Soon I will reintroduce SB473 of 2023, which passed the Senate with unanimous support this past session. The bill will once again target the ongoing issue of unpaid turnpike tolls, by garnishing lottery winnings and the State tax refunds of offenders with unpaid tolls.
 
Although we have acted as a General Assembly by enacting Act 165 of 2016 and Act 112 of 2022
 to provide more tools for the PTC to track down bad actors, who skip out on paying their tolls – we still see millions of dollars in tolls unpaid.
 
From June 2023 to May 2024, the Turnpike reported a projected total of $187 million in unpaid (unbillable/uncollected) tolls. That is an increase of $10 million from the previous year.
 
Unfortunately, the law-abiding turnpike users who continue to pay their tolls trip-after-trip are being punished by this loss in toll revenue, with continued toll increases. I find it imperative we step up enforcement and give the turnpike additional tools to go after these offenders.
 
I encourage my colleagues to join me in support of this bill. Prior sponsors included: TARTAGLIONE, SANTARSIERO, FONTANA, COSTA, and FARRY.