OOIDA National Call to Action
February 25, 2004
All OOIDA Members - Lawmakers in Washington, DC, need to hear from you!
As you probably already know, both the House and Senate are crafting legislation that will fund our nation's transportation system over the next six years.
The Senate finalized their version of the bill earlier this month. The House is feverishly working on their version now with hopes of finalizing it in early March.
Both bills will contain provisions that would permit, even encourage, states to impose tolls on existing interstate highways. Once this door starts opening - in no time flat - most, if not all, existing interstates will be toll roads.
For a trucker, it's not hard to imagine what an economic obstacle this would be. Tolling interstate highways would also cause an increase in highway fatalities as more drivers switch to alternate, less safe highways to avoid the tolls.
Contact your lawmakers. Tell them "no way around it - tolls are taxes" and to add tolls to existing interstate highways is the most unfair of all taxing schemes. Lawmakers should be ashamed for even considering this.
The links listed below will take you to a copy of a letter that OOIDA, along with other associations, has sent to House lawmakers in Washington, DC, and also to a letter from OOIDA President Jim Johnston, to U.S. Senator Christopher Bond of Missouri. OOIDA is also running ads in Capitol Hill newspapers urging lawmakers to reject proposals to impose tolls on existing interstates. A link to that ad is provided as well.
http://www.ooida.com/call_to_action/022504_letter1.htm
http://www.ooida.com/call_to_action/tolls_are_taxes_ad.pdf
http://www.ooida.com/call_to_action/022504_bond_letter.pdf
Lawmakers should hear from you on this, too. Make a phone call, send a fax, mail a copy of your letter and then send an e-mail.
If you don't know the names of your lawmakers or you need contact information, you can find it at www.congress.org or call the OOIDA Membership Department at 1-800-444-5791 and they'll look it up!