DALLAS - State lawmakers across the U.S. have approved more than $1 billion of new local transportation funding so far this year and billions of dollars more are in the legislative pipeline, the Transportation Advocacy Center said in a new report.
A dozen states are looking at increases in their gasoline tax, while eight others are pondering new bond measures, said Carolyn Kramer, manager of the center operated by the American Road & Transportation Builders Association.
To date, she said, states have boosted their annual transportation funding by $1.085 billion as of late March through increases in their volume-based gasoline tax while others have moved to shield gasoline sales tax revenue from wild swings in gasoline prices.
State lawmakers were reluctant to increase gasoline taxes after the recession began in 2008, said Alison Premo Black, chief economist at ARTBA.
"We track and trace every transportation funding bill in every state legislature, and we're seeing twice the activity we saw in 2014," Black said. "There's definitely a lot of pent-up demand."
There were no increases in state gasoline taxes from 2010 through 2012, but six states and the District of Columbia raised their gasoline taxes in 2013. Three more states did so in 2014, and gasoline taxes have been increased in three states this year.
"We tend to see these things in clusters," Black said. "Lawmakers in one state see what another state is doing, and they are encouraged to try something."
Uncertainty at the local level over continued federal transportation funding is contributing to the states' willingness to consider new funding sources, she said.
"State legislatures are showing the political will to solve the revenue problem but Congress isn't," Black said. "We keep hearing, 'Everything is on the table,' from Capitol Hill but so far we've seen nothing."
Arkansas, Michigan, and Missouri have bills pending that would move their flat-rate sales tax on fuel to a variable-rate tax, while legislators in Maine are considering a plan to index the flat gas tax to inflation, the legislative report said.
Bonding measures have been proposed in Connecticut, Georgia, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New York, Washington, and Wisconsin, according to the monthly report.
Iowa raised its gasoline tax by 10 cents a gallon on March 1, and South Dakota increased its gasoline tax to 28 cents per gallon from 20 cents on April 1.
Utah Gov. Gary Herbert signed a bill on March 27 that raises the gasoline tax to 29.5 cents from 24.5 cents on Jan. 1, while providing for its eventual replacement with a sales tax on wholesale fuel. It was the first increase in the state's gasoline tax since 1997.
Utah's volume-based gasoline tax will be replaced with a 12% sales tax if the wholesale price of gas reaches $2.45 a gallon, which state officials do not expect for six to 10 years.
The measure also allows Utah counties to seek voter approval for a 0.25% sales tax to fund transportation projects.
Michigan voters will decide in May on a 1% increase in the state sales tax that would generate $1.2 billion a year for highways and $112 million for transit and rail.
The Texas House has approved a two-year budget that provides $5.2 billion for roads in fiscal 2017 and 2018, including $2.4 billion from a diversion of energy production taxes approved by voters in 2014.
The Senate version of the budget, which must be reconciled with the House proposal, includes revenue from a proposed constitutional amendment that would dedicate to transportation up to $2.5 billion a year of vehicles sales tax revenue. The tax currently generates more than $4 billion a year.
