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Senate of Pennsylvania
Session of 2017 - 2018 Regular Session

MEMORANDUM

Posted:	December 19, 2016 01:53 PM
From:	Senator Kim L. Ward
To:	All Senate members
Subject:	Waiving Turnpike Tolls for Law Enforcement and Emergency Responders

I am re-introducing legislation requiring the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission to waive tolls for emergency vehicles when either directly responding to an emergency situation or participating in the escort of a fallen firefighter, ambulance service or rescue squad member, law enforcement officer or armed service member killed in the line of duty. I was surprised to learn last session the Turnpike Commission does not waive tolls for emergency vehicles unless it has a contract with the specific law enforcement or emergency services entity for police or emergency response services. A police officer from my district was killed in the line of duty and while organizing an escort of the body to the coroners' office in Pittsburgh via the PA Turnpike, organizers were told all vehicles in the escort would be required to pay tolls. Ultimately, the Turnpike Commissioners themselves volunteered to pay the tolls, as they typically do for line-of-duty funeral processions, but the bureaucracy it required to do so took too long and the escort was forced to use a much longer route along Route 22 into the city which needlessly tied up local traffic and emergency responders. It is noble of the Commissioners to pay these costs out of their own pockets but we should have consistency and certainty when it comes to ensuring tolls are not a concern in these situations. While researching this situation, I learned of an incident where a local police department in my district received a bill from the Turnpike Commission for tolls after one of its officers entered the turnpike in pursuit of a vehicle that had fled a crime scene. My legislation will ensure no toll will be required in this situation or any other in which a police car, fire truck, ambulance, etc. is responding to an emergency, regardless of whether the emergency is taking place on the turnpike or there is a service contract in place.

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