Action Alert: Tolls Public Hearing Scheduled for FRIDAY
January 29, 2020If you oppose tolls NOW is the time to make your voice heard loud and clear.
On Friday January 31, 2020, at 1:00 pm in Hartford, Governor Lamont and CT Democrats are rushing to hold a public hearing on their latest tolls proposal before forcing a vote early next week. You can read more about the bill by clicking here.
You can come to Hartford on Friday to testify OR you can submit testimony online.
To speak out in Hartford:
- Come to the Legislative Office Building on Friday, January 31, 2020
- Signups will likely be held early in the day to testify later at the 1:00 pm hearing in Room 1E (more information to follow)
- Tips and FAQs about testifying are available on our website by clicking here.
- Stay tuned for more details on how to testify in person.
To submit testimony online:
- Send a brief email ASAP to [email protected]
- Put “NO to Draft Bill LCO #373. No to Tolls” in the subject line.
- Include your name and town.
- Feel free to attend the hearing on Friday, January 31, 2020, at 1:00 pm in Hearing Room 1E and let me know that you are in Hartford.
What’s in the Democrats latest proposal?
What we do know:
- Tolls would be built in at least 12 locations throughout the state. Nothing in the bill stops the state from building additional toll locations in the future.
- Trucks will have to pay right away.
- Cars will likely be next. The protections in the bill are not even close to sufficient to stop future car tolling.
- It puts CT taxpayers at risk of lawsuits from the trucking industry and legal challenges from the state of NY.
- It is bought and paid for using taxpayer dollars. The governor is breaking his ‘debt diet’ to increase borrowing to buy votes.
- It borrows more than the Republican no-tolls transportation plan, putting more debt on future generations, and still requires tolls.
- Lawmakers will not have to hold a vote to increase toll rates and answer to taxpayers. The ability to raise rates will be entirely in the hands of a new state transportation council. And there’s nothing taxpayers or lawmakers can do to stop them.
What we don’t know:
- No details on the numbers.
- No details on which transportation projects will be funded, and which projects included in earlier proposals got cut.
- No evidence to show how much revenue tolls will bring in.
- No calculations showing the impact of toll avoidance.
- No analysis of how toll avoidance would impact local roadways.
- No explanation of if and how the Special Transportation Fund would remain in balance.
Is there an alternative to tolls? ABSOLUTELY.
Republicans have shown that we do not need tolls to invest in transportation by offering a no-tolls alternative (FASTR CT) that doesn’t look to the taxpayer’s wallet as the solution for all the state’s problems.
The Republican plan can get us started on making improvements and growing jobs right away with no litigation like Rhode Island is now experiencing due to their truck-only tolls.
The Republican transportation plan respects the sacrifices CT taxpayers have already made to fund transportation. Meanwhile, tolls put taxpayers’ wallets in the bullseye.