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Senate committee adopts amendment to include all counties, townships in 3¢ gas-tax distribution
Summary
The Senate Finance and Taxation Committee approved an amendment to House Bill 1382 to ensure the proposed 3-cent per gallon gas tax would send one penny each to cities, counties and townships statewide — including oil-producing counties previously carved out — but the committee paused further action on the bill pending broader DOT budget work.
At a Finance and Taxation Committee meeting, the panel adopted an amendment to House Bill 1382 that changes how a proposed 3-cent-per-gallon gas tax would be distributed and removes a prior exclusion for oil-producing counties and townships.
The amendment approved Wednesday would allocate the 3-cent increase as one penny to cities, one penny to counties and one penny to townships. Committee members struck language that had excluded oil-producing counties and townships from receiving the allocations, so every county and township would be eligible under the revised language.
Committee Chair Chairman Weber introduced the amendment and Senator Patton moved adoption of amendment 25.1043.02001; Senator Powers seconded. The clerk recorded unanimous “yes” votes by the panel members present (Chairman Weber; Vice Chair Romo; Senators Marsali, Patton, Powers and Wallen), and the amendment was adopted.
Although the committee approved the amendment, Chair Weber said the panel would “sit on it for the time being” and take no further action on the bill that day because the Department of Transportation budget remains under negotiation between the House and Senate. The committee left the amendment in the bill’s amendment pipeline so it would be available if and when the bill is considered further.
The change was explained to committee members as a technical fix to ensure uniform treatment across counties and townships and to remove a prior dollar-threshold test that had been part of the draft definition for “non oil-producing county.”
Committee members did not take other substantive votes on HB 1382 at this meeting. The panel’s action was limited to adopting the amendment and pausing further consideration while budget work proceeds.
The committee did not specify an effective date for the amended distribution language; the amendment number recorded in the hearing was 25.1043.02001. The committee’s next step on the bill will depend on the DOT budget process and future scheduling by the committee and floor leaders.
