GOP Leaders: Reform Resonates in the Legislature

House Minority Leader Bradley H. Jones, Jr. and Senate Minority Leader Richard R. Tisei released the following statement today just moments after the Legislature voted to enact the transportation reform bill.

Today, the Republican message of reform resonated in the House and Senate as both branches of the Legislature voted to enact a comprehensive and meaningful transportation reform bill. While this bill, like many others, is not perfect, we believe it will lay the groundwork for not only cost savings and efficiencies but for future progress as well.

For years, Republican lawmakers in Massachusetts have been fighting for a complete overhaul of the state’s transportation system and our ideas have long been rejected for political reasons. Today, after a tough fight and a long process, our efforts have come to fruition as this bill will among many other things, abolish the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority, end the short-sighted practice of using bond money to pay employees and require life-cycle costs to be certified before new projects are started as well as for additional reviews for those projects over $200 million.

We are happy that our Democratic counterparts decided to join us in an effort for more transparent and efficient state government. Furthermore, we are pleased the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation and the former Chairman of the Transportation Finance Commission support this bill. There is still a lot of work to be done in the days and weeks ahead and ultimately the success of this bill will depend heavily on the implementation of its policies by the Patrick Administration.