No vote on electronic tolls likely, Republicans say they're not needed
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HARTFORD, Conn. (WTNH) - It looks like for now lawmakers have hit the brakes on a plan to bring highway tolls back to Connecticut.
There was no vote on tolls in the House today and a vote this legislative session is now unlikely.
Republican members of the House and Senate say they can solve the state's budget problems without tolls and avoid train and bus fare increases. There is a proposal to start the ball rolling on tolls, but today the plan to call a vote in the House fell apart.
Related: Connecticut weighs return of highway tolls banned since '80s
"Folks have galvanized so hard on the issue with a lot of misinformation that an honest conversation is impossible," The House Speaker, Rep. Joe Aresimowicz (D-Berlin)admitting he can't keep his promise for an up or down vote on electronic highway tolls this legislative session essentially because he was unable to convince enough members of his own Democratic party to vote for them.
Democrats opposed to voting for tolls, Like Rep. Bob Godfrey (D-Danbury) say it's what their constituents are telling them to do, saying, "Yes, and they have a chance to chime in in November,
with the 'Lockbox Amendment' that's on the ballot."
Godfrey and other opponents say they want the vote this November, on a constitutional amendment guaranteeing all money raised for transportation goes to transportation, to be a statewide referendum on electronic tolls.
Just a couple of hours later; House and Senate Republicans announced they had revamped their state budget plan and don't need tolls to not only avoid train and bus fare increases but also secure funding for the Medicare Savings Program for seniors and the disabled, and restore municipal aid to the cities and towns. Republican Senate President Pro tem Sen. Len Fasano (R-North Haven) adding, "We fully fund transportation transportation initiatives including the transportation centers that the Governor was going to cut."
Related: Connecticut drivers would get a discount under toll proposal
The Republicans admit their plan uses some of that extra money still coming into the state tax department. House Minority Leader Rep. Themis Klarides (R-Derby) saying, "We put part of it into unfunded liabilities of state employees, part of it into teachers retirement unfunded liability and the rest as an investment into the 'Rainy Day Fund." Republicans say they hope there is now a basis for bipartisan talks to come to a budget agreement.
The Governor's office issued a statement criticizing the Republicans for immediately wanting to spend that extra revenue, even though they voted last October to save it.
Tolls likely dead for the year
HARTFORD — The General Assembly — divided politically and mindful of the fall elections — is walking away from electronic highway tolls as a source of money to repair Connecticut’s crumbling bridges and congested highways.
House Speaker Joe Aresimowicz, D-Berlin, on Wednesday conceded his Democratic majority does not have the votes to move a bill through the House and begin the process of implementing tolls.
“When you have people that want to paint the picture that Connecticut sucks and any new thing will force people out of the state, it’s tough to overcome,” Aresimowicz said.
The legislative failure of an initiative backed by outgoing Gov. Dannel P. Malloy and the General Assembly’s Democratic leadership is a major political blow and a telling example of the Legislature’s inability to accomplish much before the May 9 deadline to adjourn the legislative session.
Lawmakers are facing re-election this fall and a resurgent Republican minority is increasingly flexing its muscle, fueled by a tie in the state Senate between the two parties and the occasional defection of a few Democrats.
Republicans cast tolls as another tax in an already overtaxed state, and made it clear they would not go along. Instead, the GOP proposed a budget that rejects tolls — and Democratic initiatives for new taxes on tires and gas — and relies on borrowing to fund transportation improvements.“We have a plan that has no taxes or tolls and gives $1 billion a year (to transportation,)” said Senate Minority Leader Len Fasano, R-North Haven.
“As we stand now, there is no money for infrastructure projects,” Fasano said. “This governor has done nothing about infrastructure and that is shameful.”
No more money
The plan to put tolls on Interstate 95 and the state’s other interstates, parkways and four-lane routes grew out of a desperate realization that the Special Transportation Fund, the state’s source of highway and bridge funding, will be broke by 2020.
The fiscal situation is so dire that Malloy, earlier this year, canceled $4.3 billion in planned road and bridge projects and said the state is unable to sell bonds for routine repairs.
A phased-in 10 percent increase in Metro-North fares will go into effect July 1 if additional revenue is not found, and the branch lines will close on the weekends. Bus fares are also set to rise.
The solution offered by Malloy and the Democratic leadership was a projected $1.3 billion in annual revenue from tolls, higher gas taxes, car sales taxes and a $3 fee on tire purchases.
Democrats sweetened the deal with toll discounts and noted another vote would be required to place gantries — the electronic scanning devices that read plates and passes — over highways.
But Republicans refused to budge.
“The Speaker has heard his members very clearly and the people of the state and their feelings on tolls,” said House Minority Leader Themis Klarides, R-Derby.
“These are all pie in the sky ideas,” Klarides said of tolls and the Democratic plan. “(Aresimowicz) knows he does not have the votes and he knows people are concerned.”
Klarides and the GOP leadership said the budget released Wednesday contains no new taxes, funds transportation, restores Medicare subsidies for seniors and funding for towns and cities, and pays down deficits in retirement accounts.
Malloy said the GOP budget spends $120 million more than his spending plan while decimating funding for UConn, the Department of Children and Families and the STF. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Push for return of Connecticut's tolls looks unsuccessful
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — A tractor trailer that slammed into four cars and killed seven people at a Connecticut tollbooth three decades ago led to the end of tolls on the state's highways.
Now, a leading Connecticut lawmaker is pushing to bring them back.
While Connecticut House Speaker Joe Aresimowicz said Wednesday it doesn't appear he has the votes to do that before the session ends May 9, he warns the issue will not be going away given the state's fiscal struggles.
"I believe whoever the governor is, regardless of political party, is going to come in here in January. And in the first meeting they have, they're going to say, "Oh no, what do we do?" And that's going to happen," the Democrat said of tolls.
