Protest the $60 Million EZ-Pass Fees 3-10-09

Promoting the EZ-Pass system as a means to achieve greater traffic efficiency and to reduce highway congestion was a hallmark of the Ehrlich Administration's transportation policy.

Unfortunately, under Governor O'Malley's leadership, the EZ-Pass program will be turned into a cash cow as a newly-created monthly administrative fee will be assessed as a tax on all EZ-Pass account holders.

In a typically cavalier lack of transparency increasingly shown by the O'Malley Administration, the Maryland Transportation Authority (MdTA) adopted the new EZ-Pass administrative fees as well as increased tolls on truckers in January after allowing a public comment period of only 22 days between the announcement of their intention to raise fees and the final adoption by the Board.

At this stage, the only way that these increases can be reversed is if Governor O'Malley rejects the new fees. During the 2006 campaign, then-candidate O'Malley promised to not "nickel and dime" Maryland's citizens with unsuspected transportation fee increases.

TO REGISTER YOUR PROTEST: The "Legislative Action Center" of AAA Mid-Atlantic has posted an online alert that allows Maryland citizens to contact Governor O'Malley urging him to reverse these fee increases.  To access the AAA Mid-Atlantic website: CLICK HERE. 

You may also want to contact your business colleagues, friends and neighbors and encourage them to protest these transportation policy decisions that are detrimental to Maryland's businesses and citizens.