FINAL BILL REPORT

HB 24

                                  C 294 L 87

BYRepresentatives Sutherland, Peery and P. King 

Permitting waiver of penalties for late payment of motor vehicle fuel tax.

House Committe on Transportation

Senate Committee on Transportation

SYNOPSIS AS ENACTED

BACKGROUND:

A large portion of the road system in federally owned forest areas is under federal jurisdiction.  The cost of maintaining these roads is borne by the federal government.  Users of these roads include logging firms which are harvesting and hauling timber from sites within the forests, or from state or privately owned land adjacent to the federal land.

During at least part of each year, the federal government closes some of the roads in federal forest areas to the general public.  Access is provided only to motor vehicles operated in conjunction with logging activities.

In many instances, the federal government imposes fees on logging firms for the privilege of using specified road segments to gain access to timber harvest sites.  These fees cover road maintenance costs incurred by the federal government as a result of use by the logging firms.  Occasionally, the federal government requires a firm to perform maintenance on road segments used by the firm in conjunction with logging operations, in lieu of the payment of a road maintenance fee.

Under the state fuel tax law, roads in federal forest areas are considered part of the public highway system in the state when they are open to the general public.  As a result, fuel used in conjunction with logging activities on these roads is subject to the state's 18 cents-per-gallon fuel tax, even when logging firms are required to pay a road maintenance fee to the federal government.  The logging firms qualify for an exemption from the fuel tax only when the roads are closed to the general public.

SUMMARY:

Logging firms that are required to pay road maintenance fees to the federal government for the privilege of using roads in federal forest areas are exempted from the state fuel tax for fuel used on those roads.  The exemption is also allowed when logging firms are required to perform maintenance or construction work on the roads in lieu of the payment of maintenance fees.

VOTES ON FINAL PASSAGE:

      House 95   0

      Senate    47     0 (Senate amended)

      House 93   0 (House concurred)

EFFECTIVE:July 26, 1987