RI House Approves Truck Toll Legislation After Marathon Debate
Thursday, February 11, 2016
After a marathon debate and a dinner pizza break, the House of Representatives approved the Truck Toll legislation (RhodeWorks) in a 52–to-21 vote. The controversial legislation is the effort proposed first by Governor Gina Raimondo and then significantly revamped by Speaker Nicholas Mattiello to improve Rhode Island’s 47th ranked roads and 50th ranked bridges. The program is estimated to to generate 6,000 jobs in road construction.
The Truck Tolls legislation will now be sent to the Senate, which is scheduled to vote on identical legislation Thursday. Each chamber is also expected to take action on the other chamber’s bill tomorrow, enabling the both bills to be forwarded to the governor for signature.
"RhodeWorks funds will be used to fix more than 150 structurally deficient bridges and make repairs to another 500 bridges to prevent them from becoming deficient, bringing 90 percent of the state’s bridges into structural sufficiency by 2024," said a release issued by the House.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTThe legislation has been strongly opposed by GOP Representative Patriacia Morgan who claims the infrastructure repairs by a "pay as you go" funding source, but her program has received little support.
“This responsible legislation addresses our infrastructure, which is the most significant factor impacting the business community and the future of economic development in our state. We have the worst bridges, roads and overpasses in America and this plan will fix hundreds of them before an emergency occurs,” said House Speaker Nicholas A. Mattiello (D-Dist. 15, Cranston). “We have vastly improved the legislation since it was first introduced last spring, cutting the rate of borrowing in half and dramatically reducing the interest rate on the bonding, while inserting language to ensure that truck tolls will never be extended to other vehicles without voter approval. The passage of this bill is vital in ensuring a brighter future for our state.”
Last Saturday, a top executive at Job Lot -- the 120 plus store discount retailer -- announced the company was putting on hold a $50 million dollar expansion over concerns about the impact of the cost of the truck tolls on their business.
The RhodeWorks program was dramatically revamped by Mattiello and gained significant support by changing the fiancing structure and decreasing the amount of borrowing and the cost of borrowing. The revised version takes advantage of hundreds of millions of federal highway funds garnered by the state’s congressional delegation. Those funds enabled the drastic reduction of borrowing from $600 million to $300 million, and reduced the state’s interest costs by 65 percent.
Related Slideshow: Raimondo and Mattiello - Friction Going Into the 2016 Session
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