PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) - After more than eight months of debate over proposed highway truck tolls in Rhode Island, the state House of Representatives approved legislation late Wednesday night.
Members of the House voted 52-21 in favor of the bill to charge big-rig trucks traveling Interstate 95 and other highways through the nation’s smallest state before sending the measure on to the Senate for its final decision Thursday.
“It’s been debated in our homes, in our neighborhoods, in the barbershops, on talk radio,” said the bill’s sponsor, House Majority Leader John DeSimone, a Providence Democrat who called for lawmakers to pass it after a session that lasted nearly seven hours.
The House, which last year blocked a similar bill, has been the biggest hurdle for the toll plan proposed by Democratic Gov. Gina Raimondo. The tolls would help raise money for a 10-year project to repair deteriorating bridges.
A noisy convoy of trucks circled the State House with horns blaring in protest as lawmakers assembled Wednesday. Local truckers have decried the bill they say unfairly targets them to pay for road wear-and-tear that is a shared responsibility. Some have pledged to unseat any lawmaker who votes for it.
It was hard for Rhode Islanders to ignore a political fight that escalated in recent weeks as trucks around the state displayed anti-toll messages, a commercial extolling the plan aired on TV and lawmakers shouted each other down at a State House hearing on the eve of the full House vote.
“This day will live in Rhode Island infamy,” said toll opponent Rep. Antonio Giarrusso, an East Greenwich Republican who spoke at the beginning of the hours-long House debate Wednesday.
A Republican amendment to ease the toll burden on local truckers by giving them other subsidies was shot down by the Democrat-controlled House early in the debate. Later, an amendment to put the truck toll to a popular vote in November also was shot down by a 57-14 vote.
If the legislation wins final approval, Rhode Island would become the only state to create a truck-only tolling system, though many East Coast states have tolls that make large commercial trucks pay higher rates.
It would cost $20 for an 18-wheeler to cross the state along Interstate 95, under the plan. Each of 14 proposed electronic tolls would be about $3. The maximum any trucker would pay in one day is $40.
Democratic leaders have rallied for support of the bill they say will help finance a plan to fix bridges that have been named the worst in the country.
Democratic House Speaker Nicholas Mattiello, who last year was the plan’s most powerful skeptic, became one of its most commanding champions in recent weeks as he called for on-the-fence Democrats to support it. He pushed for swift passage, scheduling the House vote just two weeks after Raimondo unveiled a revised version of the plan.
That left Republicans and some Democrats to say Wednesday they did not have enough time to vet it properly.
“They do not need more time, they need a better case,” countered Democratic House Finance Chairman Raymond Gallison as he opened the debate.
Democratic Senate President Teresa Paiva Weed said this week she expects senators to pass the revised bill when they vote Thursday. The Senate, also controlled by Democrats, approved Raimondo’s original version last year.
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