Why we must keep the current BAN on public private partnerships (PPPs)

By Terri Hall, Founder/Director,

Texans Uniting for Reform and Freedom

EMAIL:  mailto:terri@texasturf.org(210)

WEB:  http://www.texasturf.org/

(210) 275-0640

• Grants private, even foreign, entities MONOPOLIES for 50 years.

• Means the loss of control over Texas infrastructure & toll tax rates, Texans canʼt go to a corporationʼs Board of Directors to request relief from high toll rates as they can with elected officials. Itʼs taxation without representation and the marriage of corporations with the State.

• Eminent domain for private gain -- to take private property in the name of a public use then hand it to a private interest, for a private benefit for a HALF CENTURY.

• Terms of contract kept SECRET from the public until AFTER the deal is signed.

• Ends competitive bidding and even grants the initial winning team right of first refusal on all future segments without competitive bidding.

• Limits the expansion of free roads (to guarantee congestion on the free routes).

• Manipulates the speed limits to drive more traffic to the toll road.

• Charges oppressive toll rates as high as 75 cents PER MILE (these are PUBLISHED rates for both the LBJ & North Tarrant Express CDAs in DFW) or 80 cents per mile (for I-35 according to Denton Record Chronicle, Feb. 13, 2011).

• Puts the taxpayer on the hook for the losses while the private investors are GUARANTEED PROFITS in the contracts.

• Use massive amounts of public money & debt to subsidize/prop-up toll projects that can't pay for themselves. This model doesnʼt remotely resemble the claim that the ʻuserʼ pays for the road. On two PPPs in DFW, $500 million dollars in gas taxes, and another $1.5 BILLION in PABS and TIFIA loans are subsidizing the LBJ project and $500 million in gas taxes and $1 BILLION in PABS and TIFIA loans are subsidizing the North Tarrant Express.

• Eliminates due process in contesting fees, interest, and penalties, with the possibility of losing your carʼs registration for failure to pay what they say you owe.

Read more here.


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