The Senate put the brakes on private toll road projects for two years, echoing a House decision made last week.

SB 1267 by Robert Nichols, R-Jacksonville, would prohibit TxDOT and anyone else down to the local level from taking cash up front from private companies in exchange for the right to operate roads and collect tolls. Even if Gov. Rick Perry vetoes the moratorium bill that comes out of conference committee, each chamber has well over the two-thirds majority required to override a veto. That makes it a matter of timing, and whether the Lege will still be in session when a veto comes down.

The message sent by senators against how TxDOT has been handling private contracts may be a precursor to Senate reception of a much larger bill (novella-sized) by Transportation Chair John Carona, R-Dallas. A response to public complaints about transportation policy, SB 1929 tweaks non-compete clauses in road contracts and requires transparency in bidding. Carona's bill also gives local authorities more power to control road projects and creates rural planning authorities — counterparts to metropolitan planning authorities. An aide to Carona said the bill would include indexed gasoline taxes that rise with inflation, but for the law that requires tax bills to start in the House and not the Senate. If a gas tax increase is going to happen, it'll have to be included in HB 3783 from House Transportation Chair Mike Krusee, R-Round Rock.

Carona's bill is ready for a committee hearing next week; he, Krusee, and others are working on the particulars in the meantime, Carona's aide said.

That bill includes the two-year moratorium prescribed by Nichols' bill. Senators made three changes to Nichols' bill on the floor: One that keeps U.S. Highway 281 in San Antonio from becoming a private toll road, and two that exempt from the moratorium some projects in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex.

Other moratorium exemptions include managed lane facilities (think tolled HOV lanes) and roads located in non-attainment or near non-attainment air quality areas. Also exempt are the Trinity Parkway in Dallas and projects in the most populous counties on the U.S.-Mexico border. That said, local county commissioners would have to approve before TxDOT could take advantage of the exemptions.

Nichols' bill also would create a nine-member legislative study committee, with three appointees each by the Governor, Lieutenant Governor and Speaker of the House. The commission would present its report on private toll roads by December 2008 — in time for the next legislative session, and after the next elections.

—by Patrick Brendel