Today the mechanism that would have funded the Trans-Texas Corridor was not renewed by the Legislature. Gov. Perry had asked legislators to pass three things during the special session: (1) continuing the existence of a few state agencies including TxDOT until the 2011 session; (2) allowing the state to issue $2 billion in transportation bonds; and (3) extending the ability to fund toll roads through comprehensive development agreements (CDA’s) by public-private partnerships (PPP’s).
CDA’s to die on August 31
The House and Senate passed the bill to keep TxDOT alive until they can consider reforms in the 2011 session, and they allowed the $2 billion in transportation bonds. They did NOT extend the CDA’s, and the authority to do CDA’s will expire August 31.
TURF says, “Taxpayers want Perry’s controversial and virtually universally detested road privatization schemes to die a natural death August 31 as scheduled, which will also KILL the mechanism to build the Trans-Texas Corridor.”
Why did Perry try for CDA’s in the special session?
Texas Monthly’s Paul Burka says, “The governor’s fight for more toll roads and more Comprehensive Development Agreements makes no sense politically. It puts the spotlight directly on his most controversial policy.”
Since renewing the CDA’s was in trouble from the beginning in the Legislature, why did Perry include CDA’s as part of the call for the special session? What was in it for him to put CDA’s up to the legislators, only to be swatted down? Was it to show his major construction contributors that he was doing his best for them, and he couldn’t help it if the recalcitrant legislators wouldn’t go along?
Is Krusee STILL TALKING?
The Statesman’s Ben Wear says, “For supporters of such contracts, which were touted earlier this decade as a way to bring in large upfront payments to TxDOT from private companies, the issue is not so much the next two years. Rather, if the existing authority in state law expires, reviving it may be politically impossible.”
He quotes our erstwhile representative Mike Krusee: "It means the potential loss of billions of dollars for road construction." It was Krusee’s legislation in the 2003 session that made the CDA’s legal, among other things,that started off the entire Trans-Texas Corridor fiasco, causing so many people to spend so much time and energy trying to save rural Texas from being paved over. Thanks, Mike! Can you stop talking now that the Corridor funding method is dead?
Showing posts with label Krusee. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Krusee. Show all posts
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Burka asks: What does killing the Trans-Texas Corridor mean?--ACRE answers
Paul Burka has posted and received comments about HB 300, the TxDOT Sunset Bill.
http://www.texasmonthly.com/blogs/burkablog/?p=3792
I commented that one of the things that should be kept in HB 300 is killing the Trans-Texas Corridor. Burka asked what did people mean by killing the TTC. Below is my reply to his question:
I would say that killing the Trans-Texas Corridor is what is intended by HB 11 by Rep. Leibowitz, which is the “repeal of authority for the establishment and operation of the Trans-Texas Corridor.” I don’t know if this is the language of the amendment that was added to HB 300. It is my understanding that the amendment to HB 300 would be something like HB 11. The purpose would be to take away the authority to create and operate the TTC that was given to TxDOT by HB 3588 in 2003.
As long as this authority to create an entity with the name of TTC is still in statute and still in other official documents such as the Environmental Impact Statement (which is still stuck at the Federal Highway Administration), there is the danger that the project will be resurrected.
The project itself is as described in the document “Crossroads of the Americas” which lays out the design of the TTC as a multi-modal, almost quarter-mile wide swath of routes in a network that criss-crosses Texas—ten vehicular lanes, six rail lines, pipelines, and utility zone, with all concessions within the TTC boundaries—that would sweep through the state, bypassing cities, thus depriving them of trade as well as tax base, because of all the acreage taken out of the local taxing districts.
As it unfolded, it was intended that the TTC be a public-private partnership, giving Cintra (a Spanish corporation) the right to profit from land taken from Texas landowners through eminent domain by the state and turned over to Cintra.
For years, our family and our neighbors have been fighting the TTC. Considering all our efforts added to the efforts of other grass-roots groups along the Corridor routes, there is no telling how many hours, days, years of time and energy we have had to take away from other endeavors to spend in the effort to save our land. These efforts required our time and money, while the people who have been trying to take our land away from us have been well-paid with our own tax money.
Over the years, those of us working against the TTC have had gradual and hard-won success. Not that it was totally due to anti-Corridor efforts, but one instance that I would like to point out is that it was “our Representative” Mike Krusee who authored HB 3588 to create the TTC. Now, our current Representative Diana Maldonado is a coauthor of HB 11 that would abolish the Corridor.
