Opponents of toll concessions in Texas are close to gaining two-thirds majorities in both houses of the state legislature.

They have the Senate tied up securely to override a veto by Gov Rick Perry with 25/31. But they are also getting close to the two-thirds needed to override in the state House also.

As of midday Thursday 96 House members out of 150 had signed in favor of HB2772 - the bill which provides for a moratorium on signing of any toll concessions until Sept 1 2009.

They need only four more to muster the two-thirds.

Krusee's base slipping

Even the House Transportation Committee from which there was previously enthusiastic support for concessions and the Trans Texas Corridor program has now gone to the freezers with five signed up for HB2772. Mike Krusee chairman of that committee and a champion of tollroads and concessions has been unable to stem the tide.

Major losses Wednesday, 3 more Thurs am

Tuesday morning there were 81 reps signed for HB2772 but the freezers got another four during the day to run up 85. Wednesday they got another eight taking the total to 93 signed. Thursday morning they got three more for 96.

Krusee said last week he would introduce a compromise bill, but he has not done so. As chairman of the committee he has discretionary power over handling of the bill which has been referred to him by Speaker Tom Craddick, who still apparently opposes the moratorium. But supporters of tollroads seem to have been struck silent by the populist anti-toll frenzy that seems to have gripped so many of the legislators.

Nichols defection biggest blow

Defection of Republicans who had previously supported the program is the problem. Robert Nichols author of the companion SB1267 in the Senate was a precipitating factor in the turnaround because Nichols as a member of the Texas Transportation Commission for eight years to 2005 was one of the key instigators of the move to tolling and concessions, and was deeply involved in some of the early concession negotiation with Cintra.

Nichols coming out against toll concessions was a turn-up like Al Gore saying global warming is a sham.

Talking to people like Lisa Loftus-Otway, at the University of Texas Austin and others it appears several factors have produced the turnaround in favor of the freeze:

- a personal rift between Texas Transportation Commission chair Ric Williamson and key legislators

- a major grassroots movement against the Texas Transportation Corridors in farming and ranching country especially along TTC35

- TxDOT's lack of communication

- a sense among legislators that they had been fooled over the key enabling legislation HB3588

Several in Austin thought that support for the SH121 concession in the Dallas Fort Worth area might prevent the freeze movement gaining enough numbers in the legislature to win out.

The SH121 concession was at the beginning a TxDOT initiative but it was taken over and reshaped by area officials working through the North Central Texas Council of Governments. Michael Morris the vigorous head of transport at NCTCOG has said that the concession freeze would be "devastating" for mobility in the region.

Part-time legislators

Part of the problem is the Texas legislature - popularly called "the leege" - a bunch of part-time people who are in session for only five months in the first half of every second year, and who face the voters in the fall after each legislative session.

Legislators "like sheep"

One observer told us the legislators at the Capitol in Austin as often as not vote on legislation "like sheep" not knowing what they are voting for but following a leader.

On the matter of toll concessions the anti-toll movement has generated much misinformation that has been picked up uncritically by the legislators.

Deathly silence at TxDOT

TxDOT's communications are non-existent. The concessionaires have no lobby organization or PR either. Misconceptions about the program have therefore gone unchallenged.

For the latest count in the state house see

http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/BillLookup/History.aspx?LegSess=80R&Bill=HB2772

Billions of projects in jeopardy

In immediate jeopardy from HB2772/SB1267 are the two agreed but not yet signed concession contracts:

SH130-5&6 southeast of Austin with Cintra/Zachry involving about $1b

SH121 north of Dallas with Cintra/JPMorgan involving about $3.5b

Also Trans Texas Corridors 35 and 69 are liable to stop. Cintra/Zachry have a small "strategic partner/master development agreement" with TxDOT on TTC35 which is producing evaluations and priorities on which to base segment concession agreements, and a "strategic partner" is being sought for TTC69.

TTC35 is focussing on north of Dallas to San Antonio and some $5b of projects mostly north of SH130-1, but also around San Antonio.

TTC69 has not yet got in to project development but environmental impact permitting is well advanced.

In the active selection process are these Dallas-Ft Worth area concessions now in jeopardy from a freeze:

- Dallas-Fort Worth Connector

- I-820 and SH183 (North Tarrant Express)

- SH161 (midway between Dallas and Ft Worth)

- I-635 LBJ Fwy Managed Lane Project (Dallas County)

Houston is affected by the roadblock thrown in the way of the TTC69 concessioning process.

San Antonio's Alamo Regional Mobility Authority (Bexar Co) and TxDOT have been working on selecting a concessionaire for that region's major roadway improvements on US281/Loop1604.

In the Houston area several concessions are under study:

- SH99 Grand Parkway outer belt route

- SH249 Tomball Fwy extensions to northwest

- SH288 South Fwy toll lanes

- upgrades to Beltway 8 in the northeast

Moratorium or crematorium

A moratorium on concession signings for six months or the rest of the calendar year even might not damage Texas concessioning process irremediably. A legislative study committee could conduct a thorough review in that timeframe.

But the moratorium bills in the legislature provide for a moratorium through Sept 1, 2009 which seems far longer than needed for just a study. Sounds more like a crematorium than a moratorium.

For the latest count in the state house see

http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/BillLookup/History.aspx?LegSess=80R&Bill=HB2772

ADDITIONS UPDATES LIKELY

TOLLROADSnews 2007-03-15