Kansas Eases Burden Of Road Bill on Truckers

Kansas truckers scored a small victory when the state's legislature passed a transportation plan that relies on fuel taxes, bond sales and the diversion of funds from other sources to pay for $12 billion in infrastructure improvements.

The bill awaits approval from Gov. Bill Graves, who authored the compromise between earlier versions of House and Senate plans (4-12, p. 20).

The 10-year spending plan will increase gasoline and diesel fuel taxes by 4 cents a gallon over the next five years, starting with a 2-cent increase on July 1. Fuel taxes will go up another cent in July 2001 and the final penny will be added in July 2003.

The bill also authorizes the state to issue $995 million in bonds and to transfer $86 million a year in sales tax revenue to the highway fund.

Truckers worked hard to get lawmakers to scale back earlier transportation spending proposals that would have raised registration fees and instituted an immediate 5-cent-a-gallon fuel tax increase, said Carl Hill, a spokesman for the Kansas Motor Carriers Association.

"It was really a grass-roots effort at its optimal," he said. "Our members took pen in hand, fax buttons were pushed and telephone calls were made to legislators expressing how this industry would be impacted if the high taxes of the initial plan were adopted."

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