On Thursday, March 5th, the Georgia House passed the House transportation funding bill, House Bill 170, on a 123-46 vote (Click HERE to view the voting sheet). The legislation, after several amendments were offered (including lowering the excise tax from 29.2 cents to 24 cents), passed without the proposed amendments.
The House-passed version includes:
- Extension to July 1, 2016 for collection of taxes on motor fuel for LOST, ELOST, and HOST taxes (from July 1, 2015 in current version);
- MOST will stay at the proposed 1.25% but will not be collected on motor fuel;
- Allowance of collection of taxes on diesel fuel;
- Transportation projects will not be considered Level 1 projects.
Now the bill goes on to the Senate and what they will do remains to be seen. That makes right now an important time for our Senators to hear from our engineering industry. While the Georgia Section of ITE cannot advocate for political causes, we can inform our membership of the proposed legislation status and can provide you with information on how to contact your representatives.
- Click here to find your representative.
- Click here to watch an informative video on transportation funding in Georgia prepared by PolicyBEST.
Be sure to thank your representatives and senators for their leadership and service.