Aresimowicz, who narrowly won re-election two years ago, said Wednesday he's willing to put his election "on the line over tolls" because it's the right thing to do. However, he acknowledged it doesn't appear that enough of his colleagues in the General Assembly share that sentiment in this election year.
The 1983 fatal truck crash on Interstate 95 in Stratford created pressure to remove the tollbooths, and they were eliminated from the highway within three years. Additional legislation called for tolls to be stricken from other state highways by 1988.
Democratic Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, who is not seeking re-election, has endorsed a return of tolls — electronic ones this time — warning that $4.3 billion in transportation projects will have to be delayed or canceled if there isn't new revenue generated.
State Democrats have predicted tolls could eventually generate about $1.2 billion a year.
But skepticism remains as to whether tolling would generate that much and whether Connecticut should join neighboring states like New York and Massachusetts with tolls. Opponents argue that state citizens are already taxed too much.
That has created a challenge for passing this year's two-part bill, which requires a study and recommendations for a tolling system from the Department of Transportation, including multiple discounts for state residents, before the General Assembly would give any final go-ahead.
"This is the lightning rod for everyone who is dissatisfied. This has sent them right over the top," said Sen. Toni Boucher, R-Wilton. She said tolls would be another tax in a state "that has already been devastated by too many additional taxes."Aresimowicz complained there's too much misinformation about tolls."When you have people that want to paint the picture that Connecticut sucks at all costs and any new thing is going to force people out of this state, it's a tough narrative to overcome," he said.Some lawmakers just wanted to get the ball rolling on a plan in the General Assembly.
"We have been talking about this for a number of years," said Rep. Antonio "Tony" Guerrera, D-Rocky Hill, the co-chairman of the legislature's Transportation Committee. "You need some type of blueprint here and we don't have that."
Connecticut Republican leaders disagree that tolls are inevitable, saying they have a proposal that will shore up the state's transportation account without tolling by prioritizing borrowing. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Tolling measure hits a snag, Wednesday vote suspended
KEITH M. PHANEUF
Speaker Joe Aresimowicz canceled plans Wednesday for a House vote on a measure to create an electronic tolling plan, saying it lacks support now to pass.
While the Berlin Democrat said he still would try to build sufficient support before the session ends on May 9, he also said the anti-tolls movement has been effective at scaring people with false information
Aresimowicz said several times in preceding days that he was planning a tolls vote on Wednesday. But during his regular meeting with Capitol reporters before the start of Wednesday's session, when asked if he was ready to call the bill, Aresimowicz said, "I'm going to work as hard as I can" to secure passage before the session ends
But what about the planned Wednesday vote?
"In all likelihood," he replied, "I would say 'no.'"
House Democratic leaders released details Tuesday of the bill they hope to bring to a vote. The measure would direct the Department of Transportation to develop a detailed electronic tolling plan for state highways for legislative consideration next year — a plan that must provide significant commuter-pass discount rates for Connecticut residents.
Another major change in the legislation is that, regardless of whether it is enacted this year, it would require a second, affirmative vote of the General Assembly in 2019, or later, before tolls could be established. An earlier version would have ratified the tolling plan, by default, if lawmakers approved this year's bill but took no action in 2019.
"Our whole goal was to have an honest conversation with the taxpayers of the state. I'm not giving up on that idea" Aresimowicz said, adding that goal has been severely undermined by gross distortions from opponents of tolling. "There is so much misinformation out there."
Although details of the bill still could change, Aresimowicz said, plans call for a base rate of 11.8 cents per mile during peak periods and 9.4 cents off-peak. Any motorist whose license plate is registered with the state tolling system would pay rates of 9.9 cents during peak periods and 7.9 cents off peak.
But Connecticut residents would pay less.
Those who buy a CT EZPass would get a 30 percent discount, which means rates of 5.5 cents on-peak and 4.4 cents off-peak. And for those who buy a special CT EZPass with a commuter rate, the cost would be discounted 20 percent more, or 4.4 cents on-peak and 3.5 cents off-peak.
The speaker also conceded that election-year politics has been an obstacle.
Republican legislators have been unanimous in their opposition to tolls. The GOP has countered that Connecticut must better prioritize its transportation program and borrowing in general to free up more dollars for infrastructure improvements.
And legislators from both sides of the debate have been skeptical that any measure related to tolling could pass in the Senate this year. That chamber is split 18-18 between Democrats and Republicans.
"I'm willing to put my election on the line over tolls, and that may happen," Aresimowicz said. "I just think more people should."
The alternate, he and other advocates say, is to watch an aging, overcrowded transportation infrastructure that already is an impediment to economic growth, fall into greater disrepair.
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy has been warning since November that the Special Transportation Fund, which uses fuel taxes and transit revenue to pay debt service on borrowing for transportation projects, is headed for insolvency.
Absent more funding, the state is facing scrapping some rail services, raising fares, and suspending 40 percent of planned capital projects worth about $4.3 billion in construction activity — including major highway projects such as rebuilding the Hartford viaduct and the junction of I-84 and Rt. 8 in Waterbury, known as the "mixmaster," the Malloy administration says.
A coalition of construction businesses and trades, Move CT Forward, launched an advertising campaign this spring to urge greater state investment in transportation.
I think there's been a lack of good information about tolls," said Connecticut Construction Industries Association President Don Schubert, who supports the bill and whose group is part of Move CT Forward.
Schubert added the standoff "is jeopardizing the more important issue," which is stabilizing the Special Transportation Fund so the emergency cutbacks the governor has planned can be averted.
The tolling measure also includes a provision that would gradually increase the transfer of certain sales tax receipts to the fund. It would receive an extra $20 million next fiscal year and more in the out years.