Free Daily Headlines :

  • COVID-19
  • Vaccine Info
  • Money
  • Politics
  • Education
  • Health
  • Justice
  • More
    • Environment
    • Economic Development
    • Gaming
    • Investigations
    • Social Services
    • TRANSPORTATION
  • Opinion
    • CT Viewpoints
    • CT Artpoints
DONATE
Reflecting Connecticut’s Reality.
    COVID-19
    Vaccine Info
    Money
    Politics
    Education
    Health
    Justice
    More
    Environment
    Economic Development
    Gaming
    Investigations
    Social Services
    TRANSPORTATION
    Opinion
    CT Viewpoints
    CT Artpoints

LET�S GET SOCIAL

Show your love for great stories and out standing journalism

Lamont leaves tolls for special session

  • Transportation
  • by Mark Pazniokas
  • May 21, 2019
  • View as "Clean Read" "Exit Clean Read"

ctmirror.org

Gov. Ned Lamont

Updated at 5:05 p.m.

Gov. Ned Lamont conceded Tuesday that the 2019 session of the General Assembly will end June 5 without a vote on highway tolls, recasting his focus for the final weeks to delivering a budget that will provide a reliable fiscal blueprint for Connecticut for the next two years.

“My first priority is to get an honestly balanced budget done on time,” Lamont said. “That was a promise I made during that campaign. I heard from every superintendent of schools and mayors. ‘Even if I don’t get all the money I want, get it to me on time, so I can plan accordingly.’”

Lamont made his comments a day after meeting with legislative leaders, when it became clear to administration officials that a special session would offer the governor his best chance of convincing the General Assembly to accept a comprehensive system of highway tolls as the most reliable way finance overdue improvements to the state’s transportation infrastructure.

Later Tuesday, Lamont released a working draft of a tolls bill, An Act Concerning the Sustainability of Connecticut’s Transportation Infrastructure, that he intends to propose during the special session.  In the bill, Lamont yields oversight of tolls to a Connecticut Transportation Commission composed of six lawmakers, six administration officials or appointees and the state treasurer. It would be considered a legislative agency.

The bill was the work of the administration and the co-chairs of the legislature’s Transportation Committee.

Lamont suggested Tuesday that his acceptance of a special session on tolls was a reaction in part to a suggestion by the Senate Minority Leader Len Fasano, R-North Haven, and House Minority Leader Themis Klarides, R-Derby, that the administration has yet to full articulate a schedule and budget of transportation improvements.

“If Len and Themis think they need a little more time to think about our transportation infrastructure, I’m willing to give them a little more time,” Lamont said. “We’re going to have [Transportation Commissioner] Joe Giulietti there. We’re going to open the doors, answer every question they’ve got. So, at least we can’t have them say ‘I can’t make my mind up because I don’t have enough information.’”

But the GOP minority is not his target for votes, nor his problem. With Republicans categorically opposed to a significant system of tolls, Lamont needs to win over 76 of 91 House Democrats and at least 18 of 22 Senate Democrats, the bare minimums necessary for passage.

Republicans have offered to dedicate more of the state’s borrowing to transportation, an approach Lamont says will raise too little money while adding too much to the state’s indebtedness.

The governor is casting his plan to install tolls on the Merritt Parkway and Interstates 84, 91 and 95 as a crucial step toward economic growth, which he says is inextricably linked to an adequate system of highways and trains. The special session also would consider economic development measures.

“We’re stuck in an economic rut,” he said. “We haven’t added new jobs in a generation. Transportation is so key to our economic future, so don’t duck the vote.”

The bill released Tuesday would establish toll rates of 4.4 cents a mile for peak travel and 3.5 cents for off-peak, with authority for the Department of Transportation to vary the rates by 30 percent above or below the published rates to comply with any congestion-pricing agreement struck with the Federal Highway Administration.

Tolls are generally prohibited on interstates constructed or maintained with federal highway feds, but Connecticut is one of the states permitted to negotiate with the Federal Highway Administration over tolls aimed at reducing congestion with variable pricing,  based on peak and an off-peak travel.

Pricing would be frozen for three years, then fall under the control of the Connecticut Transportation Commission. The bill requires discounts for state drivers and creates a mechanism for lowering fuel taxes, should fiscal conditions allow.

The measure lists nine projects that would have to be funded, including the replacement of the Gold Star Memorial Bridge in New London, the I-84 viaduct in Hartford, improvements to I-95 and the reconstruction of various exits that are now chokepoints.

Senate President Pro Tem Martin M. Looney, D-New Haven, said the draft was a work in progress, subject to negotiation once the special session begins.

Fasano said he was open to a special session, but he saw no circumstance in which Republicans would support tolls. “Bring everyone in? Who am I to say no,” Fasano said. “And then we go from there.”

House Speaker Joe Aresimowicz, D-Berlin, said he had the votes for some version of tolling, but not one acceptable to the Senate or governor. He declined to identify differences between the chambers or the governor.

Lamont laughed when asked about those differences, saying, “I never have any differences with the speaker.”

Sign up for CT Mirror's free daily news summary.

Free to Read. Not Free to Produce.

The Connecticut Mirror is a nonprofit newsroom. 90% of our revenue comes from people like you. If you value our reporting please consider making a donation. You'll enjoy reading CT Mirror even more knowing you helped make it happen.

