COUNTY : Toll Road Plan Comes Up Short in Senate
A proposal that would have allowed Orange County to build the state’s first toll road went further in the Legislature than any had before.
But it still fell short by plenty when state senators would not permit it to get to bat, let alone to first base.
The proposal, authored by Assemblyman Nolan Frizzelle (R-Huntington Beach), passed the Assembly by a 48-30 vote last June, the first time a toll road measure ever has passed either house.
But when the plan came before the Senate Transportation Committee last week, no one would even second a move to start it through the Senate machinery. Senators denounced toll roads as “an enormous departure” from traditional road-financing policy in California.
The bill, introduced by Frizzelle without consultation with Orange County officials, was opposed by the Orange County Transportation Commission. The commission’s lobbyist testified against provisions that would limit the number of toll roads and would rebate certain property taxes to homeowners near the roads.
County officials said they may ask Frizzelle or another legislator to introduce a more acceptable toll road bill next year.
Times staff writers Steve Emmons, Bill Biliter and Jeffrey A. Perlman compiled the Week in Review stories.
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