Hawaii Gas Tax, Registration Hike Bill Moves Forward

LOS ANGELES — A Hawaii Senate committee approved a bill that would hike gas taxes, vehicle registration fees and the vehicle weight tax to pay for highway repairs.

Senate Bill 1012 was approved by the Senate Transportation Committee and moved to the Ways and Means Committee with amendments on Thursday.

The bill would provide an additional $100 million annually for transportation, according to testimony from Ford Fuchigami, director of the State's Department of Transportation.

Roughly 27% of the state's 844 major roads are considered failing, according to the 2013 infrastructure report card from the American Society of Civil Engineers.

The money would be used to help relieve congestion as well as pay for road repairs, Fuchigami said.

It would provide funding for road widening and an Intelligent Transportation System involving traffic cameras, fiber connectivity and remote traffic signal control.

The committee increased the amount to come from fuel taxes and lowered the cost of registration fees in an amendment, before moving the bill to Ways and Means. With the amendments, the fuel tax would be raised 10 cents, to 26 cents per gallon, rather than the six-cent increase sought by DOT; and the registration fee rate would grow by $5 to $50, instead of to $75.

Senate Bill 1183, a measure to extend a general excise tax to pay for overages on the Oahu's elevated rail project, also was amended, so that it would provide an unspecified amount to the highway fund.

The cost of the rail project has risen from an anticipated $5.2 billion to $8.2 billion since 2010, but those estimates don't take into account finance costs. Depending on financing costs, the project has a current shortfall of between $1.4 billion and $2.3 billion.

The bill, authored by Sen. Ronald Kouchi, was part of the governor's transportation package.

Hawaii Gov. David Ige proposed a similar measure last year, but the legislature failed to approve it.

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Transportation industry Hawaii
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