![[Valid Atom 1.0]](valid-atom.png "Validate my Atom 1.0 feed")
Toll Discounts * USA - For In-state Residents Draw Constitutional Challenge
Is E-ZPass helping states violate the Constitution?
New York,NY,USA -The New York Times, by John Schwartz -1 April 2009: -- Two federal lawsuits are arguing that states' use of electronic toll systems to charge lower tolls to their residents is in violation of the interstate commerce clause of the constitution. "This type of economic protectionism," says the lawsuit in the Rhode Island case -- the other involves Massachusetts -- "is exactly the type of discrimination the commerce clause was designed to prevent"... Courts have required states to meet tough tests if they want to favor their residents, such as showing a valid local purpose that is not economic protectionism and that has no alternatives that are not as discriminatory... Even before electronic tolling, many states gave discounts to people who live close to tolls in order to make it cheaper for them to use roads that they may have to use daily, according to E-ZPass Interagency Group Executive Director James A. Crawford. "Toll operators have recognized their presence in a community and their need to economically support that community," said Crawford, who said he has no seen other suits challenging discounts on state discrimination grounds except for a 2007 Massachusetts case that was dismissed... (Photo by David L. Ryan/Boston Globe - The East Boston entrance to the Ted Williams Tunnel, one of the crossings at issue in Massachusetts and Rhode Island)Labels: toll discounts
posted by Unknown @ 4:52 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home