TEXAS LEGISLATORS PREPARED TO SELL OUT THE PEOPLE IN FAVOR OF FOREIGN CORPORATIONS AND BIG MONEY
 

A Texas senator who said he was opposed to the creation of two superhighways for the profit benefit of a Spanish corporation, has turned on the taxpayers. Texas Senator Hegar repeatedly told Texans in public and on the floor of the legislature that the TransTexas Corridors I-35 and I-69 were “dead”.

These are the Texas segments of the NAFTA Superhighways that will connect Mexico with Canada, without US customs inspections along the way. Thousands of Texans have opposed these roads which will be toll roads. A Spanish company entered into a contract with Texas to build the superhighways (which are three football fields wide) in exchange for COLLECTING ALL THE TOLLS FOREVER, and HAVING THE EXCLUSIVE RIGHTS TO DEVELOP BUSINESSES ALONG THE HIGHWAYS (service stations, motels, restaurants, gift shops, everything). The Spanish company did not even have to enter a bid in competition with other construction and development companies.
It is oft said that legislators sell out the people in “middle of night” deals and last second additions to a law when no one has a chance to see the injustice coming.

But, in Texas, the legislators are audacious enough to cheat the people in the broad daylight of High Noon. We have heard all our lives that everything in Texas is bigger. I have come to realize over the last two years that Texas hearts are big, maybe bigger. And, the determination of Texans is big, maybe bigger.
They have to be bigger to even attempt to keep up with the Texas legislators who are also bigger in their obvious indifference to the will of the people.

Senator Hegar, who committed to opposition to the sell out to the foreign company, has actually added an amendment to a convoluted, 1300 page bill WHICH WILL PROTECT THE CONTRACTS WITH THE SPANISH COMPANY AND ALLOW THE BUILDING OF THE TWO SUPERHIGHWAYS AND TURN OVER OF PROFITS TO THE FOREIGN COMPANY.

When Texans fighting the superhighways called for an explanation, reportedly he has said that there is a misunderstanding of his intent and his language. We say “reportedly” because he has failed to discuss his language with activists but has sent messages through close contacts.

Well, the “misunderstanding” might fly if the people of Texas couldn’t read. But they can. And, when they read his amendment, they find the very clear language of paragraph 4.11 which specifically protects the Spanish company contracts which have already been entered into. The language protects the rights of the Spanish company because its contracts are already in existence.
The paragraph is in simple, not easily misunderstood language. It reads:

“4.11 The change in law made by this article to Section 223.201(a) Transportation Code, does not apply to a comprehensive development agreement entered into by the Texas Department of Transportation under section 227.023, Transportation Code, before the effective date of this Act. A comprehensive development agreement entered into under Section 227.023, Transportation Code, before the effective date of this Act is governed by the law in effect on the date the agreement was entered into, and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.”

It says what it says. Any reforms contained in the new act, do NOT APPLY TO THE CONTRACTS WHICH THE DEPARTMENT HAS ALREADY ENTERED INTO, WITHOUT ANY COMPETITIVE BIDDING, WITH THE SPANISH COMPANY TO BUILD AND TURN OVER ALL REVENUE OF TWO NEW TOLL INTERSTATE SUPERHIGHWAYS.

Now, if the Senator wants to support the new superhighways which trample on the peoples’ property rights and rights to use public highways without tolls, that is of course his prerogative.
But why not just say so. Why not say “this is the way it is regardless of how thousands of Texans feel, and regardless of what farm land is going to be destroyed, and regardless of how rural towns are going to be destroyed.”

Why play the game and say you are opposed to the toll road give-away to a foreign company, and then slip this kind of protective language into a 1300 page bill where you hope no one will find it. And, then when a real Texas patriot, Terri Hall, reads the fine print (and it would take a superhuman person to do that with a convoluted bill like this), and calls him on it, the good Senator plays the “misunderstanding” card.

How can you misunderstand the language quoted above? The language is in simple English for anyone to read. So, misunderstanding, no. Ignoring the wishes and demands of thousands of Texans, yes.
The legislative audacity of the Texas legislators is easy to explain. Follow the dollars. Lobbyists for special interests have a lot more money than the thousands of people who simply give of their time and energy to advise the legislators. You can bet that the Spanish company involved has spent millions during this legislative session to protect its interests in collecting a fortune from Texans FOREVER.

The real questions are these: (1) does any member of the Texas legislature have the courage to use technical procedure to kill this bill; and (2) will the voters return legislators who ignore their wishes in favor of lobbyist and money interests?
Unfortunately, the prior history of politics in America is that the answer to question 2 is “yes”; incumbents are returned time after time after time, so that they can beat down the taxpayers again and again and again.

For those not familiar with the Trans Texas Corridors I-35 and I-69, and the controversy over them, we refer you to the Stewards of the Range website, and the Texans Uniting For Reform and Freedom website for the history of this major sell-out of the peoples’ rights.

These two superhighway corridors are in the planning and pre-development stages by the Texas Department of Transportation under authorization of the legislature given several years ago.
The legislature, in the “dead of night” at the end of a legislative session pushed through a bill which allowed the Department to enter into A NON COMPETE contract with a Spanish company. The company did not have to bid against any other company to gain the following rights: to collect all tolls from the two superhighways FOREVER, to have exclusive rights to the placement of and development of any business along the superhighways (service stations, motels, restaurants, gift shops, strip malls----everything) and all income from those businesses; and to collect from utilities such as local water companies that would be required to lay their lines inside the right of way of the superhighways.

In exchange all the company had to do was put up the money for the construction, which is miniscule compared to the future income which the company has exclusive rights to FOREVER.

 
And, the tax dollars of Texans are being used to do all the scoping and planning and pre-development work by the Department.

The two new superhighways are not going to be located in or at the rights of way of interstate 35 and interstate 69 which already exist. They are going to be developed through private property which the state will take from private owners. For example, TTC-35 will run through and destroy 48,000 acres of prime farm land---including the Black Lands Prairie where even the state of Texas admits that the farm ground is among, if not, the best and most productive in the United States. Even the state of Texas admits that this land should be preserved as agricultural ground-----UNTIL ALONG COMES THE OPPORTUNITY TO HAVE A FOREIGN COUNTRY PAY FOR A SUPERHIGHWAY AND THEN GET GARGANTUAN PROFITS FOREVERMORE.

 
The Spanish company does not want to pay for expansion of the already existing interstates for at least three obvious reasons:

(1) there may be legal obstacles to converting a non-toll interstate to a toll road with the proceeds to go to a foreign country; and

(2) since they have exclusive rights to new business development, they don’t want to simply expand existing highways where businesses are already established---they want the 100% profit of establishing brand new businesses; and

(3) where private property has to be condemned for the highway, the price for undeveloped farm land will much lower than the price which would be required to take property along an already developed interstate.

So, the profit motivation of a foreign company has governed the planning for the NAFTA superhighway segments through Texas.
The people of Texas have rebelled----they have turned out by the thousands to protest this sale of Texas to a foreign company. They have turned out in droves to lobby the legislators; to demonstrate their cause. They have formed sub-regional planning commissions to represent the interests of rural farms and farm towns which would be completely destroyed by the planned TTC 35 and 69 routes.
The legislature commissioned a “sunset committee” to review the Department of Transportation and its plans for TTC toll corridors. The committee report was damning of the Department.
So, with great fanfare, the legislature announced that it would undertake reformative legislation.

But,lo and behold, in clear daylight, with the pretense of listening to the people and doing their will, the legislature is preparing to stab the knife into the taxpayers even deeper.

----Fred Kelly Grant, www.justicemyass.com
May 30, 2009