Two of the bills that we have been following this session have been scheduled for a public hearing before the House Transportation Committee on April 21. Here is the link to the hearing announcement:
http://www.legis.state.tx.us/tlodocs/81R/schedules/html/C4702009042108001.HTM
HB 11 by Leibowitz is intended to abolish the Trans-Texas Corridor once and for all. Its official description is “Relating to repeal of authority for the establishment and operation of the Trans-Texas Corridor.” It would take away TxDOT’s authority to create the Corridor. One of its coauthors is our HD 52 Representative Diana Maldonado.
HB 13 is also by Leibowitz; our Representative Diana Maldonado also is a coauthor on this bill. HB 13 is “Relating to the operation of a state highway or segment of a state highway as a toll project.” TURF, an anti-Corridor anti-toll group, praises HB 13 as “the RIGHT bill to truly STOP freeway to tollway conversions. Contact your State Representative and ask them to vote NO on SB 220 and YES on HB 13!” SB 220 by Nichols will not stop some free lane to toll lane conversions, including tolling 290 E, because of its exceptions or loopholes. The better bill HB 13 by Leibowitz does not contain these loopholes.
Maldonado says that HB 13 “should prevent some of the problems we face with the Trans-Texas Corridor.”
Transportation Committee Hearing on April 21
HB 11 and HB 13 will both be heard by the House Transportation Committee on Tuesday, April 21, in Rm. E2.014 in the Capitol Extension. The hearing begins at 8 a.m. The committee chair is Rep. Joe Pickett. Vice Chair is Rep. Larry Phillips.
Comment to the Committee on One or Both of These Bills
If you wish give either written or oral comments to the committee during the hearing, you must fill out a witness affirmation form when you arrive. You may write your comments on the form and hand it in without speaking to the committee. If you want to testify before the committee, you must indicate that on the witness affirmation form.
You can mail comments to the committee at:
Texas House of Representatives
Transportation Committee
Ext. E2.122
P.O. Box 2910
Austin, TX 78768-2910
or call the committee office at 512-463-0818. You may email comments to Jonathan Sierra-Ortega in the committee clerk’s office at jonathan.sierra_ortega_hc@house.state.tx.us,
but handing in a form at the hearing or sending a written letter will have more impact than an email.
Thank Rep. Maldonado for Coauthoring These Bills
If you want to let our Representative Diana Maldonado know that you support her coauthoring one or both of these bills, you can email her by going to her webpage
http://www.house.state.tx.us/members/dist52/maldonado.php
and clicking on “send email.”
Or you can reach her office at:
Room E2.802 Capitol Extension
P.O. Box 2910
Austin, TX 78768
(512) 463-0670
(512) 463-1469 Fax
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