Kansas Legislature’s budget chairs dismiss as unfair idea of statewide road-use fee

Rep. Troy Waymaster of Bunker Hill, left, and Sen. Rick Billinger of Goodland expressed opposition to the concept of assessing motorists a miles-traveled fee to help support improvements to the state’s transportation system. (Tim Carpenter/Kansas Reflector)

TOPEKA — The Kansas Legislature’s budget committee chairs pushed back Wednesday against the notion of implementing a road usage fee to create a more sustainable state funding for transportation system upgrades.

The Kansas Department of Transportation completed a pilot program to gather input on alternatives for capturing new revenue, but that report won’t be shared with lawmakers until the 2025 legislative session. The concept emerged as motor fuel sales tax dedicated to road and bridge projects stagnated during a period in which construction inflation has added about 30% to project costs.

Goodland Sen. Rick Billinger and Bunker Hill and Rep. Troy Waymaster, who chair respect budget committees and represent northwest Kansas districts, registered objections to a road usage surcharge after reviewing with KDOT progress on the $9.9 billion, 10-year transportation program named for the late President Dwight Eisenhower.

Billinger, chairman of the Senate Ways and Means Committee, said rural Kansans who routinely drove longer distances than urban counterparts would strongly object to a state fee tied to the number of vehicle miles traveled.

“I don’t there is anyone out there that I’ve talked to that thinks that’s even close to fair,” said Billinger, who indicated fierce opposition would come from agriculture interests. “That’s something that’s not popular at all out there.”

The senator said people driving electric vehicles in Kansas who avoided state sales tax at gasoline or diesel pumps ought to be charged a state fee at charging stations. The fee could be reset to account for inflation, he said.

The fee studied by KDOT tied to total miles traveled had been adopted in Oregon, Utah, Virginia and Hawaii.

Waymaster, who chairs the House Appropriations Committee, said the state’s electric vehicle registration fee passed by the 2019 Legislature was relatively low compared to other Midwest states. The fee is $100 annually for full EVs, but $50 per year for hybrid electric vehicles.

“Maybe we need to raise that,” Waymaster said. “We’re only going to see electric vehicles increase in production and sales.”

In 2023, the Kansas Department of Revenue estimated there were 10,500 electric vehicles in Kansas.

Currently, Kansas’ fuel sales tax remained at 24 cents per gallon for gasoline and 26 cents per gallon on diesel.

Waymaster said he agreed with Billinger that imposing a general mileage fee on vehicles using Kansas roads would be unwise because of the outsized impact on the rural economy.

“I don’t think that is the right approach in trying to supplement the loss in the motor fuels tax,” Waymaster said.

Calvin Reed, who serves as KDOT’s secretary, said the pilot project involving nearly 600 people. They offered insight into attitudes regarding transportation fees and how equipment needed to monitor travel could infringe on personal liberty.

“We’ll be able to deliver on some of the perspectives,” Reed said. “From what I’ve read, they’re not all positive. We gave people the opportunity to really tell us what they thought.”

The agriculture sector was a significant focus of the report to be released in about one month, the secretary said.

Joel Skelling, director of policy at KDOT, said the agency wasn’t preparing legislation related to a road-use fee. The study supported by the Federal Highway Administration should be viewed as a test-run of a concept, he said.

“This was purely to try and get a better understanding what this road-use charge could be or could look like in Kansas,” Skelling said.

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