We have made progress, and the TTC name has been disavowed, but the TTC is not dead. So many Texans have spent so many hours fighting the Corridor—hours that could have been put to more productive use—it would be great if this burden could be lifted from the shoulders of rural Texans once and for all, either by HB 11 being voted out of committee and being passed by the Legislature or by keeping language totally repealing the authority for the TTC in HB 300 as it is passed by the Legislature.
http://www.texasmonthly.com/blogs/burkablog/?p=3792
I commented that one of the things that should be kept in HB 300 is killing the Trans-Texas Corridor. Burka asked what did people mean by killing the TTC. Below is my reply to his question:
I would say that killing the Trans-Texas Corridor is what is intended by HB 11 by Rep. Leibowitz, which is the “repeal of authority for the establishment and operation of the Trans-Texas Corridor.” I don’t know if this is the language of the amendment that was added to HB 300. It is my understanding that the amendment to HB 300 would be something like HB 11. The purpose would be to take away the authority to create and operate the TTC that was given to TxDOT by HB 3588 in 2003.
As long as this authority to create an entity with the name of TTC is still in statute and still in other official documents such as the Environmental Impact Statement (which is still stuck at the Federal Highway Administration), there is the danger that the project will be resurrected.
The project itself is as described in the document “Crossroads of the Americas” which lays out the design of the TTC as a multi-modal, almost quarter-mile wide swath of routes in a network that criss-crosses Texas—ten vehicular lanes, six rail lines, pipelines, and utility zone, with all concessions within the TTC boundaries—that would sweep through the state, bypassing cities, thus depriving them of trade as well as tax base, because of all the acreage taken out of the local taxing districts.
As it unfolded, it was intended that the TTC be a public-private partnership, giving Cintra (a Spanish corporation) the right to profit from land taken from Texas landowners through eminent domain by the state and turned over to Cintra.
For years, our family and our neighbors have been fighting the TTC. Considering all our efforts added to the efforts of other grass-roots groups along the Corridor routes, there is no telling how many hours, days, years of time and energy we have had to take away from other endeavors to spend in the effort to save our land. These efforts required our time and money, while the people who have been trying to take our land away from us have been well-paid with our own tax money.
Over the years, those of us working against the TTC have had gradual and hard-won success. Not that it was totally due to anti-Corridor efforts, but one instance that I would like to point out is that it was “our Representative” Mike Krusee who authored HB 3588 to create the TTC. Now, our current Representative Diana Maldonado is a coauthor of HB 11 that would abolish the Corridor.
We have made progress, and the TTC name has been disavowed, but the TTC is not dead. So many Texans have spent so many hours fighting the Corridor—hours that could have been put to more productive use—it would be great if this burden could be lifted from the shoulders of rural Texans once and for all, either by HB 11 being voted out of committee and being passed by the Legislature or by keeping language totally repealing the authority for the TTC in HB 300 as it is passed by the Legislature.
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
BILL to KILL the TTC gets hearing
A landmark event occurred yesterday. Rep. Leibowitz’s (D-San Antonio) HB 11 to totally kill the Trans-Texas Corridor was heard in the House Transportation Committee. HB 11 may not make it past this point this session, but after fighting the Corridor for years, it is very encouraging to me, and an important symbol of how far we have come, to witness this bill given a hearing and to hear every single witness testify in favor of this bill, with no one who cared or dared to publicly oppose the Corridor-killing bill.
Corridor must be wiped from the books
As we know, the pronouncements during the last few months that the Corridor is dead may reflect the reality that the Corridor is very sick, that the people of Texas don’t want it, and that it has become more and more politically risky. However, Gov. 39% declared that the name might have changed, but that his “vision” of the almost quarter-mile wide, multi-modal network criss-crossing Texas would continue by segments. The name was changed to protect the guilty, but the essence of the project would continue piece by piece.
Rep. Leibowitz said, “Rural land will still be taken by cross-state tollways if we don’t repeal the authority to create the TTC. [with the passage of HB 11] If the state leadership wants to come up with a new multi-modal transportation corridor, they will need to start from scratch.”
Krusee creates Corridor, Maldonado tries to kill it
An ironic twist--we must observe that our previous HD 52 representative Mike Krusee was the author and prime mover behind HB 3588 that created the Corridor in the 2003 session. Our current Representative Diana Maldonado is a coauthor of HB 11 to destroy the Corridor.
