Two Idaho bills that would increase car and truck registration fees and raise nearly $40 million for roads were sent to the State House Wednesday, March 12, the Idaho Statesman reported.
Under one plan, car registrations would increase by $24, doubling registration for many Idahoans and raising about $30 million, according to the newspaper; the commercial truck registration bill would raise only about $8.5 million, which drew the ire of Dave Carlson, lobbyist for AAA Idaho, a motorists’ group.
Carlson told the Statesman it is unfair that trucks, which do a disproportionate amount of damage to roads, would bear so much less of the cost than cars. “We don’t think we’re approaching equity — we think we’re heading in the other direction,” Carlson told the Statesman.
Rep. JoAn Wood, R-Rigby, who is sponsoring the bills, told the newspaper there are many more cars on the roads than trucks. “Have you looked at the disparity between how many trucks there are and how many cars there are?” she asked Carlson.
A Senate bill introduced to the House Transportation Committee would raise trucking fees significantly more, the Statesman reported; it would add an estimated $57 million to roads. “They’re like night and day,” Sen. Tim Corder, who is sponsoring the Senate bill, told the newspaper.
