Conference committee advances mileage-based user fee bill, drops estimated-payment option

A conference committee reviewing a mileage-based user fee bill on Tuesday agreed on key technical changes to payment options and transition language but said final approval awaits reconciled budget numbers.

Damien Leonard, legislative counsel at the Office of Legislative Counsel, told members the draft’s “core changes are in section 4302” and that the bill removes the previously proposed estimated-payment option. “That is the estimated payment option,” Leonard said, and the draft now provides “an annual payment option, pay-as-you-go installment payments, and then a flat rate of $178.”

Leonard also explained a timing correction to the flat-rate option: rather than being assessed at the end of a mileage-reporting period, the flat-rate assessment is charged at the beginning of the period, with the payment due no later than the next registration renewal or the termination of registration or lease.

On transition mechanics, Leonard said the draft treats an upfront road-usage charge — effectively the current electric-vehicle (EV) infrastructure fee collected at registration — as a credit against a vehicle owner’s first MBUF assessment. “Whatever they pay in that road usage charge will just be credited against it,” he said, adding that owners could then choose a final payment option after seeing the system operate for the first reporting period.

A committee member asked whether a $49 transfer to ACCD remained in the bill; Leonard said the transfer language was deleted and that the EV infrastructure fee will automatically repeal when the MBUF starts. The draft identifies Jan. 1, 2027, as the implementation date for transition provisions.

The committee reached consensus on adopting a 60‑day compliance window for obtaining inspections after a mileage-reporting period — a compromise between a 45‑day House proposal and a 90‑day Senate proposal. Leonard said the 60‑day window is incorporated into subdivision 6 of section 4302 in the draft.

Lawmakers also confirmed that Senate changes to the transition-report wording were incorporated, including a focus on plug-in hybrids. Members asked staff to return with recommendations and planning details for next steps on plug-in vehicles; the request was described as seeking planning recommendations rather than internal financial projections.

No formal vote was recorded during the session. Committee members said they had agreed on most language but could not finalize the conference report until budget numbers were reconciled. They requested a clean draft of the bill for review and scheduled follow-up meetings to resolve outstanding accounting before signing the final report.

The committee’s next step is to circulate a clean copy of the draft and to reconvene after staff reconciles the budget numbers that affect the bill’s fiscal sections.