CONCEPT DRAFT

SUMMARY

This bill is a concept draft pursuant to Joint Rule 208.

This bill proposes to make the following changes in transportation funding:

1. Merge the Maine Turnpike Authority into the Maine Department of Transportation and abolish the Maine Turnpike Authority when its debts are paid;

2. Eliminate tolls on the Maine Turnpike effective October 1, 2002;

3. Require the State to issue its own general obligation highway bonds to fund the recall and payment of the balances due on all outstanding Maine Turnpike bonds; and

4. Fund the new highway bonds by increasing the gas tax in York, Cumberland, Androscoggin and Kennebec Counties by 5 cents per gallon and in all other counties by 4 cents per gallon. The one cent differential would be in place for 10 years until the new bonds are paid.

This bill would have to be submitted to referendum in June 2000, with the provisions to take effect October 1, 2002.