OOIDA Call to Action - Missouri members

Oct. 27, 2006

On the biggest issue of 2006 that directly affects all truck operators, Missouri lawmakers gave the go ahead to the construction of a toll bridge in St. Louis over the Mississippi River. The measure passed by an overwhelming majority in both chambers. The one hold up still in play is getting the state of Illinois to go along.

While one toll bridge in St. Louis may not really sound like a big deal to some, there is a whole lot more going on in the background. The Missouri DOT will not build this bridge; private investors will build the bridge. Advising the state on this issue is Goldman Sachs - the same Goldman Sachs that put together the leases of the Chicago Skyway and the Indiana Toll Road. We believe there is a very strong likelihood that once this bridge deal goes through the very next step will be to offer I-70 and I-44 up to investors for toll roads as well.

The subject of foreign ownership of the toll bridge was raised on the House floor, but was dismissed by the House sponsor, Rep. Neal St. Onge of Ellisville, and didn't get serious discussion - nor were the ramifications for I-70, I-44 and other bridges.

While we suspect most lawmakers voting on the toll bridge were unaware of the bigger picture on tolls, the same cannot be said for their votes on the work comp issue. That vote clearly showed the difference between small business and big.

Most truckers don't have many opportunities to communicate with lawmakers - but you can on Nov. 7. Spread the word.

Below is the House vote:

YES: 134

Aull

Avery

Baker 123

Bearden

Behnen

Bivins

Black

Bland

Bogetto

Bowman

Boykins

Bringer

Brooks

Brown 50

Bruns

Burnett

Casey

Chinn

Chappelle-Nadal

Cooper 120

Cooper 158

Corcoran

Cunningham 145

Cunningham 86

Curls

Dake

Darrough

Daus

Davis

Day

Deeken

Dempsey

Denison

Dixon

Donnelly

Dougherty

El-Amin

Emery

Faith

Fares

Fisher

Frame

Franz

Fraser

George

Guest

Harris 23

Harris 110

Haywood

Henke

Hobbs

Hoskins

Hubbard

Hunter

Icet

Jackson

Johnson 61

Jolly

Jones

Kelly

Kingery

Kratky

Kuessner

Lampe

Lembke

Liese

Lipke

Loehner

Low 39

Lowe 44

Marsh

May

McGhee

Meadows

Meiners

Moore

Munzlinger

Muschany

Myers

Nance

Nieves

Nolte

Oxford

Page

Parker

Parson

Pearce

Phillips

Pollock

Portwood

Quinn

Rector

Richard

Robb

Robinson

Ruestman

Sander

Sater

Schaaf

Schad

Scharnhorst

Schlottach

Schneider

Schoemehl

Self

Shoemyer

Silvey

Smith 14

Smith 118

Stevenson

St. Onge

Storch

Sutherland

Swinger

Threlkeld

Tilley

Viebrock

Villa

Vogt

Wagner

Wallace

Walsh

Walton

Wasson

Wells

Weter

Whorton

Wood

Wright 137

Wright 159

Wright-Jones

Yaeger

Young

Zweifel

NO: 23

Baker 25

Dethrow

Dusenberg

Ervin

Flook

Hughes

Johnson 47

Johnson 90

Kraus

Lager

LeVota

Pratt

Roark

Roorda

Rucker

Salva

Skaggs

Smith 150

Wildberger

Wilson 119

Wilson 130

Witte

Yates

ABSENT WITH LEAVE: 5

Bean

Brown 30

Cooper 155

Spreng

Jetton