Tolls, Alcohol Vending Machines Proposed In Connecticut

Proposals for tolls in Connecticut are nothing new, but alcoholic vending machines are one of the odder proposed bills that have surfaced in the early days of the legislative session. The vending machine bill would allow any permittee authorized to sell alcoholic beverages for on-premise consumption (ie. bars) to use an automated machine to dispense beer, wine and spirits.

Government-issued identification along with matching payment card would be required under the bill. The payment card would have to be reactivated by the permittee after 32 ounces of beer, 10 ounces of wine or 3 ounces of spirits are poured.

Japan has had such machines for more than a decade. Pennsylvania had a trial program to sell bottles of wine in vending machines located at 21 supermarkets, but the idea didn't catch on and the program was cancelled in 2011.

State Rep. Henry Genga for East Hartford has put forward a bill that would get the ball rolling on electronic tolls.

Tolls came up in past two legislative sessions but didn’t make it to a vote. State Sen. Toni Boucher, a Republican from the Wilton area, has opposed tolls in the past, according to the Connecticut Post. Boucher said she expects hearings on tolls again and at least a committee vote.

State Sen. Ted Kennedy, a Democrat from Branford, has been busy talking about proposals at forums. He has mentioned the idea of congestion pricing that would charge motorists who travel at peak times or express lanes where motorists could pay a premium for less-congested lanes.

Many state legislators who represent border towns worry that establishing tolls at state borders would disproportionately burden their constituents. One study that has been cited by legislators estimates that tolls could bring in $20 billion over 30 years. Tolls have been absent from state thruways since the late 1980s.

The Transportation Finance Panel last year recommended raising the gasoline retail and wholesale gas taxes, increasing rail and bus fares and electronic tolls as ways to finance Gov. Dannel Malloy’s 30-year transportation infrastructure upgrade, according to the Connecticut Mirror.

The panel also recommended establishing a transportation lock box that would make sure revenue collected via transportation means is actually used for transportation projects.

Malloy said he won’t recommend establishing highway tolls as part of his budget and that it would take up to four years to have them installed, according to the Post.

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