PROVIDENCE - The House Finance Committee has passed a bill that would restore tolls to the Sakonnet River Bridge, but limit them to 10 cents until April 1. The vote was 12 to 1, with Rep. Raymond Gallison, D-Bristol, casting the lone no vote.
The bill, which now goes to the full House Tuesday night, also moves up the date when the Turnpike and Bridge Authority could collect tolls on the bridge from Feb 1 to Aug. 19, and it removes language that banned increases on tolls on the Pell Bridge.
The legislation, filed on the last night of the legislative session, is the second 180-degree turnabout on the controversial toll issue in the space of a year for the General Assembly.
The legislators had voted to authorize tolls on the new bridge a year ago. They then reversed that with a surprise change in the state budget last month, and have now reversed themselves again.
Last night's move on how to pay the cost of supporting the state's major bridges came after the authority said the changes in the state budget violated the promises the authority made to its bondholders.
East Bay legislators, who had fought hard against the Sakonnet tolls, were not happy with the latest development.
"I think the leadership was sold a bad bill of goods," said Gallison.