Rep Quattrocchi: 2025 H5777 - House Finance/Repeals Toll Facilities on State Roads (52125)

Thank you, chairman, committee members. Have I got a doozy for you. So, um I'm here advocating uh for giving Rhode Islanders a break for a change by repealing the act authorizing toll facilities on state roads. Sometimes we in the legislature seem to take off running with an agenda without proper due diligence. Yes, it's true. I believe that the tolling scheme for road works is such a case. There were clear warnings back in 2016 that the tolling of interstate tractor trailers only was unconstitutional and would trigger costly litigation, which it certainly did. A federal judge found this targeted tolling unconstitutional in 2022 as well as a court of appeals in 2024. One of my first bills I introduced as a freshman here was to only install a single toll gantry which we already possessed from the removal from the Sconet River Bridge. This single toll gantry would have been enough to trigger the trucking industries lawsuit once the first tractor trailer was uh told and that would have avoided the installation of 30 more um gantries. So this is all water obviously under the broken bridge. What we're left with right now is a complete boondoggle. In Director Alvidi's own testimony before this committee last month. We don't even know if any of the current gantries are usable after four years of non-use. even if they are completely usable to comply with the federal court's rulings would mean to toll all instate trucking along with tractor trailers should uh should we proceed with opening the gantries 94% of all trucking in Rhode Island is instate trucking 94% meaning local businesses the costs that would be passed on to Rhode Island consumers would be astronomical I believe we need to cut our losses, apologize to the public for our lack of due diligence, and take down these Orwellian surveillance monstrosities. Thank you.