Lawmakers, PennDOT Officials Fret Over Potential For Lawsuit To Roil Turnpike Funding

By Rick Woelfel | Watchdog.org

As the Pennsylvania General Assembly considers funding for PennDOT for fiscal year 2020, there are clouds on the horizon in the form of an ongoing lawsuit that targets the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission.

Two groups, one representing motorists, the other the trucking industry, filed suit against the commission, arguing that the practice of allocating funds for PennDOT to fund mass transit projects around the state is unconstitutional and that tolls may only be used for turnpike-related projects.

The plaintiffs in the case are seeking a refund of the approximately $6 billion that the Turnpike Commission has directed to PennDOT since it began the practice in 2007 after the Legislature passed Act 94, which authorized the commission to fund other transportation needs around the state, including mass transit. The necessary dollars were intended to be derived from turning Interstate 80, which crosses the state from east to west in predominantly rural areas in the northern part of the state, into a toll road, but the U.S. Department of Transportation nixed that plan, and the funds for the transportation subsidies have been derived from turnpike tolls instead.

State Rep. John Lawrence, R-West Grove, addressed the matter this week at a House Appropriations Committee hearing focused on PennDOT’s budget for fiscal year 2020. He noted that the lawsuit could force the Turnpike Commission to refund billions of dollars in toll revenue that it has collected since July of 2007 and voiced his concern about the impact of an adverse court decision.

“It’s possible the court could rule that the mass-transit payments must stop, and also that the Turnpike Commission must repay the tolls,” he said.

The Turnpike Commission is committed to providing $450 million to PennDOT each year for various transportation endeavors. That obligation remains through fiscal year 2022, when the amount will drop to $50 million. The commission must borrow the money to make those payments; it currently faces some $6 billion in debt due to state-mandated obligations and an additional $5 billion in obligations elsewhere.

In part because of those obligations, the Turnpike Commission raises its tolls between three and six percent each year. The increases are projected to continue through 2044.

PennDOT Secretary Leslie Richards told the committee that the Turnpike Commission, which she chairs, has missed three scheduled payments to PennDOT because of the ongoing litigation; two in 2018 and one this year. A fourth is scheduled for April of this year, but that payment is also in jeopardy.

Richards is concerned about the impact an adverse decision in the ongoing could have on PennDOT.

“We’re at a moment of time where our transit funding is really in the balance here, almost at a crisis,” she said.

Richards said if the payments are not resumed, or if a decision in the ongoing court case is unfavorable to PennDOT, significant budget cuts would be necessary at the start of the new fiscal year July 1.

Those cuts would almost certainly impact subsidies to regional transit agencies across the Commonwealth. In her testimony, Richards specifically cited the Harrisburg, Williamsport, and Scranton areas as well as Amtrak.

There could also be cuts to state programs that provide transportation for the elderly and disabled, which raised the concerns of Appropriations Committee Chairman Stan Saylor, R-Red Lion.

“Why would the department cut that and not look at raising fees or taking money back from mass transit and other areas?” Saylor asked. “We should be looking at moving dollars from other areas of mass transit to fix this.”