11/09/2005

Proposition 9 Goes Down in Flames...

at 11/09/2005

1 comment:

Sal Costello said...

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Hello Sal,

I am glad to see that Proposition 9 was rightfully defeated by Texas voters this Tuesday.

I wish to share with you my thoughts about the situation that lead to Proposition 9 and its defeat and the lessons it provides for accountability in Texas government.

Our Texas Constitution requires that "The duration of all offices not fixed by this Constitution shall never exceed two years." (Section 30, Article 16) This requirement provides regular accountability to all manner of unelected boards created by our state and local governments. Appointed officials know that their terms are under continuous two-year review by our elected officials as a way to remind these appointed officials that they must serve the interests of the people.

This provision of our Texas Constitution is both proper and wise because it provides a modicum of regular oversight by our elected officials over unelected officials. As a voting citizen of Texas, I strongly support the spirit of this provision and generally oppose terms for appointed officials that exceed those of my elected officials. It's about accountability.

What Proposition 9 proposed was to circumvent the spirit of Section 30, Article 16 by explicitly exempting Regional Mobility Authorities from the two-year term limitation for its board members.

FYI: A Regional Mobility Authority (RMA) is a recent creation of the Texas legislature with a name that obscures the fact that it is essentially a toll road agency with the authority to toll our roads including the issuance of bonds and setting of toll rates. RMAs expect to also oversee the tolling of our existing free roadways if they are converted to toll ways. (Most of our local elected officials balk at the term "toll conversion" but "converting" is the word used by our Texas Transportation Code to describe the process; toll conversion is the appropriate term. Politicians and toll conversion advocates who recoil from the term do so because they understand the public soundly opposes such toll conversions of our existing roads.)

The recently established Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority (CTRMA) is responsible for toll roads in Travis and Williamson counties. Williamson county sought to appoint board members to the CTRMA with terms that exceeded 2 years. But a law suit by concerned citizens led a state judge to determine that the terms were in fact unconstitutional.

It could have stopped there. Williamson county politicians could have simply recognized the Texas Constitution's wisdom of limiting the terms of their appointed CTRMA board members to two-year terms and then re-appointed its CTRMA appointments every two years.

But that's not what happened. In an act of political arrogance, Mike Krusee, the state Representative for Williamson county and leading proponent of the recent legislation to create RMAs, decided he would CHANGE THE CONSTITUTION.

Even the www.tollroadnews.com recognized the arrogance of this action when it wrote about Proposition 9's defeat: "in Texas the tollers are behaving arrogantly and with extraordinary political ineptitude." This is coming from a decidedly pro-toll organization. When even your friends call you arrogant and inept, that's trouble.

Understand that the CTRMA is not some established, well-run, respected agency. RMAs are a very recent creation with zero track record for actually running real toll roads. When it comes to the CTRMA in particular, earlier this year the State Comptroller's office issued a report about CTRMA that "notes several instances in which CTRMA and its business operatives have engaged in conduct that appears to violate Texas law. In many others, though CTRMA's activities may not have been technically illegal, fundamental procurement, contracting, expenditure, conflict of interest and ethical standards were not observed".

Before we go institutionalizing RMAs in our constitution and allow for terms for appointed officials that exceed those of most of our elected officials, we need to seriously think about accountability.

Supporters of Proposition 9 claimed that Proposition 9 was necessary to win better terms for bonds issued by RMAs. As a municipal bond investor myself, I know that extra-ordinary terms for board members is at best an incidental concern for long-term bond investors. Like all loans, the primary concern is near certainty of repayment. What hangs over the CTRMA's bond rating is it's issuance of revenue bonds for an agency with zero current revenue, it's status as a recent legislative creation without established legal or payment history, and the looming and widespread opposition of the populace of central Texas to its plans. From a bond investor's point of view, pushing for less accountability through extra-ordinary board member terms to hide a lack of public support for the project being bonded doesn't make me as an investor more confident in the issuing agency. It makes me FAR LESS CONFIDENT.

It's time our Texas politicians re-examine the entire RMA venture. Look at the arrogance and desire for unaccountability of toll road advocates. Look at the angry reaction of the public when the CTRMA and its supporters push toll conversions on us. Bonding for toll roads should be voted on by the affected public. Let's get rid of a system where toll road advocates try to "sneak" toll roads by the public with unaccountable RMAs.

As a voting citizen of Austin and Travis county, I've frankly lost confidence that the CTRMA serves my interests or those of my neighbors and friends. I see a bunch of ex-politicians and developers running the CTRMA and find them advancing and advocating an agenda of toll conversion for Austin-area roads that is flatly rejected by all my neighbors and friends.

- Mark Kilgard
Austin, Texas

5:27 PM, November 11, 2005

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