Once again, Governor Lamont’s transportation investment plans did not come to fruition. Like earlier efforts to secure new transportation funds via tolling, this year’s proposed Transportation Climate Initiative (TCI) legislation — a multi-state cap and invest program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that DEEP Commissioner Katie Dykes and Deputy Transportation Commissioner Garrett Eucalitto wrote about here — did not pass during the General Assembly’s regular session, facing opposition from members of both parties in the General Assembly, who cited concerns about increased costs at the pump for Connecticut consumers.
The proposal would have raised an estimated $80 million from new fees on large fuel suppliers of on-road diesel and gasoline fuels. These fees would impact the wholesale level and be distributed back to states to invest in clean transportation initiatives from transit oriented development (TOD) to bike lanes and commuter rail potentially. There is talk that TCI will be revisited in a potential special session of the General Assembly later this summer, but no plans have been made on this front. The Lamont administration maintains that any increases from the Transportation Climate Initiative would not amount to more than a nickel a gallon for the consumer. Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Washington DC are the other jurisdictions that initially joined TCI. Massachusetts has made clear they will not go it alone – TCI only works if it is multi-state. Emissions from cars and trucks are now the largest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions and must be addressed if we are to slow climate change.
Highway User Tax
Governor Lamont did secure passage on his highway user tax, the other piece of his transportation funding plan in 2021. The new highway usage tax will be on large commercial trucks to fund Connecticut’s ongoing rebuild of its transportation network. The new law establishes a series of fees based on truck size and miles traveled generating approximately $90 million annually. (Milk trucks going to and from a dairy farm are the one exception to the user tax.) Large commercial trucks are responsible for the faster degradation of our highways and roads.