Headlines
1. Privatization v. the public’s right to know
2. Fitch assigns negative outlook to toll roads over next 3 to 5 years
3. WV House oks public-private partnerships to fund new roads
4. CO: House panel postpones toll road vote
5. PA: Private bidders sought to finish toll roads
6. NC: Gov. Easley seeks more power to fix mental health care

News Summaries
1. Privatization v. the public’s right to know
Privatization is on the rise, but public access laws have yet to catch
up — shielding important organizations from media scrutiny, writes
Rani Gupta for the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press.
2. Fitch assigns negative outlook to toll roads over next 3 to 5 years
Fitch Ratings gave the U.S. toll road sector a negative outlook over
the next three to five years, citing possible opposition to public and
private attempts – including through public-private partnerships – to cash
in on undervalued roads, reports The Bond Buyer (subscription.)
In the next one to two years, Fitch assigned the toll road sector a stable
outlook due to expected increase in the leveraging of existing roads to
meet the nation’s growing transportation needs. "In Fitch’s view,
the growing realization by elected officials that existing toll roads are highly
valued and under leveraged will lead to more debt either through long-term
leases to private concessionaires, or through mission change whereby existing
public toll road authorities adjust to these circumstances and directly compete
with the private sector to plug funding shortfalls or subsidize state departments of
transportation," the report said. "Either way, Fitch expects more
levered private concessions and public authorities and thus increased credit risk
in the sector."
3. WV House oks public-private partnerships to fund new roads
The West Virginia House has approved a bill that is intended to open
the door to public-private partnerships in the state, reports Land Line Magazine.
House lawmakers voted 69-27 to advance a bill to the Senate that would
allow private developers to build and collect tolls on future highways
throughout the state. Private groups also would be allowed to mine coal
at project sites. Opponents say they have grave concerns about allowing
private investors to run roadways. They also say adding tolls to
highways in the state would devastate business and tourism in area
regions.
4. CO: House panel postpones toll road vote
After hearing hours of testimony Tuesday on a measure designed to help
property owners in the path of a proposed private toll road, a House
committee decided not to vote on the bill just yet, reports the Pueblo Chieftain.
5. PA: Private bidders sought to finish toll roads
Although the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission opposes a long-term lease
of its historic mainline, the five-member board now wants to know if
private corporations are interested in building and financing the
northern section of the Mon-Fayette Expressway and remaining pieces of
the Southern Beltway, reports the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
The commission’s action came despite its opposition to Gov. Ed
Rendell’s plans to test the investment market to create a
public-private partnership and lease the 360-mile east-west mainline
and 110-mile Northeast Extension.
6. NC: Gov. Easley seeks more power to fix mental health care
North Carolina Gov. Mike Easley called on state legislators Tuesday to
give his administration more authority to fix the state’s troubled
mental health system, reports The News & Observer. Though he said he
was not attempting to lay blame for the problems, the governor
repeatedly pointed to the General Assembly and local mental
health agencies as those primarily responsible for bungling the 2001
reform plan. Easley again contended that his administration
"vigorously" opposed the plan from the start — a version of history
that does not square with the written record or the statements of the
bill’s primary sponsor. Implemented by the Easley administration over
the past six years, the reforms dismantled an established system of
county-run mental health offices and sought to pay businesses to do the
work.
Upcoming Events
Discussion. The Georgetown University Law Center holds a
discussion on "Accountability of Private Security Contractors."
March 11, 2008, 6 p.m., Georgetown University Law Center, 120 F Street NW,
Gewirz Student Center, 12th Floor, Washington, D.C. Contact: 202-662-9519
[Note: Media should RSVP [email protected]].
Participants: Richard Goldstone, former justice of the Constitutional Court of South Africa;
Gary Solis, adjunct professor at Georgetown University Law Center; Anthony Arend,
professor of government and foreign service and director of the
Institute for International Law and Politics at Georgetown University;
W. Hays Parks, senior associate deputy general counsel of international
affairs at the Defense Department; Albert Pierce, professor of ethics
and national security and director of the Institute for National
Security Ethics and Leadership at National Defense University; Doug
Brooks, president of the International Peace Operations Association;
Jennifer Daskal, senior counterterrorism counsel at Human Rights Watch;
and Jeffrey Green, president of J.A. Green and Company LLC.