Rep. Norman Major

You may be saving gas by driving that futuristic all-electric or hybrid vehicle.  But I bet you didn’t know that you are costing the state money.  That’s right. Your conservation efforts are leading to a dent in the funds the state takes in from the gasoline tax.  That money is used by the state to support the highway fund.

And the fund of course is used to maintain the state owned roadways statewide.  I spoke to Republican Rep. Norman Major, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee.  He is the sponsor of a bill to create a “road usage fee.”

He explains the reasoning behind his legislation.

The highway fund gets its money from the state’s gas tax, which lawmakers raised by 4 cents per gallon last session.

But, some argue, relying on the gas tax means people who drive hybrid or high-efficiency vehicles aren’t paying their fair share toward upkeep on the state’s roads and bridges. Major’s bill aims to tackle that by creating a new fee to put all drivers on the same page. “The basic formula and idea has a great deal of merit,” Jasper said.