Massachusetts lawmakers held a hearing on transportation last week, and revenue was top-of-mind. Several state reps hinted that they're likely to include an increase in the state's $.24-per-gallon gasoline tax in a bill that could be released next month.
But that wasn't the only revenue plan in the mix.
Reporter Matt Murphy with the State House News Service joined us to explain a proposal that was supported by a representative who might have one of the longest commutes to Boston for these hearings.
Matt Murphy, State House News Service: Rep. Tricia Farley-Bouvier, a Democrat from Pittsfield, certainly has her distance to travel to get to the Statehouse for votes and committee hearings like this one.
But she was here last week testifying on behalf of her bill to create a pilot program to study the feasibility of doing vehicle miles traveled fees. And essentially, this is a system that would instead of — or maybe in addition to raising the gas tax, you never know — would charge drivers based on how many miles they travel.
This would require some sort of device being put in your car, and they would track how much you drive.
There are some places that have looked at doing this just on highways, and you can do that with gantries that are used for tolling. So you only get charged for driving on the highways per mile, rather than on the side roads. Or you could do it on all roads.
This is seen as a way to both raise revenue for transportation — to invest and improve roads and public transit — and also make people think about how much they are commuting and driving, versus maybe carpooling or using public transportation.
Carrie Healy, NEPR: Interestingly, since non-gas-guzzlers like hybrids or electric cars — they don't have to pay much, or any, gas tax — those owners are contributing much less to repair the state's roads. So this Farley-Bouvier proposal kind of factors that in.
I mean, you're exactly right. And we heard this at the hearing, as Rep. Tom Stanley pointed out the gas tax is a decreasing source of revenue as cars get more efficient, and also the state is pursuing strategies to discourage driving. That is not going to be a long-term viable solution to generating revenue.
Testifying at the Transportation CMTE hearing in support of leg I sponsored w/ @reptricia proposing a mileage-based user fee task force to guide the development/evaluation of a pilot program to assess the potential for a mileage-based fee to replace motor fuel taxes #mapoli pic.twitter.com/x5Sj73Kdza
— Tom Stanley (@RepStanley) December 5, 2019
The other ideas in addition to, or perhaps in lieu of, the gas tax were: increasing tolls, putting tolls along the border, putting tolls on some of the north-south highways that aren't currently tolled.
As you know, being where you are, the Mass Pike is pretty much the biggest toll revenue source in Massachusetts. But, you know, it's long been controversial to suggest tolling I-95 or I-93 at the borders, but some lawmakers are proposing that the state take a look at this.
When could the legislature be acting on these ideas?
The speaker had said that he wanted to have that debate and a vote in the House at least this fall. As you know, November came and there was not quite consensus. The speaker pushed that off, but he did say he's eyeing January for the release of a bill and a vote in the House.
And then it will move to the Senate, where its future is much more uncertain. Senator Joe Boncore, who's the chair of the Transportation Committee, said that he is working with his own informal working group to study transportation issues. He wants to finish that work before he takes up whatever the House might do. And he did not put a timeline on that. So mid-January in the House is what we're looking at, and then anyone's guess how fast it moves.
Former Secretary of State John Kerry has endorsed and campaigned with Democratic hopeful Joe Biden. What message does that endorsement send to Democratic Party members in Massachusetts as other presidential hopefuls Deval Patrick and Elizabeth Warren were overlooked?
I think it gives Biden a boost — Kerry, a former nominee of the party — especially as voters are particularly interested in trying to solve this riddle of electability and figure out who has the best chance of winning in 2020. This gives Biden a boost particularly in New Hampshire, where Kerry was able to win, and in Iowa, and he was in both places last week, and over the weekend, campaigning for the former vice president.
I know things are largely quiet at the Statehouse, but what is coming up this week?
We're looking at the expected lifting on Governor Baker's ban on all vaping products. That's expected to happen on Wednesday, when the Department of Public Health releases new regulations that we are expecting to cover some of the marketing and packaging of vaping products with warning labels and such.
This will not impact the ban on flavors that the governor signed, but this will be applied to vaping products of tobacco-flavored cartridges and oils, and things like that.
