ANNAPOLIS, Md. — The Maryland General Assembly's two chambers took up the bills introduced to temporarily suspend the gas tax within minutes of each other on Wednesday morning.
About an hour after convening for the floor session, lawmakers in both the House of Delegates and the Senate adopted the favorable committee reports for HB1486 and SB1010, the same bill.
Senator Michael Hough attempted to introduce an amendment after passage of the favorable committee report of SB1010 to end the automatic increase of the gas tax that happens every July to reflect inflation.
"To have an automatic gas tax increase is a bad idea," says Sen. Hough. He argued that if the state needs to increase the gas tax, they should take a vote on it each time, not let it happen automatically.
The amendment failed after discussion.
Senate president Bill Ferguson explained his vote against the amendment.
"This [the gas tax] is what funds the infrastructure of our economy," he says.
Another amendment discussed focused on making the impact immediate for drivers. When the bill is signed by Governor Hogan, those price drops should take effect at every gas station.
Both the Senate and House bill passed the second reading have been printed for third reader.
You can view the bill here.
