General Toll Powers; Police Powers; Operation of Vehicles Through Toll Collection Facilities; Penalties; Video Surveillance Authorized

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  5. State Road and Tollway Authority
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  7. General Toll Powers; Police Powers; Operation of Vehicles Through Toll Collection Facilities; Penalties; Video Surveillance Authorized

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    1. For the purpose of earning sufficient revenue to make possible, in conjunction with other funds available to the authority, the financing of the construction or acquisition of projects of the authority with revenue bonds, the authority is authorized and empowered to collect tolls on each and every project which it, the department, or local governing authority shall cause to be constructed. It is found, determined, and declared that the necessities of revenue bond financing are such that the authority's toll earnings on each project or projects, in conjunction with other funds available to the authority, must exceed the actual maintenance, repair, and normal reserve requirements of such projects, together with monthly or yearly sums needed for the sinking fund payments upon the principal and interest obligations of financing such project or projects; however, within the framework of these legitimate necessities of the authority and subject to all bond resolutions, trust indentures, and all other contractual obligations of the authority, the authority is charged with the duty of the operation of all projects in the aggregate at the most reasonable possible level of toll charges; and, furthermore, the authority is charged with the responsibility of a reasonable and equitable adjustment of such toll charges as between the various classes of users of any given project in which the repayment of financing is the primary or exclusive purpose for the exercise of the toll power of the authority.
    2. For the purpose of managing the flow of traffic, the authority is authorized and empowered to collect tolls on each and every project which it, the department, or local governing authority shall cause to be constructed in which managing the flow of traffic is the primary or exclusive purpose. It is found, determined, and declared that the necessities of managing the flow of traffic are such that the authority is charged with the responsibility of taking into consideration value pricing and lane management as those terms are described in subsection (d) of Code Section 40-6-54 in determining toll charges on such projects.
  2. In the exercise of the authority's toll powers, the authority is authorized to exercise so much of the police powers of the state as shall be necessary to maintain the peace and accomplish the orderly handling of the traffic and the collection of tolls on all projects operated by the authority; and the authority shall prescribe such rules and regulations for the method of taking tolls and the employment and conduct of toll takers and other operating employees as the authority, in its discretion, may deem necessary.
    1. No motor vehicle shall be driven or towed through a toll collection facility, where appropriate signs have been erected to notify traffic that it is subject to the payment of tolls beyond such sign, without payment of the proper toll. In the event of nonpayment of the proper toll, as evidenced by video or electronic recording, the registered owner of such vehicle shall be liable to make prompt payment to the authority of the proper toll and an administrative fee of up to $25.00 per violation to recover the cost of collecting the toll. The authority or its authorized agent shall provide notice to the registered owner of a vehicle, and a reasonable time to respond to such notice, of the authority's finding of a violation of this subsection. The authority or its authorized agent may provide subsequent notices to the registered owner of a vehicle if such owner fails to respond to the initial notice. The administrative fee may increase with each notice, provided that such fee shall not exceed a cumulative total of $25.00 per violation. Upon failure of the registered owner of a vehicle to pay the proper toll and administrative fee to the authority after notice thereof and within the time designated in such notice, the authority may proceed to seek collection of the proper toll and the administrative fee as debts owing to the authority, in such manner as the authority deems appropriate and as permitted under law. If the authority finds multiple failures by a registered owner of a vehicle to pay the proper toll and administrative fee after notice thereof and within the time designated in such notices, the authority may refer the matter to the Office of State Administrative Hearings. The scope of any hearing held by the Office of State Administrative Hearings shall be limited to consideration of evidence relevant to a determination of whether the registered owner has failed to pay, after notice thereof and within the time designated in such notice, the proper toll and administrative fee. The only affirmative defense that may be presented by the registered owner of a vehicle at such a hearing is theft of the vehicle, as evidenced by presentation at the hearing of a copy of a police report showing that the vehicle has been reported to the police as stolen prior to the time of the alleged violation. A determination by the Office of State Administrative Hearings of multiple failures to pay by a registered owner of a vehicle shall subject such registered owner to imposition of, in addition to any unpaid tolls and administrative fees, a civil monetary penalty payable to the authority of not more than $70.00 per violation. Upon failure by a registered owner to pay to the authority, within 30 days of the date of notice thereof, the amount determined by the Office of State Administrative Hearings as due and payable for multiple violations of this subsection, the motor vehicle registration of such registered owner shall be immediately suspended by operation of law. The authority shall give notice to the Department of Revenue of such suspension. Such suspension shall continue until the proper toll, administrative fee, and civil monetary penalty as have been determined by the Office of State Administrative Hearings are paid to the authority. The authority may seek to collect the debt owed through setoff by the Department of Revenue under procedures set forth in Article 7 of Chapter 7 of Title 48. Actions taken by the authority under this subsection shall be made in accordance with policies and procedures approved by the members of the authority.
    2. The registered owner of a vehicle which is observed being driven or towed through a toll collection facility without payment of the proper toll may avoid liability under this subsection by presenting to the authority a copy of a police report showing that the vehicle had been reported to the police as stolen prior to the time of the alleged violation.
    3. For purposes of this subsection, for any vehicle which is registered to an entity other than a natural person, the term "registered owner" shall be deemed to refer to the natural person who is the operator of such motor vehicle at the time of the violation of this subsection, but only if the entity to which the vehicle is registered has supplied to the authority, within 60 days following notice from the authority or its authorized agent, information in the possession of such entity which is sufficient to identify and give notice to the natural person who was the operator of the motor vehicle at the time of the violation of this subsection.
  4. Any person who shall use or attempt to use any currency or coins other than legal tender of the United States of America or tokens issued by the authority or who shall use or attempt to use any electronic device or equipment not authorized by the authority in lieu of or to avoid payment of a toll shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.
  5. Any person, except an authorized agent or employee of the authority, who removes any coin from the pavement or ground surface within 15 feet of a toll collection booth or toll collection machine, except to retrieve coins the person dropped while attempting payment of that person's toll, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.
  6. Any person who enters without authorization or who willfully, maliciously, and forcibly breaks into any mechanical or electronic toll collection device of the authority or appurtenance thereto shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.
  7. Any law enforcement officer shall have the authority to issue citations for toll evasions if such officer is a witness to any of the following violations:
    1. A person forcibly or fraudulently passes a toll collection device without payment or refuses to pay, evades, or attempts to evade the payment of such tolls;
    2. A person turns, or attempts to turn, a vehicle around on a bridge, approach, or toll plaza where signs have been erected forbidding such turning; or
    3. A person refuses to pass through the toll collection facility after having come within the area where signs have been erected notifying traffic that it is entering the area where a toll is collectable or where vehicles may not turn around and where vehicles are required to pass through the toll gates for the purposes of collecting tolls.
  8. The authority may in its discretion use such technology, including but not limited to automatic vehicle license tag identification photography and video surveillance, either by electronic imaging or photographic copy, that it deems necessary to aid in the collection of tolls and enforcement of toll violations. Such technology shall not be used to produce any photograph, microphotograph, electronic image, or videotape showing the identity of any person in a motor vehicle except that such technology may be utilized for general surveillance of a toll collection facility for the security of toll collection facility employees.
  9. State and local law enforcement entities are authorized to enter into traffic and toll enforcement agreements with the authority.Any funds received by a state law enforcement entity pursuant to such toll enforcement agreement shall be subject to annual appropriations by the General Assembly to such law enforcement entity for the purpose of performing its duties pursuant to such agreement.

