Jeff Bingaman: “I believe the second amendment that we will be voting on here right after lunch or right after noon is the amendment…”

“I believe the second amendment that we will be voting on here right after lunch or right after noon is the amendment that Senator Durbin and I are proposing related to privatized toll roads. When a State privatizes an existing toll road, it shifts to a private company all responsibility for operations and maintenance in exchange for a cash payment, essentially. Under existing law, privatized toll roads are still included in the calculation of how much each State receives in Federal highway funds. In my view, it does not make good sense for a State to be credited with Federal highway funding needed to maintain that road once it has been shifted out of the public sphere to a private entity and the private entity has taken on the legal responsibility to operate and maintain the road. The amendment would simply remove these privatized toll roads from consideration when we allocate highway funds. The amendment is very narrow. It applies only when a State sells off an existing toll road. It does not apply at all to any new construction. When I say it sells off an existing toll road, I mean that it enters into a lease--in most cases a lease of 75 years or more--with a private entity to operate a toll road and collect the tolls and maintain the road. The amendment has the support of the American Automobile Association and the American Trucking Association. I think it is good legislation.…”