2017-2018 Bill 3316: Mileage-Based User Fee Study Committee - South Carolina Legislature Online

1 South Carolina General Assembly 2 122nd Session, 2017-2018 3 4 H. 3316 5 6 STATUS INFORMATION 7 8 Joint Resolution 9 Sponsors: Reps. Collins and Daning 10 Document Path: l:\council\bills\bbm\9563dg17.docx 11 12 Introduced in the House on January 10, 2017 13 Currently residing in the House Committee on Ways and Means 14 15 Summary: Mileage-based User Fee Study Committee 16 17 18 HISTORY OF LEGISLATIVE ACTIONS 19 20 Date Body Action Description with journal page number 21 12/15/2016 House Prefiled 22 12/15/2016 House Referred to Committee on Ways and Means 23 1/10/2017 House Introduced and read first time ( House Journalpage 159) 24 1/10/2017 House Referred to Committee on Ways and Means ( House Journalpage 159) 25 1/11/2017 House Member(s) request name added as sponsor: Daning ( House Journalpage 46) 26 1/24/2017 House Member(s) request name added as sponsor: Cogswell 27 1/25/2017 House Member(s) request name removed as sponsor: Cogswell 28 29 View the latest legislative information at the website 30 31 32 VERSIONS OF THIS BILL 33 34 12/15/2016 35 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A JOINT RESOLUTION 10 11 TO CREATE THE MILEAGEBASED USER FEE STUDY 12 COMMITTEE TO DETERMINE THE FEASIBILITY OF 13 IMPLEMENTING A MILEAGEBASED USER FEE PROGRAM 14 IN LIEU OF THE MOTOR FUEL USER FEE, TO ESTABLISH 15 THE COMPOSITION OF THE COMMITTEE, AND TO 16 REQUIRE THE COMMITTEE TO SUBMIT ITS REPORT TO 17 THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY BY DECEMBER 31, 2018. 18 19 Whereas, the motor fuel user fee is an increasingly diminishing 20 form of equitable taxation for road maintenance; and 21 22 Whereas, technological advancements of vehicles, including 23 electric, hybrid, solar, and drastically increased fuel efficiency, 24 have decreased the need for petroleum; and 25 26 Whereas, Oregon organized the Mileage Fee Concept and Road 27 User Fee Pilot Program Task Force that met from 20052007, and 28 in 2007, conducted the nation’s first mileagebased pilot program; 29 and 30 31 Whereas, Minnesota tested a road usage charging system in 32 20112012; and 33 34 Whereas, Washington established a steering committee in 2012 to 35 work with state transportation officials on determining feasibility 36 of transitioning to a mileagebased system; and 37 38 Whereas, in 2014, California required the California 39 Transportation Commission to establish a task force to study 40 mileagebased fees for two years and recommend a program to test 41 the concept; and 42

[3316] 2 1 Whereas, in 2015, Oregon established the nation’s first 2 mileagebased revenue program for light vehicles. The voluntary 3 program, known as OReGO for 5,000 initial participants, assesses 4 a charge of 1.5 cents per mile. The drivers receive a refund of the 5 state’s gas tax. The program tests three different methods of 6 collecting mileagebased fees and follows previous pilot projects to 7 test such systems in the state; and 8 9 Whereas, in 2015, Congress passed Fixing America’s Surface 10 Transportation (FAST Act), a $305 billion, fiveyear federal surface 11 transportation legislation, which, among other things, requires the 12 U.S. Secretary of Transportation to set up a program to “provide 13 grants to states to demonstrate userbased alternative revenue 14 mechanisms that utilize a user fee structure to maintain the 15 longterm solvency of the Highway Trust Fund”; and 16 17 Whereas, on August 30, 2016, the U.S. Department of 18 Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration announced 19 $14.2 million in grants for states under a new program to explore 20 alternative revenue mechanisms to help sustain the longterm 21 solvency of the Highway Trust Fund. The grant program will fund 22 projects to test the design, implementation, and acceptance of 23 userbased alternative revenue mechanisms, including a variety of 24 options to raise revenue such as onboard vehicle technologies to 25 charge drivers based on miles traveled and multistate or regional 26 approaches to road-user charges. The projects will address 27 common challenges involved with implementing userbased fees 28 such as public acceptance, privacy protection, equity, and 29 geographic diversity. The projects also will evaluate the reliability 30 and security of the technologies available to implement 31 mileagebased fees. Now, therefore 32 33 Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South 34 Carolina: 35 36 SECTION 1. (A) There is created the MileageBased User Fee 37 Study Committee to determine the feasibility of implementing a 38 mileagebased user fee program in lieu of the motor fuel user fee. 39 The committee is composed of: 40 (1) three members of the House of Representatives, 41 appointed by the Speaker of the House of Representatives; 42 (2) three members of the Senate, appointed by the President 43 Pro Tempore of the Senate; and

[3316] 3 1 (3) the Secretary of Transportation, or his designee. 2 (B) Staff of the House of Representatives and the Senate shall 3 assist the study committee in its work. 4 (C) The study committee shall make a report of its 5 recommendations to the General Assembly by December 31, 2018, 6 at which time the study committee is dissolved. 7 8 SECTION 2. This joint resolution takes effect upon approval by 9 the Governor. 10 XX 11

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