Legislative leaders expect road plan Friday with gas tax freeze
House Speaker Greg Stumbo, D-Prestonsburg
FRANKFORT – Legislative leaders hope to have a new state road plan ready by Friday that does not drop the 21.1 cents-per-gallon gas tax as previously expected.
House Speaker Greg Stumbo, D-Prestonsburg, said Tuesday there are enough votes in the Democratic-House to pass a road plan that would include the gas tax freeze.
Meanwhile, Senate President David Williams, R-Burkesville, said he is inclined to support the freeze but has not discussed the issue with the majority Republican caucus.
“It will not be a tax increase on anyone,” he said.
The 21.1 cents a gallon gas tax is tied to wholesale gas prices and is supposed to go down 4 cents April 1.
Williams also said no agreement has been reached yet on how much bonding the state should do for a new road plan and he is not certain how much it will cost.
Both Stumbo and Williams said working out details on the new road plan has been tedious.
Stumbo said the House sent a plan Monday to Senate leadership.
“I think they are probably going through the same process that we went through . They’re going through every county and every project, line by line,” Stumbo said. “It’s like Chinese water torture.”
The state’s road plan is funded through a combination of gas and motor-vehicle usage taxes. But that fund is facing a shortfall of more than $104 for the current fiscal year and could increase if the gas tax is not frozen.
Williams said the road plan legislation would start in the House. He said it would require at least 60 percent of the vote in each chamber to pass because it involves appropriations.
A Franklin circuit judge last year declared the road plan the legislature approved last year was invalid because it was not sent to the governor on a timely basis.
–Jack Brammer
Filed Under: Featured • KY General Assembly
About the Author: 
CROOKS, I COULD USE THAT EXTRA .04 CENTS A GALLON TO PAY MY BILLS, THEY WILL NOT GET MY VOTE EVER AGAIN. CROOKS
Absolutely typical politicians. They were excited enough to wet their pants when the scheduled tax increase occurred and now that it is set to expire they are scrambling to correct that “error.” I do not trust either major party to be honest and honorable.
It was a tax increase the crooks imposed and said they didn`t want it themselves and would soon go away.
I know I didn`t vote for them, did you?
Looks like life is still the same in “Never Ever Land”.
Please, My Lawmakers!
Don’t take a tax cut away from Ky car owners!
You argue not following current legislation allowing tax cut to go into force somehow would not be a tax increase if it is frozen??? That is politician talk for telling taxpayers we’re going to keep this tax so we can build more roads for a few Kentuckians—paid for by all Kentuckians!
It is past time for a sunset on this kind of thinking!
Why don’t lawmakers pursue collecting all UNCOLLECTED Kentucky usage and property taxes on mis-registered Ky owned motor vehicles? Let’s see. That’s about $200 million or more going uncollected!
Of course, this may be some of your friends who intentionally misregister their cars to avoid paying Ky’s usage and property taxes. To date estimated there’s 150,000 of’em!
It is a reasonable attempt at maintaining our road system with current revenue. The price of gas has dropped, thus putting money back in our pocket. If the 4 cents goes away, I am afraid treacherous and poorly maintained roads will end up costing us more in the long run. A user fee is the fairest way to pay for roads, only those using the roads pay the fee.
I don’t see what the big deal is. They are only short $104. RIGHT!!?? Gas is cheap in Kentucky but the roads are crap. I think that its funny how the state wastes money arguing about wasting money. This is a no brainer, fix the roads, and stop wasting our money arguing about it.
I just hope that the road work already being done will be completed and done properly and it doesn’t make our roads worse for lack of money to finish them right. Some places are now worse than they were when all of the new road construction started. Some of them may be better? It needs to be finished up though.
Buy your gas in Indiana or Ohio or some other border state. Even if it costs a little more due to the other state’s higher gas tax, do it to teach these tax-raising clowns a lesson.
Kentucky bourbon tastes the same if bought in Indiana as well.
You have great skill in writing articles….
Thanks for the a new challenge you have disclosed in your post.I will make sure to bookmark it and return to read more of your useful information. I will definitely comeback….
Thanks for sharing blog keep posting good stuffs.
I get a lot of knowledge from here. Beside that, your blog is so popular among the searchers from search engines. It means yours is great!
Hope you can are interested in our productsdigital chi flat irons
It’s funny how we adopt words and adapt our lexicon to the times. This is a very useful slant on things.wholesale shoes
All I am New, I have been looking around this board for about a few hours as a guest. I found it extremely and it has helped out allot. I hope to hang around for abit and contribute.discount true religion jeans
This was a really wonderful article. Thank you for your provided information.christian louboutin shoes
All I am New, I have been looking around this board for about a few hours as a guest. I found it extremely and it has helped out allot. I hope to hang around for abit and contribute.coach handbags wholesale