RI Trucking Association calling on Governor and General Assembly to halt truck tolls

The Rhode Island Trucking Association (RITA)is calling upon Governor McKee and the General Assembly to refrain from reinstating the RhodeWorks truck-only tolling in light of the First Circuit Court of Appeals’ ruling that the current legislation is unconstitutional.

All members of the General Assembly received a communication from RITA urging them to oppose tolls.  The communication was accompanied by an information package laying out the case against tolls and offering alternative funding solutions.   

In December, the court ruled that a series of caps that were added to the 2016 law to protect local businesses and stymie opposition from the local business community were illegal.  

“The caps were a covenant made with the local business community and within the General Assembly to ensure passage.  Proceeding to reactivate the tolls without the caps would defy a promise made a decade ago and would decimate our state’s supply chain by levying unsustainable tolls on the local trucking industry, small businesses, and ultimately the consumer,” said RITA President Christopher Maxwell.  

 “An uncapped program means that 94% of the burden will fall upon local businesses many of which make repeated daily trips within the state and could pay exponentially more than what they would have paid. The offer of a placeholder reduction in rates to quell opposition is unacceptable.”         

Maxwell said that many legislators, both those who voted for the original legislation and those elected since its passage, have been receptive to these concerns. He also noted that no one in current leadership, the Governor, the Speaker of the House, nor the Senate President were direct party to the law originally passed under the Raimondo administration.    

“This is not even close to the legislation passed in 2016 and our state’s leaders have an obligation to stop any version of it from being implemented.  The program was originally meant to target interstate carriers, and now it’s all backfired.  A deal is a deal,” said Maxwell.  

Currently, Governor Dan McKee has included tolls in the 2026 fiscal year budget, but no actions toward restarting tolls have been taken. 

The trucking industry, led by RITA, continues to offer less impactful and more sustainable and equitable options to fund infrastructure.     

RITA has provided two documents to support their position:

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