TxDOT has trouble with state Attorney General on N Tarrant toll concession

Dallas Morning News' Michael Lindenberger got the story first that the recently signed 52 year concession contract between Cintra and partners and TxDOT for the North Tarrant Express project is being held up by the state Attorney General, Greg Abbott on the grounds that it is not "legally sufficient." He has been arguing that the contract is unconstitutional  and the News quotes him: "The Texas Constitution says that one Legislature cannot financially bind a future Legislature."

The Attorney General considers provisions that TxDOT will contribute funding for reconstruction of free lanes - Cintra will fund the toll lanes - an attempt to bind future legislatures. 

Abbott hasn't said No, but he hasn't said Yes either.

The Attorney General's spokesman Thomas Kelley tells us this afternoon: "there's no decision as of yet on the legal sufficiency of the (Cintra) contract. We should know soon."

North Tarrant Express project involves 20km (13 miles) of rebuild and expansion at a cost of about $1.6b under a 52 year toll concession with a Cintra-led group. Dallas Police & Fire Pension System is also an investor. The roads comprise I-820 and TX183 northwest of central Dallas and northeast of Ft Worth.

see http://www.tollroadsnews.com/node/3973

Finalization of the concession contract was announced Jan 30 (2009-01-30)  The Attorney-General by law had 60 days to clear or block the contract, so a claim could be made the failure to block it by the end of March means it's been a valid contract since April Fools Day?

But there may be no TxDOT for Cintra to deal with. The state legislature recently adjourned  until next January 2011 - yes really, they have summer, fall and winter plus the next year back on the ranch - without resolving a protracted  fight over whether the department of transportation should be "sunsetted" or reauthorized, and under what terms.

They were supposedly debating SB300, a bill about as complex and indecipherable as the US income tax code. It never got voted on. The house passed a resolution keeping TxDOT going until next legislative session, while the senate did nothing.

So there's a constitutional issue too - does TxDOT exist legally, or not. Maybe it's half legal? Call it semi-legal?

Nearly certain is that TxDOT currently lacks any bond issuing authority, because they kept urging passage of the bill saying without it they lacked any capacity to borrow.

Come to think of it, isn't borrowing by the state the classic case of one legislature financially binding future legislatures? A 10-year bond is a promise to repay interest and principal over 10 years, the term of five separate legislatures. Legislatures 2, 3, 4 and 5 are being obligated by Legislature 1.

Are all those loans TxDOT and other Texas agencies have taken out in the past century unconstitutional?

Good government in Texas clearly demands a return to the supervision of Estados Unidos Mexicanos since the US Government here in Washington DC is obviously incapable of exercising adult supervision down there - a COMMENT that.

ADDITION: we're told there will probably be a "special session" of the legislature called for later this summer to try clean up some of this mess.

TOLLROADSnews 2009-06-17