by Representative Patricia Morgan
We are disappointed in Wednesday night’s vote, which will saddle our state’s economy with tolls for now and eternity. Our state’s leadership has shepherded through a toll policy that will hurt our already struggling economy and our citizens. In doing so, they ignored three responsible and sustainable alternatives that would have fixed bridges and roads without the detrimental effects of the $45 million annual toll tax.
We have fought diligently for the past eight months to avoid tolls by crafting the Republican No Tolls Bridgeworks plan. Taking less than 1% of existing funds, it uses detailed, specific and sustainable sources of money already collected from our taxpayers to provide more money for bridge repair than the tolling plan the House passed last night. The Republican plan avoids the damage that adding more debt to DOT will cause. It avoids sending nearly $200 million to Wall Street. It avoids potential legal challenges of unconstitutionality and the expensive legal fees to defend the tolls. Worse yet, if the toll plan does fail in court as some suspect, the promise to just toll trucks may collapse and force tolling of all vehicles. The Republican plan avoids adding another large and heavy burden on our economy that continues to trudge along the bottom of the nation.
Our plan is a strong, well-crafted and researched plan that would have helped Rhode Island move forward with a fiscally responsible infrastructure policy. Although, we are opposed to tolls, in yesterday’s debate we endeavored to, at the very least, make a terrible bill better. We proposed amendments that that would have helped local businesses reduce the detrimental effects of tolling and keep more jobs in Rhode Island. We fought to limit the number of tolls so an unelected departmental bureaucrat cannot unilaterally expand and increase the tolling program. We fought to remove the ability of DOT to use the gantries to send speeding tickets and traffic citations in order to grab more money from travelers. We fought give the public a vote on the toll plan. We fought for a public referendum on any toll expansion beyond large tractor trucks. But, at every turn, the Democrat majority rebuffed these good and sensible amendments.
Rhode Island is the only state that will endeavor to toll only large trucks. Our exclusivity creates legal uncertainty that may lead the courts to expand and change the truck-toll-only policy. Our Leaders have also stated that they will use police to prevent trucks from avoiding toll gantries. The American Truckers Association is already preparing legal challenges. They have studied these policies and their lawyers have advised that both are unconstitutional. Unfortunately, we will not go to court until after the bonds are issued and sold and the gantries are built. A ruling of ‘unconstitutional’ will force the debt and toll burden on the shoulders and wallets of all citizens. In magnitude, this is worse than 38 Studios.
We fear that whether average citizens directly pay at the toll booth or indirectly in the increased cost of everything purchased, Rhode Islanders will be saddled with a hurtful and damaging burden that could have been avoided. We regret that our Democrat colleagues did not join us.
Although we may have lost this battle, we will continue to develop policies that will help hard working Rhode Islanders live a better, more financially secure lives in our beautiful state.
Patricia Morgan (R) represents District 26 in Coventry, Warwick and West Warwick. She was first elected in November 2010.