YES, I'LL DONATE TODAY

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Mark Pazniokas is the Capitol Bureau Chief and a co-founder of CT Mirror. He is a frequent contributor to WNPR, a former state politics writer for The Hartford Courant and Journal Inquirer, and contributor for The New York Times.

SEE WHAT READERS SAID

RELATED STORIES
Lamont’s budget keeps transportation program afloat through 2026 with new truck fee
by Keith M. Phaneuf

Gov. Ned Lamont's new budget would keep Connecticut's transportation program solvent through 2026 with a new fee on trucks.

It has been slow to arrive, but high speed rail could be coming
by Tom Condon

A high-speed rail concept has been germinating, one that would go inland through Connecticut instead of along the shoreline.

Funding to fix CT’s roads and bridges is drying up, and officials don’t have a solution
by Keith M. Phaneuf and Kasturi Pananjady

Connecticut's transportation building program is on a financial diet after a five-year ramp-up after lawmakers rejected tolls.

CT signs on to regional plan to cut transportation emissions
by Jan Ellen Spiegel

Connecticut has signed on to a ground-breaking plan that will help dramatically lower greenhouse gas and other emissions from transportation.

Will CT legislators raise the gas tax? With tax rates now below the national average, it’s possible
by Keith M. Phaneuf

Once among the nation's highest, Connecticut's gas taxes now rank below average among all states.

Support Our Work

Show your love for great stories and outstanding journalism.

$
Select One
  • Monthly
  • Yearly
  • Once
Artpoint painter
CT ViewpointsCT Artpoints
Opinion Assisted suicide lobby spreads falsehoods to promote systemic ableism
by Stephen Mendelsohn

Proponents of assisted suicide repeatedly spread falsehoods to promote their lethal and ableist agenda.  The February 8 op-ed, “Aid in dying is not assisted suicide” is no exception. Suicide is defined as the act of taking one’s life intentionally.  The person who intentionally ingests a prescribed lethal overdose more closely fits the dictionary definition of suicide than the despondent person who jumps off a bridge.  The desire for suicide is a cry for help, even when redefined as a “medical treatment option.”

Opinion TCI will create a fourth gasoline tax
by Christian A. Herb

The Transportation Climate Initiative, or TCI, calls for a proposed emissions fee on gasoline to help battle climate change. On the surface, supporters say it is a small price to pay to help save the planet; and if you truly believe that this is the case, then you should consider voting for it. Despite the administration’s efforts to go out of their way to not call TCI a tax, the simple truth is that it will only create additional financial hardships on lower- and middle-income families struggling to make ends meet during the pandemic.

Opinion Let’s keep telehealth when the pandemic ends
by Steven Madonick, MD

Telehealth may lead to positive, even transformational changes in psychiatric care, and Connecticut needs to keep it after the pandemic. Connecticut needs to pass the necessary laws to continue telehealth and telephonic care.

Opinion The public health bill no one is talking about, but should be
by Brian Festa

On February 16,  the legislature's Public Health Committee conducted a public hearing on two bills, S.B. 568 and H.B. 6423, both of which would eliminate the religious exemption to mandatory vaccinations for Connecticut schoolchildren.  The hearing was capped at 24 hours, depriving nearly 1,500 members of the public who had registered for the hearing their opportunity to be heard.  The vast majority of those who did testify, and who submitted written testimony, opposed the bill.  The committee is expected to vote on the bill as early as  today. 

Artwork Grand guidance
by Anne:Gogh

In a world of systemic oppression aimed towards those of darker skintones – representation matters. We are more than our equity elusive environments, more than numbers in a prison and much more than victims of societal dispositions. This piece depicts a melanated young man draped in a cape ascending high above multiple forms of oppression. […]

Artwork Shea
by Anthony Valentine

Shea is a story about race and social inequalities that plague America. It is a narrative that prompts the question, “Do you know what it’s like to wake up in new skin?”

Artwork The Declaration of Human Rights
by Andres Chaparro

Through my artwork I strive to create an example of ideas that reflect my desire to raise social consciousness, and cultural awareness. Jazz music is the catalyst to all my work, and plays a major influence in each piece of work.”

Artwork ‘A thing of beauty. Destroy it forever’
by Richard DiCarlo | Derby

During times like these it’s often fun to revisit something familiar and approach things with a different slant. I have been taking some Pop culture and Art masterpieces and applying the vintage 1960’s and 70’s classic figures (Fisher Price, little people) to the make an amusing pieces. Here is my homage to Fisher -Price, Yellow […]

Twitter Feed
A Twitter List by CTMirror

Engage

  • Reflections Tickets & Sponsorships
  • Events
  • Donate
  • Newsletter Sign-Up
  • Submit to Viewpoints
  • Submit to ArtPoints
  • Economic Indicator Dashboard
  • Speaking Engagements
  • Commenting Guidelines
  • Legal Notices
  • Contact Us

About

  • About CT Mirror
  • Announcements
  • Board
  • Staff
  • Sponsors and Funders
  • Donors
  • Friends of CT Mirror
  • History
  • Financial
  • Policies
  • Strategic Plan

Opportunity

  • Advertising and Sponsorship
  • Speaking Engagements
  • Use of Photography
  • Work for Us

Go Deeper

  • Steady Habits Podcast
  • Economic Indicator Dashboard
  • Five Things

The Connecticut News Project, Inc. 1049 Asylum Avenue, Hartford, CT 06105. Phone: 860-218-6380

© Copyright 2021, The Connecticut News Project. All Rights Reserved. Website by Web Publisher PRO