July 30, 2013 – There is an interesting development in road-construction financing in Illinois. According to the Illinois Association of Aggregates Producers, in order to maintain the state’s commitment to infrastructure investment, and support continued private sector economic growth, the Transportation for Illinois Coalition (TFIC) proposed an $800 million annual increase in user fees to be used solely for on-going maintenance of transportation networks.
The TFIC proposal, as set forth in HB 3637 (sponsored by House Majority Leader Barbara Flynn Currie) and SB 2589 (sponsored by Senate Transportation Committee Chair Martin Sandoval), contains the following key provisions:
- Abolishes state motor fuel tax and replaces it with a new wholesale fuels tax, increases vehicle registration and title fees, eliminates ethanol tax credit.
- Replaces slow and no growth revenue sources with one more reflective of inflation and the economy.
- Creates a steady and reliable annual revenue stream of $800 million for “pay as you go” programming that focuses on the maintenance of existing networks.
- Segregates transportation-related user-fee revenues into protected funds and allocates 80 percent of these new revenues to roads and bridges, CREATE and airports and 20 percent to transit and rail.