Democrats in Connecticut’s House of Representatives don’t see tolls on passenger cars happening any time soon, but they do see them just for tractor-trailers on bridges.
“There’s not going to be the support in the General Assembly to toll passenger cars,” said House Majority Leader Matt Ritter (D-Hartford). “There hasn’t been support for that for eight or nine years now, and we have to fix our transportation system.”
Republicans, Democrats, and Gov. Ned Lamont have been exchanging various proposals to generate money for the state’s Special Transportation Fund, which the Lamont administration projects will be insolvent by 2025. House Democrats released a plan Tuesday that would toll trucks on 12 bridges on Connecticut's major highways -- a move they think can generate $150 million a year.
Meanwhile, Senate Republican Minority Leader Len Fasano is skeptical of the Democrats’ proposal, calling it only a concept, not a plan.
“I don’t know what their plan does,” Fasano said. “They just throw out $150 million in truck tolls without saying how much they’re going to charge. Are these double-axle trucks, single-axle, is it the plumber, is it the electrician, is it a bus -- what is it?”
He’s out on truck tolls because he’s worried that once gantries go up, Democratic lawmakers will then push to toll everyone else “at the flip of a switch.” He also said he still questions the legality of tolling only tractor-trailers.
Fasano’s caucus last week released its own plan, proposing to use money from the state’s rainy day fund to pay down pension liabilities, thus releasing more operating cash to fund transportation projects.
During his campaign for governor, Lamont proposed truck-only tolling, but then he switched to more general tolling when he realized that singling out tractor-trailers might violate federal law.
Ritter and the House Democrats believe they’ve found a way around that.
“There is an exception which Rhode Island does and other states do, which is just bridges,” Ritter said. “So when the governor scaled back his proposal to just bridges and we were able to identify those 14 -- now 12, because two bridges get removed from our plan -- that’s where we think legally we’re on firm footing to go forward with this.”
Lamont on Nov. 7 unveiled CT2030, his 10-year plan to improve the state’s transportation infrastructure and significantly reduce the time it takes the average commuter to get around the state. The plan includes “targeted enhancements” to I-95, I-84, and other major highways and would toll cars 50 cents to $1, medium-sized trucks $1.25 to $2.50, and heavy-sized trucks $3.50 to $7 on 14 bridges.
The House Democrats’ proposal excludes tolling on routes 9 and 15, and it tolls only tractor-trailers.
In a written statement, Lamont said the House Democrats’ proposal follows a similar track to his plan by generating money for transportation from out-of-state drivers.
“This proposal adheres to that basic principle, albeit to a lesser extent, but is a concept that I have explored in the past and one that should be considered among the other plans,” Lamont said. “Given this addition to the conversation, the plan from Senate Republicans presented last week, and a reported plan forthcoming from House Republicans, I am recommending that all caucuses be prepared to bring these proposals to a meeting in my office as soon as possible.”
Ritter, the House majority leader, said he is hopeful that leading lawmakers will meet with the governor next week for those talks.
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