions. She has done more in her first year in office to address this problem than any other freshman Senator in history.

For more information, contact:

• Jeff Judson, SVP, San Antonio Tea Party, 210-822-1292, [email protected]