Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf signed a new law last week giving the state a stick to smack or prod drivers owing delinquent toll money.
The law comes after the state adopted Toll by Plate as an alternative to E-ZPass and eliminated in-person toll workers or the mechanical devices that caught coins or accepted paper currency. Following that change that started in 2019, the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission racked up $155 million in red ink from drivers who were billed but never paid.
Under the new law, which will go into effect in January, drivers will face a serious consequence for not paying their bills. Amass $250 or more in unpaid bills, and the state can suspend your vehicle’s registration. It’s a move that makes sense as a direct response to the offense in question.
It was a law that needed to be passed. If you use a toll road, you should pay for that use. But why did it take three years to do so? Why wasn’t the hefty chunk of debt anticipated and this very obvious response anticipated?
But you can ask that question about so much regarding the Turnpike Commission, PennDOT or just state government in general.
After all, the state has not taken steps to rectify the incomprehensible Act 44 of 2007, which requires the Turnpike Commission to foot the bill for things that have nothing to do with toll roads. The law demanded the commission pay $450 million a year until 2021. Going forward, payments fell to a comparatively tiny $50 million but continue until 2057.
Why has the state not taken steps find a new revenue stream for PennDOT rather than forcing the commission into a position where it has had to borrow money to pay an obligation it was forced to assume? Why is it not aggressively finding new ways to replace the gas tax in a world in which electric vehicles use roads but not gas pumps? Why is it not coming up with funding scenarios for bridges and other projects?
Because none of those is as easy as taking away someone’s car registration, which can then lead to a chain reaction of citations for driving without registration, losing a license, etc.
Penalizing the little guy is simple and happens quickly — well, as quickly as anything happens in Harrisburg.
But solving the big problems — especially those that government has created itself — always seems to take longer. And that’s if they are a priority at all.
