But that certainly doesn’t give TxDOT permission to sidestep the Texas legislature and write its own rules, violate the Constitution, and obligate Texans to a virtually unlimited number of taxpayer bailouts of toll roads, whether public or private. It’s not only double taxation but also fiscally reckless. This arrogant move by TxDOT demonstrates why state agencies don’t get to appropriate themselves money from the state treasury. The Texas legislature appropriates tax money, and it’s directly accountable to the people who elected them. So bypassing lawmakers makes TxDOT its own defacto taxing entity -- like a king making laws in his own fiefdom.
State officials, especially those charged with oversight over the Texas state budget and enforcement of the Constitution, need to step-in to prevent this un-Constitutional loan guarantee by TxDOT that could be the final nail in the coffin sealing the state’s fiscal cliff on road funding.
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