(Ga. L. 1953, Jan.-Feb. Sess., p. 302, § 8; Ga. L. 1972, p. 179, § 15; Code 1933, § 95A-1245, enacted by Ga. L. 1973, p. 947, § 1; Ga. L. 1979, p. 1091, § 2; Ga. L. 1988, p. 227, § 5; Ga. L. 1993, p. 366, § 2; Ga. L. 2001, p. 1251, § 1-10; Ga. L. 2004, p. 498, § 1; Ga. L. 2006, p. 308, § 1/HB 1190; Ga. L. 2015, p. 1058, § 1/SB 125; Ga. L. 2018, p. 152, § 1/HB 150.)

The 2018 amendment, effective July 1, 2018, added the next-to-last sentence of paragraph (c)(1).

OPINIONS OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL

Inclusion of portions of State Highway System in tollway projects.

- It is lawful, under certain circumstances, for portions of State Highway System to be included in a State Tollway Authority project and for such portions of highways to be improved with funds of State Tollway Authority; further, such portions of tollway projects need not necessarily be included in that portion of project which can be used by public only upon payment of a toll. 1974 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 74-5.

Phrase "is authorized and empowered" means that act may or may not be done within the discretion of the State Tollway Authority, which is the body authorized to make the decision. 1974 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 74-5.

RESEARCH REFERENCES

ALR.

- Tolls as taxes within constitutional provisions respecting taxes, 167 A.L.R. 1356.


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