A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT to ensure north carolina turnpike authority revenue retention.
Whereas, the North Carolina General Assembly has noted that toll funding is feasible in North Carolina and that a toll program can speed the implementation of needed transportation improvements; and
Whereas, traditional transportation revenue sources, including Highway Use and Motor Fuel taxes, are indirect user fees; and
Whereas, these indirect fees limit the ability to efficiently target revenues to specific corridors and hamper congestion mitigation efforts; and
Whereas, by contrast, turnpike revenues are direct user fees, paid for by the user at the time and location of actual usage, turnpikes carry the clear potential to provide the State with a new and efficient source of highway funding revenue; and 
Whereas, the North Carolina General Assembly's Blue Ribbon Commission to Study Solutions to North Carolina's Urban Transportation needs recommended that new revenues from turnpikes be allocated fairly to urban congestion relief efforts; and
Whereas, most of the current language in the General Statutes refers to Turnpike Project revenues and expenses as a whole across the State rather than establishing a direct user fee relationship, and the language permitting interstate tolling does establish a direct user fee relationship; and
Whereas, Turnpikes will be successful in North Carolina, that is, accepted and used by the public at large but only if turnpikes meet, to the greatest extent feasible, the direct user fee standard of a transportation service received for a transportation fee paid at the time and place of service; and
Whereas, this act is designed to provide a direct user fee assurance to the public and to help coordinate toll revenue generation with corresponding mobility needs, particularly in the increasingly congested regions of the State, by reserving the vast majority of Turnpike revenues for the Turnpike Section where the revenue was generated; and
Whereas, this act provides the NC Turnpike Authority with sufficient flexibility to develop a statewide Turnpike System by authorizing up to 25% of Turnpike revenues generated annually on a given Turnpike Section to be spent on other Turnpike Sections along the same toll corridor or a nearby intersecting toll corridor with the approval of the affected metropolitan and rural transportation planning agencies; Now, therefore, 
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.  G.S. 136‑89.181 is amended by adding new subdivisions to read:
"(6)	"Turnpike" means any road, bridge, or tunnel containing one or more travel lanes where toll user fees are collected in one or both directions of travel on the facility. A facility operated as a Turnpike may or may not contain non‑tolled travel lanes.
(7)	"Turnpike Section" means a continuous length of Turnpike with the same route number and designation. A Turnpike Section terminates at any point where a route number changes, a route designation changes, a traffic signal that interrupts free‑flow is found, or the collection of tolls ceases in both directions of travel.
(8)	"Turnpike Corridor" means a continuous length of road, bridge, or tunnel with the same route number and designation that together form part or all of a continuous freeway or expressway route with at least one Turnpike Section. A Turnpike Corridor may or may not contain non‑tolled sections. The same route number and designation must be continuously and logically maintained along the entire length of Turnpike Sections and any non‑tolled sections along the route. A Turnpike Corridor terminates at any point where a route number changes, a route designation changes, or a traffic signal that interrupts free‑flow is found.
(9)	"Intersecting Turnpike Corridor" shall mean a Turnpike Corridor that interchanges with another Turnpike Corridor.
(10)	"Alternate, Comparable, Non‑toll route" as described in G.S. 136‑89.197 may include one or more non‑toll travel lanes of the Turnpike facility itself in addition to a separate roadway or roadways.
(11)	"Net toll revenues" means toll revenues after Turnpike Authority administration costs. Turnpike Authority administration costs related and charged to a Turnpike Project or Turnpike Section shall not exceed five percent (5%) of the total revenue derived from the Turnpike Project or from a Turnpike Section."
SECTION 2.  G.S. 136‑89.188 is repealed.
SECTION 3.  Chapter 136 of the General Statutes is amended by adding a new section to read:
"§ 136‑89.188A. Use of revenues.
"(a)	Revenues derived from a Turnpike Section or Turnpike Project authorized under this Article shall be used only for Authority administration costs; operation and maintenance costs for the Turnpike Section from which the revenues were generated; debt service on the Authority's revenue bonds associated with the Turnpike Project; and related purposes such as the establishment of debt service reserve funds as required by bond covenants. In addition, revenues derived from a Turnpike Section or Turnpike Project may be used for the design, development, analysis, right‑of‑way acquisition, and construction for a future Turnpike Project along all or a portion of the same Turnpike Section from which the revenues were generated.
(b)	The Authority may use up to one hundred percent (100%) of the revenue derived from a Turnpike Section or Turnpike Project for debt service on the Authority's revenue bonds associated with the Turnpike Section or Turnpike Project or for a combination of debt service and operation and maintenance expenses for the Turnpike Section from which the revenues were generated.
(c)	Notwithstanding the provisions in subsections (a) and (b) of this section, upon approval by all affected Metropolitan Planning Organizations and Rural Planning Organizations, up to twenty-five percent (25%) of toll revenues generated along a Turnpike Section may be spent on an existing or potential Turnpike Section of an Intersecting Turnpike Corridor within the same or an adjacent county.
(d)	Notwithstanding the provisions in subsections (a) and (b) of this section, upon approval by all affected Metropolitan Planning Organizations and Rural Planning Organizations, up to twenty-five percent (25%) of toll revenues generated along a Turnpike Section may be spent on another existing or potential Turnpike Section of the same Turnpike Corridor.
(e)	In no case shall toll revenues be used to design, develop, analyze, purchase right‑of‑way for, construct, expand, reconstruct, operate, or maintain a roadway that is not operated as a Turnpike Section or approved for consideration as a Turnpike Section by the Authority board.
(f)	The Authority shall use not more than five percent (5%) of total revenue derived from any Turnpike Section or Turnpike Project for Authority administration costs."
SECTION 4.  This act becomes effective July 1, 2006.