AJC | MARCH 31, 2015 House, Senate finally pass transportation funding bill By TOM CRAWFORD A transportation funding bill that could generate $900 million a year for highway construction and maintenance — HB 170 – passed both the House and Senate Tuesday night. Lawmakers in both chambers agreed to a compromise version of HB 170 that was hammered out by a conference committee and sent the measure to Gov. Nathan Deal, who is expected to sign it. The House vote for passage was 129-41 while the Senate voted 42-12 shortly before midnight to approve the conference committee report. “This has been a long, arduous task, one I’m glad is just about over,” said Rep. Jay Roberts (ROcilla), the bill’s primary author. “Most of you are tired of hearing me talk about this issue, and I can assure you I’m just as tired of it as well.” The bill is expected to generate about $900 million a year for transportation purposes, slightly less than the $1 billion a year that was originally considered to be the minimum needed to maintain the current network of roads and bridges without taking on large new projects. The main feature of HB 170 is a consolidated excise tax on gasoline that incorporates all the current excise and sales taxes on motor fuel. The House version had the excise tax at 29.2 cents per gallon while the Senate bill had it at 24 cents. The compromise split the difference at 26 cents for gasoline and 29 cents for diesel fuel. This tax would be indexed for the first two years to rise with the rate of inflation, and then to increases in federal mileage standards after that. HB 170 includes a $5 per day hotel-motel tax on all of the state’s 168,000 hotel rooms, which Roberts estimated would raise somewhere between $150 million and $180 million a year, depending upon occupancy rates. The tax would not be imposed on extended stays of 30 consecutive days or longer. “We intend to use this for transportation purposes,” Roberts said, which would include transit projects as well as construction work on roads and bridges. Electric vehicles will be charged an annual fee of $200 for automobiles and $300 for commercial vehicles. The bill repeals the $5,000 tax credit for electric vehicles. There is an annual fee of $50 for cars and $100 for trucks, which effectively brings back the “birthday tax” on tag renewals. The jet fuel sales tax exemption ends on June 30 – a repeal of a tax break that will cost Delta Air Lines more than $20 million a year. HB 170 will give counties the ability to impose a local sales tax of up to 1 percent on motor fuel in increments of 0.5 percent. The Legislative leadership went through multiple rewrites of the bill before finally settling on a version that both chambers would accept. Democrats who opposed earlier versions fell in line Tuesday to vote for the bill. Promises were made to Democrats that steps would be taken to make sure that a portion of the construction contracts funded by the tax increase will be awarded to minority contractors. “I’m looking forward to commitments that have been made being kept for the people I serve — commitments about inclusion,” said Sen. Vincent Fort (D-Atlanta). “We look forward to those commitments (on minority participation) being kept. Some Republicans objected to the bill, which they described as a “massive tax increase” that was put in front of lawmakers who had barely two hours to study the document. “I don’t know how many people in this room would buy a car after two hours, or a house after two hours,” said Sen. Josh McKoon (R-Columbus). “Here we are being asked to vote on a $1 billion tax increase after just over two hours.” Sen. Bill Heath (R-Bremen) pointed out that state law requires a fiscal note on tax bills that is prepared by the Office of Planning and Budget and the state Department of Audits. The fiscal note presented Tuesday was an undated study prepared by the University of West Georgia economics department. “We have found them (West Georgia economists) to be very reputable,” Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle said. “My ruling is, this is an adequate fiscal note that has been traveling with the bill all along. That’s my ruling and that’s where we are.” As the clock was ticking down on the bill’s vote, Sen. Mike Crane (R-Newnan) asked rhetorically, “Isn’t it true that this is an unqualified midnight run on Georgia taxpayers? “I think that is extremely offensive to many of your colleagues,” Cagle responded.