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Senate may join gas tax, truck bills Kitzhaber wants the issues to stay separate By PETER WONG SALEM -- A Senate committee moved Wednesday to meld an increase in gasoline taxes for motorists with a new diesel-fuel tax and higher registration fees for truckers. The House passed the increase more than a month ago, but it left intact weight-mile taxes truckers pay. The changes by the Senate Transportation Committee, which will conduct public hearings on House Bill 2082 today and Friday, concern Gov. John Kitzhaber. "The word we had from the Senate leadership earlier in the session was that those were bills that would stand or fall on their own merits," he said. "But it appears those bills are going to be melded together. Once again, I am afraid this state is not going to have an opportunity to address the problems with our highways." Senate President Brady Adams, R-Grants Pass, and other senators say the Senate will pass no increase in gasoline taxes unless there is a change in how trucks are taxed. Opposition from the Oregon Trucking Association helped doom tax proposals in the Senate two years ago. Tax increases require 18 votes in the Senate and 36 in the House for passage. Pressed by their business allies, Republican leaders started the session with a 4-cent-per-gallon increase. Kitzhaber has stayed in the background after he took a political beating on the issue two years ago. The Senate version also would trim by a penny the House's 6-cent-per-gallon increase. But both versions pledge 2 cents to support $600 million in state bonds for highway modernization projects, including a potential $62 million in projects for Medford. "What it most likely means for us is the completion of the north and south Medford interchanges," said John Watt of Medford, a former state representative who now is a business and county government lobbyist. "It would address congestion in Jackson County. The (Oregon Transportation) Commission has identified the problems, but it has needed money to fix them." The Oregon Department of Transportation has identified projects estimated at $725 million, including $62 million worth in Medford, that would qualify for the $600 million in bonds. In addition to the south interchange with Interstate 5 ($15 million) and the next phases of the north interchange ($38 million), the other project is the completion of a $9 million link between Highway 62 and Highway 238 in west Medford. The Legislature would not pick specific projects. ODOT and its five-member policy-making commission would send recommendations to a special joint legislative committee, which then would submit the list to the Emergency Board. The board, which meets between legislative sessions, would then authorize the bonds to pay for the projects. Oregon's constitution restricts use of gasoline taxes and vehicle registration fees for road work. The most recent increase in the gasoline tax was in 1991, from 22 cents to 24 cents per gallon. The two-year vehicle registration fee was increased in 1989 from $20 to $30. How Senate, House bills differ Here are the main differences between Senate and House versions of House Bill 2082: Gasoline tax, now 24 cents per gallon: House version, 2 cents Oct. 1 and 4 cents Jan. 1; Senate version, 5 cents Nov. 1. Both versions pledge 2 cents to support $600 million in state bonds for highway and bridge modernization and safety projects. Vehicle registration fee, now $30 every two years: Both versions, $10 more Jan. 1. Truck taxes and fees: House version, no change in weight-mile taxes that truckers pay based on weight of trucks and miles traveled. Senate version: New diesel-fuel tax and big increases in registration fees replace weight-mile taxes, effective July 1, 2000. A proposed constitutional amendment would require the Legislature to adjust those amounts periodically to ensure that truckers bear their share of costs for road repairs. Distribution: House version, cities would get 40 percent and counties 60 percent of gasoline taxes remaining after state bonds; cities 15.6 percent, counties 24.4 percent and state 60 percent of new vehicle registration fees for two years. Then distribution for both reverts to 50 percent to state, 30 percent to counties, 20 percent to cities. Senate version: Not yet settled. Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA