Texas House Transportation Committee Releases Substituted Bill for HB 3418
The Texas House Transportation Committee, under the leadership of Chairman Representative Terry Canales, has released a substituted bill for HB 3418 after multiple hearings and feedback from the transportation industry.
Key take-aways from the updated bill include:
- The Pilot program will be expanded to include passenger, commercial and electric vehicles. The original language was isolated to Commercial Motor Vehicles only.
- The size of the program will be expanded from 300 to 800 vehicles, representing the categories above.
- Enforceability and opportunities for evasion will not be included and
- Three members of the Task Force must represent the trucking industry
From the proposed bill: “The department, in consultation with the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles and the Texas A&M Transportation Institute, shall develop and implement a statewide pilot program to assess a user fee on owners of motor vehicles that is based on the number of miles traveled on public highways in this state by those vehicles.”
The bill is proposed to take effect September 1, 2023, with the pilot program running for for a minimum of one year. The full language is available here.
Accordingly to TXTA: The bill is awaiting a committee report and would next be eligible for consideration in House Calendars. TXTA will continue to stay engaged and monitor the progress of this bill in its new form and will alert to any changes that require further action of TXTA membership.