House panel advances bill to boost Techum transportation bonding with phased increases

The House Revenue and Taxation Committee on Feb. 20 voted to send House Bill 25 to the full House with a “do pass” recommendation. The bill, introduced by Representative Joe Palmer of District 20, would change the Techum program to increase sales-tax-derived contributions used to support bonding for large transportation projects by $20 million in the first year, $40 million in the second and $60 million in the third.

The change is intended to expand the amount of state sales-tax revenue available to back bonded large-scale road projects. Representative Joe Palmer, the sponsor, told the committee the program began in 2017 as a sales-tax allocation for roads and in 2021 was altered to allow bonding for large projects. “When you're talking large projects, we're talking some of them cost $50 to $300 million or even more,” Palmer said, and said the current sales-tax…