Bill setting toll road procedures approved
CARSON CITY -- A bill that sets up procedures that state government must follow before establishing toll roads won approval 15-6 Thursday in the state Senate.
Without comment, senators voted for Senate Bill 206.
Under provisions of the bill, toll roads would not be allowed unless a similar number of free lanes of highway are available for drivers to take instead of the toll road.
A state Tolling Revenue Commission also would be created to approve any private company's plans to build toll roads. Members would include the governor, lieutenant governor, state controller, attorney general, director of the Nevada Department of Transportation and others.
Commissioners would determine the amount of tolls permitted on toll roads. Funds would be deposited in the state highway fund before they would be distributed to private operators of toll roads.
Despite Senate approval Thursday, the proposal has little chance of success. It must be forwarded to the Assembly Transportation Committee. The panel last week let a bill authorizing a private toll road adjacent to existing Las Vegas freeways die without a vote.
All nine Senate Republicans and six of the 12 Democrats backed the legislation.
Votes against the toll road bill were cast by Sens. Steven Horsford, Bob Coffin, Terry Care, Valerie Wiener and Maggie Carlton, all Clark County Democrats, and Bernice Mathews, D-Reno.
