Perry says HB1892 risks billions in federal dollars and opens door to local corruption

Will carefully review bill before deciding on veto

April 27, 2007

Quorum Report

Governor Rick Perry issued the following statement after the Senate passed HB1892 and House author Wayne Smith (R-Baytown) indicated that he would recommend the House concur with Senate amendments.

"The legislature claims Texas needs a moratorium on private financing of toll roads, yet seeks to exempt every privately planned toll road on the drawing board from their moratorium. The legislature states that we need to pause and reconsider public private partnerships to build roads, yet expand this concept by granting this exact same authority to local toll road authorities all over the state.

"This bill appears to do little to address the serious concerns raised by the Federal Highway Administration earlier this week. Instead, it jeopardizes billions of dollars in federal funding for Texas and clean air compliance in Houston. Both consequences would be devastating for the Texas economy.

"I will review this bill carefully because we cannot have public policy in this state that shuts down road construction, kills jobs, harms air quality, prevents access to federal highway dollars, and creates an environment within local government that is ripe for political corruption."