Post by Logan on Feb 11, 2016 21:12:25 GMT -6
PROVIDENCE, R.I. — More than eight months after she began her campaign for tolls on 18-wheelers traveling Rhode Island’s highways to finance a massive bridge-repair effort, Governor Raimondo on Thursday signed the legislation into law.
Democrat Raimondo signed the toll-and-borrowing bill aimed at raising more than $500 million over the next five years, less than an hour after lawmakers cast their final votes on the high-controversy bill.
The signing came a short time after the Senate vote of 25 to 12, in a debate spanning two and a half hours in which proponents repeatedly tried to dispel the fear that tolls will at some point be extended to cars.
Opponents questioned the legality of the legislation, and the potential the new "tax" would reinforce Rhode Island's debilitating image as an expensive place to do business, shutter businesses on the brink, raise consumer costs and fall short of revenue expectations.
Read more: www.providencejournal.com/news/20160211/raimondo-signs-truck-toll-legislation-into-law
Democrat Raimondo signed the toll-and-borrowing bill aimed at raising more than $500 million over the next five years, less than an hour after lawmakers cast their final votes on the high-controversy bill.
The signing came a short time after the Senate vote of 25 to 12, in a debate spanning two and a half hours in which proponents repeatedly tried to dispel the fear that tolls will at some point be extended to cars.
Opponents questioned the legality of the legislation, and the potential the new "tax" would reinforce Rhode Island's debilitating image as an expensive place to do business, shutter businesses on the brink, raise consumer costs and fall short of revenue expectations.
Read more: www.providencejournal.com/news/20160211/raimondo-signs-truck-toll-legislation-into-law