n Indiana Senate committee pushed through plans to raise the gas tax by 10 cents and open Indiana interstates to tolling Tuesday morning.
However, their plan -- which raises $672 million in the second year -- deviated from the House's. The committee amended the bill to phase in the gas tax over two years and decreased the total diesel tax increase to six cents phased in over two years. In the second year, Hoosiers would pay 28 cents per gallon on Indiana gas taxes and 22 cents per gallon on diesel in 2018.
It also removes the sales tax on diesel.
The House plan called for a 10-cent increase on both diesel and the gas tax.
The amendment also left the gas sales tax as is, unlike the House plan, which called for a shift of the sales tax entirely to roads, leaving a hole in the general budget. House leaders had added a cigarette tax increase to the budget to make up for that loss.
The Senate Tax and Fiscal Policy committee chair Sen. Brandt Hershman, R-Buck Creek, said the conversation over gas sales and cigarette tax was more appropriate when discussing the budget.
The committee's plan also added a $5 new tire fee and $100 commercial license plate fee, in addition to the $150 electric vehicle fee and $15 vehicle registration fee the House language had in place.
Senate and House leaders have said they need an estimated $1.2 billion a year to maintain and build Indiana’s roads.
"We're in a situation where we need to either do something or be left behind," Sen. Majority leader David Long (R-Fort Wayne) said at the start of session.
However, neither chamber’s plan meets that mark.
The solution? Tolling. The Senate left in language in the bill that allows the Indiana Department of Transportation seek approval from the federal government to toll any interstate.
The amended bill doesn’t specify which roads would be targeted or if it would only apply to new roads. Sen. Mike Delph, R-Carmel, brought up that the governor essentially has a "blank check" and could hypothetically choose to put tolls on I-70, I-65 and I-465.
However, Hershman said most discussion has revolved around the possibility of tolling I-69 or I-70.
"They could ask for tolling of existing lanes or I believe they could ask for tolling only on new lanes," Hershman said. "We do not limit them one way or another."
Up until the House's original road funding plan was voted on in committee, the Senate had been vague about the plans they supported.
Gov. Eric Holcomb has not specified which plan he prefers to raise money either, saying he's open to a "menu of options."
Two Senators voted against the measure, and it now moves to the Senate floor.