Three more states are considering toll roads, highway leasing or both to generate additional revenue for future roadway construction.

The Florida Senate is considering a House-approved bill that would let private companies lease the states toll roads and bridges, but not the state turnpike.

The Mississippi Legislature has approved a bill that would create tolls along some roads and bridges, giving the state another tool to raise revenue.

And Nevada lawmakers have been told that public-private partnerships could help the state cope with funding shortfalls to get needed road work done.

In Florida, a Republican-backed bill, HB7033, would allow roadway leases to private investment groups, and require the companies to pay the state an up-front fee. The bill passed along party lines in the House by a 74-40 vote.

"It is the intent of the legislature to strengthen the state's transportation system by providing the department with innovative financing techniques, including, but not limited to, public-private partnerships, toll facility leases and user fees," the legislation reads.

Florida is facing a significant highway funding shortfall between now and 2025.

After a decade of unsuccessful attempts, the Mississippi Legislature adopted SB2375 that would authorize the state department of transportation, county boards of supervisors and city officials to contract with private industry to construct roads and bridges and collect tolls to pay for the work. Local governments also would be allowed to use bonds to finance toll projects.

House Transportation Committee Chairman Bill Miles told a Mississippi newspaper that allowing toll roads is one of many "innovative methods" the state must use for modern road construction because fuel tax revenues are stagnant.

In Nevada, former U.S. House Majority Leader Dick Gephardt told a legislative hearing the state might benefit from tolling trucks along Interstate 80 in northern Nevada and cars on freeways in Las Vegas. Privately-funded lanes on Interstate 15, linking Los Angeles and Las Vegas, also might reduce congestion.

The now-retired congressman from Missouri is a lobbyist for the investment banking firm of Goldman Sachs the same outfit that brokered the $3.85 billion deal to lease the Indiana Toll Road to a foreign group.

Nevada is trying to figure out how to make up for a nearly $4 billion shortfall in highway funding during the next eight years.

But Gephardt cautioned that pay-to-play roads should not be seen as a "panacea" for transportation funding problems.

An alternative to tolls has been offered by state Sen. Mike McGinness. His bill would increase the per-gallon tax on diesel fuel and gasoline by 3 cents during the next two years.

Nev. Gov. Jim Gibbons has made it clear hes against traditional funding methods that include tax or fee increases. Instead, he has indicated he is open to the possibility of entering into public-private partnerships.

But Gibbons also wants alternative routes available so drivers can avoid paying tolls.

Meanwhile, a bill has been introduced in the state General Assembly (AB595) that would re-establish a weight-distance tax in Nevada, at a uniform rate of 15 cents per mile for vehicles over 55,000 pounds gross weight.

Nevada had a weight-distance tax until 1989, when it was found to discriminate against interstate commerce and was repealed. Proposals to reinstitute a weight-distance tax have been made in Nevada several times since, most seriously in the early 1990s.

Enactment of the bill would make Nevada far and away the highest state in the nation for truck taxes. Consequently, truckers are up in arms over the proposal and have begun to fight it.