State Gas Tax Legislation

On April 6, the Senate and Assembly passed a comprehensive transportation funding package that it had been unable to do for years, thanks to much deal-making by Gov. Jerry Brown. The gas tax will increase by 12 cents per gallon on November 1.

April 9, 2017 - Planetizen

Even if newly revised transportation legislation supported by Gov. Jerry Brown and Democratic leaders to raise fuel taxes and fees should pass into law, the funding mechanism may not prove sustainable in the long term.

April 8, 2017 - KPCC

Revised transportation funding legislation is needed to meet California's ballooning infrastructure deficit, but it needs a supermajority to pass, and it contains a fatal flaw for clean air activists.

April 3, 2017 - Streetsblog California

Some may find it silly to get worked up over an annual fee of about $100 to pay for road maintenance when electric vehicle purchasers receive a $7,500 federal tax credit, on top of generous state perks, but electric vehicle supporters object to them.

March 9, 2017 - Vox

Tolls on interstate highways are being pushed in Indiana as a means to increase road funding, no easy task even if a waiver is given. The bill would also increase the gas tax and charge electric vehicle owners a fee for road maintenance.

February 6, 2017 - Governing

Pennsylvania, the state that had the highest gas tax last year, saw the highest gas tax increase of 7.9 cents per gallon, the final increment of a 2013 law. Michigan's 7.3 cents tax increase, signed into law in 2015, is the second largest increase.

January 11, 2017 - Tax Justice Blog

The transportation research group, TRIP, tallied costs from additional crashes, higher operating costs, and congestion that result from insufficient investment in California's roads and bridges. A new effort was launched to increase state funding.

August 24, 2016 - tripnet.org

Pennsylvania has the nation's highest state gas and diesel taxes, 51.4 cents per gallon and 65.1 cents per gallon, respectively. Both are scheduled to increase up to 10 cents on Jan 1. A bill has been introduced to halt all future fuel tax increases.

July 26, 2016 - Land Line

A bill to replenish the state transportation trust fund by increasing the gas tax 23 cents per gallon stalled in the Senate because it would also cut $2 billion annually to the state's general fund.

July 5, 2016 - Planetizen

New Jersey's 14.5-cent state gas tax, second lowest after Alaska's, may increase 23 cents thanks to a deal worked out between Assembly Democratic and Republican leaders and Gov. Chris Christie that reduces the sales tax. It now goes to the Senate.

June 30, 2016 - NJ.com

After years of debate, Republicans from both chambers agreed to a transportation plan raising the gas tax 7.3-cents and registration fees by 20 percent, effective 2017. Democrats objected to the amount of general funds that will be directed to roads.

November 10, 2015 - MLive

A bill to increase both gas and diesel taxes by five cents in Alabama has passed its first committee on a voice vote and goes to the full House of Representatives on Thursday. The bill indexes both taxes using only two-cent increments.

September 16, 2015 - The Anniston Star

Gov. Jerry Brown's intervention to soffen Sen. Jim Beall's transportation funding bill by halving both the gas and diesel tax hikes did not assuage Republican critics of the bill, so Brown is extending the special legislative session past Friday.

September 13, 2015 - The Sacramento Bee

Sen. Jim Beall's transportation funding bill has been renumbered for the special session and was amended on July 14 to include a 12 cents per gallon, or 40 percent, increase in the gas tax and a 22 cents, or 169 percent, increase in the diesel tax.

August 26, 2015 - Planetizen

The legislature came very close to approving a plan this session to pay for crumbling roads, but the haul in the Republican-controlled House proved too difficult—they adjourned without voting on the Senate plan that passed 20-19 on July 1.

July 22, 2015 - Detroit Free Press

SB 16, Sen. Jim Beall's transportation funding bill that would hike gas taxes by 10 cents, diesel taxes by 12, and increase other fees, is stuck in the Senate, lacking one vote to pass.

July 10, 2015 - The Sacramento Bee

Lieutenant Governor Brian Calley broke a tie vote in the state Senate on July 1 to pass a 15-cent gas tax increase over three years to raise $1.5 billion. In May, voters rejected a sales tax increase that would have triggered a gas tax increase.

July 5, 2015 - Detroit Free Press

Alaska's 11.30 cents per-gallon gas tax, lowest in the United States, increases today for the first time in 45 years. As of July 1, the tax increases to 12.25 cents. Yes, by less than a penny. Percentage wise, though, it looks bigger: 8.4 percent.

July 1, 2015 - Planetizen

The stars appear to be aligning for a 10-cent gas tax hike, thanks to a $59 billion backlog in bridge and road repairs that has even influenced anti-tax Republicans. It's been 20 years since the gas tax was increased.

May 28, 2015 - San Jose Mercury News

Thirty votes were needed on May 14 to overturn Gov. Pete Ricketts veto of the six cents per gallon gas tax hike approved by the state legislature, and that's just how many Sen. Jim Smith received. South Carolina may be next.

May 18, 2015 - Omaha World Herald