House Transportation panel narrows mileage-based user-fee draft, agrees to remove proposed monthly penalty

The House Transportation Committee on March 10, 2026, reviewed a revised draft of a mileage-based user fee that would replace the current flat battery-electric vehicle infrastructure charge and add options for pay-as-you-go reporting and installment payments. Committee counsel walked members through version 3.2 of the bill, and the Agency of Transportation’s policy director described how the myDMV system could host accounts and reconcile odometer reports.

The revised draft shortens the bill’s purpose language to require that “battery electric vehicles contribute to the transportation funds in an amount that reflects the annual miles traveled by each vehicle,” counsel said, and adds a new pay-as-you-go (PAYGo) option that owners may opt into in lieu of a single annual mileage payment. Patrick Murphy, state policy director at the Agency of Transportation, told the committee the PAYGo option is intended to “more closely reflect when miles are incurred” and that the DMV would have discretion over reporting periods and technical requirements.

Why it matters: lawmakers said the measure aims to move EV owners from a flat charge toward paying by usage, closer to how the gas tax functions, while also preserving equity for low-mileage drivers. The question for the committee is how to balance fairness, administrative complexity and…