Legislative Session Wrap-up

“The passage of Senator Shapiro’s Senate Bill 964 is a crucial step in creating equal representation among NTTA’s four member counties and in the decision-making process on projects that benefit our entire region,” said William W. “Bill” Meadows, NTTA Board Member representing Tarrant County and Chair of NTTA’s Legislative Committee.

SB 964 includes two amendments, authored by Rep. Yvonne Davis of Dallas, that would delegate Board seats to different geographic regions within the counties making the appointment, and to the extent possible, require appointments to reflect the diversity of the population of member counties.

NTTA Board Chairman Paul N. Wageman added, “The NTTA is committed to serving our entire region and SB 964 helps us do this.  In addition, the legislation permits the NTTA to plan for future relationships with other counties that will need assistance with their mobility needs.”

SB 964 becomes effective September 1, 2007.

Currently, the NTTA is governed by a seven-member Board.  Each of the four counties within the service area of the NTTA appoints one member.  Two members are appointed on a rotating basis by those counties in which an operating NTTA toll road is located.  The Governor appoints the seventh member from a county adjacent to the NTTA's four-county service area.  Board members serve staggered, two-year terms, and no member may be an elected official.  From their membership, the directors elect a chairman and vice chairman.

Governor Rick Perry signed SB 792, the main transportation bill of the just ended session. The legislation authored by Sen. Tommy Williams, was signed into law on June 11, 2007. The bill contains provisions from NTTA’s SB 965, omnibus legislation, granting NTTA Comprehensive Development Agreement (CDA) authority, Construction-Manager-At-Risk and Design Build authority. SB 792 also has a moratorium on CDAs but excludes many north Texas projects including SH 121, SH 161, Loop 9 and the Trinity Parkway. SB 792 also creates a new Section 228.0111 of the Transportation Code that establishes a market valuation or public concession process to provide for funding of additional transportation projects, including free roads, in connection with new toll road developments. “Under this legislation, every planned road construction project will move forward as scheduled, local leaders will have more authority to build new toll roads and all toll revenue will be used for transportation projects in the area it was raised,” said Perry.

Please contact Carrie Rogers, NTTA Government Relations Manager, at (214) 224-2269 or crogers@ntta.org, with any questions.