For practically two hours Wednesday, the Texas Senate Committee on Transportation heard arguments for and towards a invoice that may dictate how surplus funds from the Harris County Toll Highway Authority (HCTRA) are distributed.
Senate Invoice 2722, authored by Sen. Paul Bettencourt (R-Houston), would require 30% of HCTRA’s surplus funds to be allotted to the Metropolis of Houston, with the remaining 70% allotted to Harris County. The proposed laws additionally has a equally worded companion invoice within the Texas Home, HB 5177.
The 30% allotted to town might solely be used to reimburse legislation enforcement and emergency companies for his or her response to collisions on the county’s toll roads. The 70% allotted to the county can be distributed to the county’s 4 precincts primarily based on the proportion of county roads inside every precinct. A small portion of the county’s allocation, 5%, could possibly be used for different road-related county departments or initiatives.
The Harris County Commissioners Courtroom presently holds authority over HCTRA’s surplus. The commissioners courtroom distributes the excess funds equally between the precincts for use as their elected commissioners see match.
SB 2722 was left pending in committee. The laws would have to be handed by the committee in an effort to obtain a vote on the Senate flooring, and would then have to be handed by the Texas Home and signed by the governor in an effort to change into state legislation.
Help for SB 2722
Bettencourt, who sits on the Senate Committee on Transportation, stated he authored the invoice as a result of he believes the HCTRA’s hundreds of thousands of {dollars} in surplus ought to primarily be devoted to street enchancment initiatives. Bettencourt additionally stated town must be reimbursed for its quite a few emergency responses on the toll roads.
“I first seen this subject when I discovered $170 million of extra toll street funds was getting used for amenities similar to parks, swimming pools, et cetera, and different non-transportation makes use of,” Bettencourt stated.
Harris County Precinct 3 Commissioner Tom Ramsey spoke in favor of the invoice, saying he believed it was unfair to distribute the excess funds equally among the many precincts as a result of Precinct 3 incorporates a disproportionate quantity of county roads.
“My precinct has 47% of the county roads in Harris County, but I get lower than 25% of the [surplus] funding,” Ramsey stated. “So, the invoice that I am supporting right here offers with that, that they’d disperse the fund primarily based on the county street accountability.”
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Talking regarding the proposed 30% allocation to town, Houston Police Chief Noe Diaz stated he helps the invoice as a result of his division often responds to toll street incidents that happen inside the metropolis limits.
“There are over 300 street miles within the toll street footprint; 60% of these miles are inside the metropolis of Houston’s jurisdiction,” Diaz stated to the committee. “Between 2022 and 2024, there have been over 6,500 HPD and HFD responses on the toll street. … This small portion of user-generated charges to Houston is sensible for the general public security response offered by [HPD and HFD] on and across the toll roads.”
Houston Hearth Chief Thomas Muñoz additionally spoke to the committee and echoed comparable help for the invoice.
“The tollway infrastructure could also be regional, however the burden of public security is native,” Muñoz stated. “HCTRA is getting the good thing about the dimensions of a world-class fireplace division with out supporting it financially.”
Talking at a Houston Metropolis Council assembly this week, Mayor John Whitmire stated he supported the laws due to the toll street’s reliance on Houston’s financial system.
“All of us serve the identical folks,” Whitmire stated. “[It is] by no means going to be private with me, but it surely actually will get down to simply the very best use of funds. … It is a possibility to obtain some equity within the income stream that, fairly frankly, we offer.”
Opposition to SB 2722
Studying a written assertion from Harris County Precinct 2 Commissioner Adrian Garcia, Kristin Lee spoke in opposition to the invoice and stated that funds shouldn’t be distributed solely on what number of miles of county street are in a given precinct.
In response to Garcia’s written assertion, Precinct 2’s county roads require extra upkeep because of heavy freight visitors.
“This invoice would considerably undermine our means to handle and fund the crucial infrastructure we depend on day by day, particularly in areas like mine the place roadways carry a disproportionate burden for the freight business,” Lee learn. “In Precinct 2, we see that affect firsthand. We’ve extra upkeep calls for than every other space in Harris County.”
Committee member Sen. Nathan Johnson (D-Austin) didn’t oppose the invoice outright however raised considerations relating to the potential precedent that it’d set.
“I don’t assume we must, as we take into consideration this, bear in mind the precedential worth of cities starting to resolve that they are going to faucet into the revenues of toll authorities,” Johnson stated. “Though it says the cash that goes to town can solely be used for the price of offering legislation enforcement and different emergency service, everyone knows that cash is fungible.”
Sen. Borris Miles (D-Houston) can also be on the committee and stated he would wish to see laborious knowledge from each town and county relating to their help, both instantly or not directly, to the toll roads.
“In no way am I going to get pulled into this battle with town and the county,” he stated. “There’s obtained to be some knowledge that is driving this. I believe that may assist us get this, Senator Bettencourt, if we will have that knowledge. As a result of we wish this choice to be data-driven.”
HCTRA’s government director, Roberto Treviño, informed the committee the toll street had contracts with the entire constables’ workplaces in Harris County and that they and HCTRA’s personal non-emergency responders reply to almost the entire incidents on the toll roads.
“In 2024 alone, [HCTRA’s incident response team] aided drivers greater than 56,000 instances,” Treviño stated. “Collectively, deputies together with the IRT group have responded to over 98% of all incidents on the Harris County toll street system. … I believe what it falls to is, does [the 30% allocation to Houston] precisely mirror the extent of service that the toll street is getting and whenever you’re responding to lower than 25% of incidents, it doesn’t.”