Testimony in favor of HB 11
The hearing room was almost full, and Chairman Pickett announced that overflow capacity was available in another room. Many testified in favor of HB 11 and many more handed in testimony forms supporting HB 11. Staffers kept running out of witness forms and had to go out to get more.
Leading off the testimony was the president of the Texas Farm Bureau, Kenneth Dierschke, who, representing 425,000 member families, testified in favor of HB 11.
Representing other groups around the state were Terri Hall of TURF; Hank Gilbert of TURF and former Democratic nominee for Ag Commissioner; Beki Halpin, Fix 290; Margaret Green, Blackland Coalition; Bruce Burton, Texans Against Tolls; and citizens representing themselves and their families. Mary Anderson. Texans Against Tolls, did not speak publicly, but was all around the hearing room, supplying information and helping others get their witness forms. Citizens from all over the state testified to the committee and handed in witness forms.
About his HB 11 to kill the Corridor and HB 13 to prohibit the conversion of free lanes to tolled lanes, Rep. Leibowitz observed, “Nobody testified against them.” He said that HB 11 “takes TTC off the books. TTC is sucking the very life blood out of the heart and soul of Texas. We need to drive a stake through its heart—if it has a heart.”
Status of HB 11
Chairman Pickett left HB 11 and HB 13 pending. This means that the Transportation Committee may or may not vote these bills out to go to the full House. We will try to get an idea of what is going on with HB 11 in the committee and see if the anti-Corridor groups need to mount a campaign to communicate with the legislators to get HB 11 out of committee and to the House floor.
Filming the proceedings
Making a complete record of the proceedings was Bill Molina of Storm Productions. Bill has produced two award-winning documentaries against the Corridor—the “Truth Be Tolled” films. When history decides to go back and look at all the meetings and hearings around the state and at the Capitol on the Corridor, the entire record will be there in the work of Bill Molina. The Coupland Civic Organization hosted a showing of his first Corridor film two years ago—just one of the community groups around the state that have done so. Both of Bill’s films can be seen for free now on YouTube. Go to truthbetolled.com and click on YouTube on the top line.
Corridor must be wiped from the books
As we know, the pronouncements during the last few months that the Corridor is dead may reflect the reality that the Corridor is very sick, that the people of Texas don’t want it, and that it has become more and more politically risky. However, Gov. 39% declared that the name might have changed, but that his “vision” of the almost quarter-mile wide, multi-modal network criss-crossing Texas would continue by segments. The name was changed to protect the guilty, but the essence of the project would continue piece by piece.
Rep. Leibowitz said, “Rural land will still be taken by cross-state tollways if we don’t repeal the authority to create the TTC. [with the passage of HB 11] If the state leadership wants to come up with a new multi-modal transportation corridor, they will need to start from scratch.”
Krusee creates Corridor, Maldonado tries to kill it
An ironic twist--we must observe that our previous HD 52 representative Mike Krusee was the author and prime mover behind HB 3588 that created the Corridor in the 2003 session. Our current Representative Diana Maldonado is a coauthor of HB 11 to destroy the Corridor.
Testimony in favor of HB 11
The hearing room was almost full, and Chairman Pickett announced that overflow capacity was available in another room. Many testified in favor of HB 11 and many more handed in testimony forms supporting HB 11. Staffers kept running out of witness forms and had to go out to get more.
Leading off the testimony was the president of the Texas Farm Bureau, Kenneth Dierschke, who, representing 425,000 member families, testified in favor of HB 11.
Representing other groups around the state were Terri Hall of TURF; Hank Gilbert of TURF and former Democratic nominee for Ag Commissioner; Beki Halpin, Fix 290; Margaret Green, Blackland Coalition; Bruce Burton, Texans Against Tolls; and citizens representing themselves and their families. Mary Anderson. Texans Against Tolls, did not speak publicly, but was all around the hearing room, supplying information and helping others get their witness forms. Citizens from all over the state testified to the committee and handed in witness forms.
About his HB 11 to kill the Corridor and HB 13 to prohibit the conversion of free lanes to tolled lanes, Rep. Leibowitz observed, “Nobody testified against them.” He said that HB 11 “takes TTC off the books. TTC is sucking the very life blood out of the heart and soul of Texas. We need to drive a stake through its heart—if it has a heart.”
Status of HB 11
Chairman Pickett left HB 11 and HB 13 pending. This means that the Transportation Committee may or may not vote these bills out to go to the full House. We will try to get an idea of what is going on with HB 11 in the committee and see if the anti-Corridor groups need to mount a campaign to communicate with the legislators to get HB 11 out of committee and to the House floor.
Filming the proceedings
Making a complete record of the proceedings was Bill Molina of Storm Productions. Bill has produced two award-winning documentaries against the Corridor—the “Truth Be Tolled” films. When history decides to go back and look at all the meetings and hearings around the state and at the Capitol on the Corridor, the entire record will be there in the work of Bill Molina. The Coupland Civic Organization hosted a showing of his first Corridor film two years ago—just one of the community groups around the state that have done so. Both of Bill’s films can be seen for free now on YouTube. Go to truthbetolled.com and click on YouTube on the top line.
Monday, February 16, 2009
New House Transportation Committee Chair
Up until this session, our HD 52 representative Mike Krusee was chair of the House Transportation Committee, from which position he authored and rammed through the legislation enabling the Trans-Texas Corridor in 2003. Very few people, including members of the House and Senate who voted for it, realized what a devastating bomb was included in this legislation. Once we did realize it, we were forced to spend the ensuing years fighting the durned thing. We could have spent that time otherwise.
The new chairman of the House Transportation Committee is El Paso Rep. Joe Pickett. As reported by the El Paso Times, Pickett has called TxDOT a secretive bully.
http://www.elpasotimes.com/ci_11693160?IADID=Search-www.elpasotimes.com-www.elpasotimes.com
Pickett is called “an expert on transportation issues,” with “a thorny relationship with the Texas Department of Transportation,” filing in 2007 a bill to abolish the Texas Transportation Commission.
“Pickett has also chastised the Transportation Department for not being open enough about its spending and for having what he considers an insatiable appetite for toll roads.”
We shall see.
The new chairman of the House Transportation Committee is El Paso Rep. Joe Pickett. As reported by the El Paso Times, Pickett has called TxDOT a secretive bully.
http://www.elpasotimes.com/ci_11693160?IADID=Search-www.elpasotimes.com-www.elpasotimes.com
Pickett is called “an expert on transportation issues,” with “a thorny relationship with the Texas Department of Transportation,” filing in 2007 a bill to abolish the Texas Transportation Commission.
“Pickett has also chastised the Transportation Department for not being open enough about its spending and for having what he considers an insatiable appetite for toll roads.”
We shall see.
Monday, October 20, 2008
Krusee formally charged with DWI
HD 52 Representative Mike Krusee was in a Williamson County courtroom today to be formally charged with driving while intoxicated, as reported by Austin’s FOX 7. He pled not guilty and will go to trial on November 17. Krusee is not running for reelection.
Interestingly, the charge was read to him by Dee Hobbs, Williamson County prosecuting attorney, who ran in the Republican primary for Krusee’s seat. Hobbs was defeated in a primary runoff by Bryan Daniel, who is the Republican nominee for the seat. Also running are Democrat Diana Maldonado and Libertarian Lillian Simmons.
Krusee was the author of HB 3588 that created the Trans-Texas Corridor at the behest of Gov. Perry. All three candidates for the seat say they are against the Corridor.
To see the FOX 7 report, go to
http://www.myfoxaustin.com/myfox/pages/Home/Detail;jsessionid=EC6AD84C97BA701E004DA24A2CC8B405?contentId=7683094&version=1&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=VSTY&pageId=1.1.1&sflg=1
Interestingly, the charge was read to him by Dee Hobbs, Williamson County prosecuting attorney, who ran in the Republican primary for Krusee’s seat. Hobbs was defeated in a primary runoff by Bryan Daniel, who is the Republican nominee for the seat. Also running are Democrat Diana Maldonado and Libertarian Lillian Simmons.
Krusee was the author of HB 3588 that created the Trans-Texas Corridor at the behest of Gov. Perry. All three candidates for the seat say they are against the Corridor.
To see the FOX 7 report, go to
http://www.myfoxaustin.com/myfox/pages/Home/Detail;jsessionid=EC6AD84C97BA701E004DA24A2CC8B405?contentId=7683094&version=1&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=VSTY&pageId=1.1.1&sflg=1
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