By Ben Phillpott, KUT News
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/kera/local-kera-847221.mp3
Austin, TX –
The two-day state legislative session has adjourned, and lawmakers have passed two of the measures Governor Perry assigned. They've adopted legislation to keep five state agencies operating, and they've authorized $2-billion in bonds to build roads. But lawmakers refused to allow the state to continue contracting for privately built toll roads. KUT's Ben Philpott has more.
That third bill would have reauthorized comprehensive development agreements. CDA's are a funding tool for state road projects. Critics say this particular tool leads to privately controlled toll roads - and little else. That ended up being too much of a political hot potato for lawmakers to tackle - especially when they were racing to get everything done before the 4th of July weekend.
Dallas Senator - Republican John Carona warns this doesn't mean CDA's are dead.
Carona: "I think they perhaps ought to be the last choice rather than the first choice -- but I think it would be a mistake to do away with CDA's because they are yet another financial tool. And given today's financial markets - given the difficulty and hesitance of any legislative body all across the county to raise taxes -- I think we need every other tool at our disposal."
Governor Rick Perry was the biggest -- and maybe only supporter -- of getting a CDA bill passed during the Special Session. He and his staff had been negotiating with lawmakers throughout the regular? session to get some version passed. Only to get the final - "It ain't going to happen" from Lt. Governor David Dewhurst this afternoon.
Dewhurst: "His reaction was roads need to get built. I think Senator Carona and I tried to explain to him that we had visited not only with TxDOT - we visited with his own staff - we had visited with some of the planning organizations and we weren't hearing the urgency on specific projects."
Lawmakers were able to get agreements on two other initiatives. One would authorize about 2-billion dollars in bond money for TxDOT projects. The other is a so called safety net bill - that allows TxDOT and 4 other state agencies to continue functioning. Without the bill those agencies would have been legally required to begin shutting down this fall.