House committee OKs Lake Ray bill to squeeze tax money from natural gas vehicles

House committee OKs Lake Ray bill to squeeze tax money from natural gas vehicles

Posted: March 5, 2013 - 6:19pm | Updated: March 5, 2013 - 7:31pm

By Matt Dixon

Tallahassee | Legislation intended to help Florida bag additional gas tax revenue flew out of its first House vote.

The bill, sponsored by state Rep. Lake Ray, R-Jacksonville, puts in place a more traditional tax structure which are currently fleets of trucks. Those vehicles currently pay an annual fee to the Department of Revenue, but don't pay tax like other vehicles.

Ray said the legislation is needed because a growing number of natural gas-powered trucks are coming into Florida and paying no road tax.

"The primary think is they are using our road structure and if we don't have a structure in place to put a tax on that moving forward, we're going to lose road tax dollars," he told members of the House Energy and Utilities Subcommittee.

The truck traffic is from goods being shipped into Florida from ports outside of the state, Ray said.

In place of the annual fee, the bill, HB 579, places a 4-cent tax on each "motor fuel equivalent gallon" of one gallon of traditional fuel. It's the same structure that currently applies to diesel fuel.

To incentivize companies use more natural gas, the legislation also gives a five year fuel tax exemption to freight trucks that are converted to natural gas. Ray said it's a move in the right direction because the Environmental Protection Agency is considering further cracking down on fossil fuel sources, which are more harmful to air quality.

"It was natural for us as a policy…to make that migration into that," he said.

Ray also said moving to natural gas has trade implications because of things like the Kyoto Protocol, which is aimed at combating climate change. Though the United States is not one of the 190 signatories, natural gas vehicles produced in Florida could now be more attractive to foreign countries.

"When we talk about selling our products abroad it gives us a competitive advantage," he said.

The legislation originally offered grants to companies that converted freight trucks to natural gas, a provision that was filed.

Helping clear a path for the bill is a diverse group of special interest groups that all expressed support for the bill. Among the groups backing the bill include Associated Industries Florida and the Florida Chamber of Commerce, the state's two big business lobbies, and the Alliance for Clean Energy.

The bill got a 13-0 vote and has two more committee stops.