State’s Proposed Gas Tax Bill Places Fees on Electric, Hybrid Car Owners
State lawmakers went into special session Wednesday to consider a proposed gas tax increase to fund road and bridge construction. The bill would impact all motorists — but some would pay significantly more than others.
Gov. Kay Ivey’s proposed bill would increase the state’s gas tax by 10 cents a gallon. But one part of the bill has gotten a lot of attention lately: drivers of electric and hybrid vehicles pay additional fees compared to regular vehicle owners. State Sen. Del Marsh supports the bill.
“What we’ve done is just basically say let’s bring electric vehicles and parallel them with what people are paying on gas-burning cars and that number of 75 and 200 are in line with that,” he says.
That’s $75 dollars in extra fees for hybrid owners. Drivers of electric cars will pay an extra $200. Marsh says the additional fees are fair.
Here’s the rationale: drivers of fuel-efficient cars buy less gas. So charging them more is a way to make it so that all drivers contribute to this infrastructure fund. It makes it so that all drivers have to pay to use the roadways. Critics see it as punitive toward hybrid and electric car owners. They say electric vehicles don’t put as much wear and tear on the roads because they tend to be lighter.
In addition to road and bridge projects, a portion of those state tax dollars would go toward more charging stations across the state.
Marsh says “once adequate infrastructure is met, the fee on that drops, but we want to create that infrastructure for electric vehicles.”
The fee would decrease once the gas tax hike is phased in over three years. Marsh says the state expects more electric vehicles on the roads in coming years.
As the special session continues, he says more changes are expected to be made to the draft bill.
If the bill passes, Alabama would join 20 other states that charge fees ranging from $50 to $200 on hybrid and electric vehicles, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
Vance refuses to set red lines over bigotry at Turning Point USA’s convention
Vice President JD Vance acknowledged the controversies that dominated the Turning Point conference, but he did not define any boundaries for the conservative movement besides patriotism.
CBS News chief Bari Weiss pulls ’60 Minutes’ story, sparking outcry
CBS News Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss pulled a 60 Minutes segment on allegations of abuses at an El Salvador detention center where the Trump administration sent hundreds of Venezuelan migrants.
Lawmakers threaten Attorney General Bondi with contempt over incomplete Epstein files
The Justice Department is defending its initial release of documents related to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, saying lawyers are still going through them to ensure victims are protected.
How a power outage in Colorado caused U.S. official time be 4.8 microseconds off
Officials said the error is likely be too minute for the general public to clock it, but it could affect applications such as critical infrastructure, telecommunications and GPS signals.
Scientists say they have discovered 20 new species deep in the Pacific Ocean
Researchers retrieved reef monitoring devices that had been placed in deep coral reefs in Guam. The devices were placed up to 330 feet below the surface.
Shopping for pricy ACA health plans? Some cheaper options come with trade-offs
Without a fix from Congress, costs for many people who buy health care on the Affordable Care Act marketplace have gone up. Here's what's to know about cheaper choices — and pitfalls to be aware of.
