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An Act To Require the Maine Turnpike Authority To Accept E-Z Pass Payments of Any Amount by Telephone
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1. 23 MRSA §1973, sub-§3, as amended by PL 2017, c. 68, §5, is further amended to read:
 
3. Tolls.   Tolls, or the fixing of tolls, is not rulemaking and is not subject to supervision or regulation by any state commission, board or agency. Subject to subsection 4, the authority may fix and revise from time to time tolls for the use of the turnpike and the different parts or sections of the turnpike, including, but not limited to, a connector, and charge and collect the tolls, and contract with any person, partnership, association or corporation desiring the use of any part of the turnpike, including the right-of-way adjoining the paved portion. The tolls must be so fixed and adjusted as to provide a fund at least sufficient with other revenues of the turnpike, if any, to pay for each fiscal year:
 
A. The cost of maintaining, repairing and operating the turnpike, and providing and maintaining reasonable reserves for those costs;
 
B. The bonds and the interest on those bonds, and all sinking fund requirements, and other requirements provided by the resolution authorizing issuance of the bonds or by the trust indenture or loan or a security agreement as those bonds, interest, sinking fund requirements and other requirements become due;
 
C. Those sums for the purpose of maintaining, constructing or reconstructing access roads or portions of access roads that have been requested by the department and in the sole discretion of the authority are from time to time determined to warrant the expenditure of turnpike revenues; and
 
D. The cost of maintaining, constructing or reconstructing interchanges.
 
The authority may use any method for assessing and collecting tolls, including but not limited to toll tickets, barrier toll facilities, billing accounts, commuter passes and electronic recording or identification devices. The display of a recording or identification device issued or authorized by the authority for these purposes on or near the windshield of a motor vehicle is not a violation of a law or rule, including but not limited to Title 29-A, sections 1916 and 2082, unless the device is attached in a way that obstructs the driver's clear view of the highway or an intersecting highway. To the extent the authority uses an electronic recording or identification device to assess or collect tolls, the authority shall allow payment by telephone of any amount related to tolls assessed by the use of that device.
 
SUMMARY
This bill directs the Maine Turnpike Authority to allow payment in any amount of electronically assessed or recorded tolls to be made by telephone.