Tx Gov Perry says exemptions allow important concessions to continue

May 30, 2007

TOLLROADSnews

Gov Rick Perry says the exemptions to the moratorium on concessions in SB792 allow the important tollroad projects to continue unaffected. Where there's congestion people in Texas want private concessions as well as public tollroads, but elsewhere people can "make political statements" he said of the anti-concession movement.

Perry denied he had promised anyone to sign the bill, saying however his administration had confidential understandings on many issues, and suggesting he will sign the bill.

A transcript of his remarks at a press conference:

Q: “[Someone] said you made a promise to sign it [SB792]. Will you sign it?

Perry: I don’t ever make a promise to anyone that I’m gonna sign their bill. (I don't) promise I will sign a bill before it ever gets to my desk and we’ve read it.

We’re obviously going through that bill.

And with that said we worked very closely with them. I think we worked in confidence that if they would do certain things, we would do certain things. At this particular point... it appears that that piece of legislation does what we were comfortable that the legislative intent was, and what our intent was in the legislation.

So we’re continuing to make progress on building transportation infrastructure in this state.

That’s what I’ve always cared about. Frankly, I don’t care who builds roads. I want them to get built timely, I want them to get build effectively, I want them to be built as cheaply for the taxpayer’s and the users of the state of Texas as they can be. And that is what is happening in our state.

Q: Has transportation suffered setbacks?

Perry: Not at all. Not at all. I think what you saw was people all across the state of Texas standing up and saying, “We’ve gotta have roads built”. When you look at all the exemptions that were put in place, people are standing up across the state of Texas, are saying, “It’s OK if you don’t’ want to build a toll road in Washington County. But you know what we need them in Houston, and we need them in Dallas, and we need them in Fort Worth, and we need them in Travis, and we need them in Bexar”.

[NOTE: Washington Co is in the boondocks about midway between Austin and Houston. Travis Co is in the the Austin state capital area and Bexar Co is San Antonio. TOLLROADSnews]

Perry: People where there are real traffic problems understand that they want every tool available, to be available, to build appropriate and speedy transportation infrastructure. For those that wanted to make a political statement, God bless them, they made it.