A New System Proposed to Fund WA Transportation Projects

A bill has recently been proposed by Washington legislators that would potentially aid in funding transportation projects for the state. The bill, known as House Bill 1921, would create a “road usage charge” for the state. These have commonly been referred to as “RUCs” in the past. This bill would add a road usage charge for any and all passenger vehicles that are under 10,000 pounds. Per the house bill’s proposal, the raised funds would go directly to road maintenance and preservation.

The bill proposes a rate of $0.026 per mile driven.

The fee would be required to be paid by a driver when they annually register their vehicle and pay their annual registration fee. The amount owed by drivers would be calculated based on self-reported odometer readings. This bill is largely backed by a state representative from Tacoma named Jake Fey. According to Fey, a fee of this nature is needed as the state’s transportation funds have faced serious declines due to gas tax revenues declining with more and more people using electric vehicles and less people purchasing gasoline for their vehicles.

Fey and his other supporters believe a fee like this will combat the declining gas tax revenues. Those who oppose the bill are skeptical of how successful the system would actually be and believe it may create more issues than help. To Fey, it is simply a way in which the state has to keep up with the constantly changing way of life. Since electric vehicles are increasingly more popular, given that gas tax revenues are what fund road and bridge maintenance, they need to find alternatives to continue funding. He spoke to reporters saying, “as we move to a system where there are a lot more electric vehicles – but probably even more importantly, more fuel efficient vehicles – gas tax revenues now are projected to decline 45% by 2040.”

Without a new plan like House Bill 1921, roadways would deteriorate according to Fey.

Additionally, Fey argues that the gas tax system is not fair as cars improve their gas consumption overtime as well. Drivers of older cars technically pay more in gas revenue than drivers of newer vehicles that have better miles per gallon rates. To account for this, the new bill does maintain the gas tax; however, drivers could be subject to credit based on estimations of how much they paid. Furthermore, deductions would be available for driving that is off-road or out-of-state.

If the bill is passed, it would be slowly phased into Washington law over eight years, beginning in 2027. There would be a voluntary participation program to start that would be available to drivers of electric or hybrid vehicles as they pay little to no gas tax.