|
BILL ANALYSIS |
|
By: Carona |
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE
C.S.S.B. 882 amends Chapter 366 of the Transportation Code relating to certain powers and duties of a regional tollway authority, as defined under Chapter 366 (Regional Tollway Authorities), Transportation Code.
RULEMAKING AUTHORITY
Rulemaking authority previously granted to a Regional Tollway Authority is modified in SECTION 2 (Section 366.185, Transportation Code) of this bill.
ANALYSIS
SECTION 1. Amends Section 366.178, Transportation Code, by adding Subsection (j), as follows:
(j) Provides that in addition to the other powers and duties provided by this chapter, an authority has the same powers and duties as TxDOT under Chapter 228 (State Highway Toll Projects), a county under Chapter 284 (Causeways, Bridges, Tunnels, Turnpikes, Ferries, and Highways in Certain Counties), and a regional mobility authority under Chapter 370 (Regional Mobility Authorities), regarding the authority's toll collection and enforcement powers for the authority's turnpike projects; and other toll projects developed, financed, constructed, or operated under an agreement, including a comprehensive development agreement, with the authority.
SECTION 2. Amends Section 366.185, Transportation Code, by adding Subsection (d-2), as follows:
(d-2) Authorizes the rules adopted under Subsection (d), notwithstanding Subsection (d-1), if the contract amount exceeds $50 million, to provide for a stipend to be offered to an unsuccessful design-build firm that submits a response to the authority's request for additional information, in an amount that is authorized to exceed $250,000 and is reasonably necessary, as determined by the authority in its sole discretion, to compensate the unsuccessful firm for preliminary engineering costs associated with the development of the proposal by the firm and the value of the work product contained in the proposal, including the techniques, methods, processes, and information contained in the proposal.
SECTION 3. Amends Section 366.407(g), Transportation Code, to require that the contract contain an explicit mechanism for setting the price for the purchase by the authority, rather than TxDOT, of the interest of the private participant in the contract and related property, including any interest in a highway or other facility designed, developed, financed, constructed, operated, or maintained under the contract.
SECTION 4. Repealer: Section 366.2521 (Gifts and Contributions; Offense), Transportation Code.
Repealer: Section 366.2522 (Offering Gift to a Director; Offense), Transportation Code.
SECTION 5. Effective date: upon passage or September 1, 2009.
EFFECTIVE DATE
September 1, 2009
COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL TO SUBSTITUTE
C.S.S.B. 882 differs from the original by removing provisions in the original pertaining to an authority’s rights and obligations when it performs tolling services on another party’s project. Specifically, the substitute deletes the definition of "tolling services," the authorization for an authority to provide certain additional tolling services, the prohibition against an authority being required to provide financial security that it determines would adversely affect its bonds or other debt obligations or for which it is not reimbursed, the requirement for a written agreement setting out terms and conditions for the tolling services and the terms of compensation, the provision stating that toll revenues are the property of the entity designated under the tolling services agreement and are not subject to claims, liens, and encumbrances of other parties, the authorization for a tolling service agreement to make an authority’s right and obligation to provide tolling services thereunder subject to termination for its failure to make required payments, and authorization for any public or private entity to fund a cash collateral account that is authorized to be withdrawn because of an authority’s failure to make a payment under a tolling services agreement. The substitute also deletes authorization for an authority to prohibit the operation of a motor vehicle on its turnpike project if an operator of the vehicle failed to pay a toll, fine, or administrative fee imposed under Chapter 366, Transportation Code, after notice to the registered owner. The substitute also removes language limiting the existing prohibition against a director, agent, or employee of an authority from contracting with it to contracts outside that person's service to that authority, and removes the deletion in the original of existing text prohibiting any such persons from being directly or indirectly interested in a contract with the authority or the sale of property to the authority. The substitute removes the authorization of a county, including a county acting under Chapter 284, Transportation Code, to accelerate a toll project’s design, financing, construction, and operation by acquiring right-of-way, or by obtaining environmental approvals, traffic and revenue studies, and engineering data, and defines “toll project;” the substitute also removes the authorization of a county that acquires or obtains such right-of-way or approvals, studies, or data to petition the applicable authority to negotiate a written agreement to better coordinate and more efficiently accomplish both parties’ activities, which agreement may provide for reimbursement to the county for certain costs, and to which the Texas Department of Transportation or the applicable metropolitan planning organization, or both, may be a party or parties. The substitute also removes the authorization for the board of an authority to adopt an administrative adjudication hearing procedure for a person suspected of having violated an order prohibiting that person’s operation of a motor vehicle on an authority’s turnpike project on at least two occasions within a 12-month period, and setting out notice, evidentiary, defenses, enforcement, appeal, and other features of that administrative process. Finally, the substitute deletes the provision exempting those portions of the North Tarrant Express project in Tarrant County and the IH-635 managed lanes project in Dallas County that are subject to a tolling services agreement entered into prior to September 1, 2009 from the provisions of the original dealing with an authority’s rights and obligations when it performs tolling services on another party’s project that are removed from the substitute.