Bill would 'create more tools' for DOT

Drivers could negotiate high unpaid toll fees also

By: Colleen Wilson
NorthJersey.com
USA Today Network - New Jersey

..... A bill to give the New Jersey Department of Transportation more involvement in toll enforcement was passed in the state Senate on Monday [01/08/2024]
..... If signed into law, the bill would do multiple things: give the DOT the authority to work with other states and tolling authorities to enter into reciprocity agreements, create an amnesty program for some drivers with large toll balances, and allow the department to create an arbitration process for motorists to make their case if the fees they've incurring are "false, mistaken, or unjustified."
..... "The bill to create more tools for our tolling entities to recoup costs from toll cheats while also creating an avenue for individuals to have the ability to appeal and present their reasoning,: said Assemblyman William Moren Jr., D-Camden, a sponsor of the bill.
..... He added, "The aim here is to go after the people that are purposely doing this, because when they're able to get away with those actions it's intimately ending up being our toll payers and our taxpayers who are footing the bill for that action."
..... The impetus for the bill, Moen said, is to address the $117 million in tolls that go unpaid each year at the five largest tolling authorities in New Jersey. Meanwhile, motorists - including some in the Legislature - have complained for years about the lack of due process and poor customer service when they receive fee for mistakes or errors and struggle to get the issues resolved, if they do at all.
..... Currently, some New Jersey tolling authorities - including the New Jersey Turnpike Authority and the South Jersey Transportation Authority - contract with Florham Park-based Conduent Incorporated to oversee toll collection and enforcement of the E-Z Pass tolling program.
..... Conduent is responsible for the vehicle transponders and customers service program to manage toll billing.
..... This bill would create an additional layer of enforcement while also providing a new avenue to adjudicate billing issues and even make it possible to appeal finds that drivers consider unjustified. It will fall to the DOT to design the program and the parameters, but Moen said, I would certainly convey that message to the Department of Transportation."
..... "There needs to be an ability for a registered owner of a vehicle to not only appeal, but to have the ability for the appeal toe reversed or if there is another finding that would cerate an avenue for those tolls and fines to be dismissed," Moen said.
..... However, the Senate budget committee passed several amendments last week [01/03/2024] including taking out a reference to "due process" for motorists and replacing it with providing "an opportunity to be heard."
..... Another amendment would :remove the requirement for administrative hearing or administrative proceeding to be held for certain violations and instead they would require the register owner of the motor vehicle to be given the opportunity to be heard by the department."
..... Here are the details:
* The bill would allow the DOT to "adjudicate and enforce the motor vehicle tolls." The department would have 18 months to cerate a process to "require the registered owner of the motor vehicle to be given the opportunity to be heard" if they have accumulate more than $500 in unpaid tolls and violations over the prior three years or six or more unpaid toll violations with at least one accruing after the effective date of the bill.
* If the vehicle owner cannot demonstrate that their violations are :false, mistaken, or unjustified," the DOT can direct the Motor Vehicle Commission to suspend the owner's vehicle registration.
* A vehicle owner must receive a notice in the mail about the suspension, which can be lifted once an agreement is reached to rectify the violation.
* "No suspension may be imposed more than three years after the violation is committed," the bill said.
* The DOT may establish minimum fees to administer the adjudication program.
* The DOT will cerate a 180-day amnesty program that will permit "the reduction of 25 percent of unpaid tolls of $500 or more if all outstanding tolls are otherwise paid in their entirely," the bill said.
* The bill would authorize the DOT to "enter into reciprocal agreements with out-of-state tolling entities, interstate tolling entities, or other states to implement system of unpaid toll collections and enforcement," the bill said.

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