Lawmakers Disagree Over Gas Tax Hikes In Transportation Plan

PIERRE, S.D. (AP) — Legislative negotiations on a proposal to hike road and bridge funding in South Dakota stalled on Thursday over the longevity of gas-tax increases included in the plan.

House and Senate lawmakers couldn’t come together on the plan and opted to revisit the proposal on Friday, the last day of the legislative session’s main run.

At stake is a key priority of Gov. Dennis Daugaard. Transportation funding is likely the most hotly debated issue lawmakers will consider during the 2015 session. The proposal under negotiation would raise road and bridge funding in South Dakota by more than $50 million in its first year through increases in fuel taxes, fees and other assessments.

Both the House and the Senate have passed the plan, but they disagree on exactly what it should look like. Lawmakers on a special legislative panel are now attempting to hash out a compromise proposal.

But House lawmakers are resisting attempts to expand fuel tax increases. The Senate position included increases of 2-cents per year for 8 years, but the House reduced those 2-cent increases to 3 years. Senate offers to drop the overall increases to 9 cents or 10 cents were rebuffed. Sen. Mike Vehle, R-Mitchell, who has been a key proponent of addressing the state’s transportation funding, said the Senate’s offers were much closer to the House’s position.

“I think that’s a fair compromise between the two proposals,” Vehle said. “To only do 6 cents when you know that that doesn’t come anywhere (close) to covering the need, I was hoping obviously that we could do more than that.”

The governor’s director of policy and operations, Nathan Sanderson, has said the administration also supports longer-term hikes in fuel taxes.

But House Majority Leader Brian Gosch said his caucus’ current limit sits at 6 cents. He pointed to an amendment that the House passed to further raise vehicle license plate fees, which means millions of dollars in increased revenue.

Gosch said the bigger the hike, the more votes are lost. Tax increases require two-thirds legislative support to pass.

Republican Rep. Don Haggar, who is on the negotiating committee, said he appreciated the Senate’s attempts to compromise. But he said that he wants to pass some form of the legislation.

Vehle said he’s hopeful that lawmakers might reach a different outcome when they return to negotiations on Friday.

“I don’t want to leave here with nothing,” Vehle said. “We’ll just sleep on it and see what we can come up (with) tomorrow. One day left.”