The Georgia House Thursday afternoon approved the transportation spending bill, keeping in place the 29.2-cent per gallon state excise tax.
The House sent the bill to the Senate on a 123-46 vote after rejecting a proposed amendment by House Majority Leader Larry O’Neal that would have reduced the excise tax to 24 cents.
House Transportation Chairman Jay Roberts, R-Ocilla, the bill’s author, told reporters after the passage that he believes the amendment was rejected because House members decided to keep the around $1 billion a year the 29.2-cents would raise.
The vote came after a dramatic day of parliamentary maneuvers in which the Rules Committee needed to make technical changes to the amendment, to add diesel fuel, which would have been reduced to 28 cents from 33 cents. Now the bill heads to the Senate.
