North Dakota Senate Kills Bill to Raise the Motor Fuel Tax

February 5, 2019 T. Arthur Mason North Dakota
Senator Jordan Kannianen (R - District 4) speaks on SB 2288, which proposed to raise the Motor Fuel Tax. The bill failed by a vote of 18-26. (Photo via screenshot.)

The North Dakota Senate has a reputation. And in limited government circles, it’s not a very good one. But yesterday they did something that surprised some folks— they killed a proposal to raise the state’s Motor Fuel Tax. The defeat came after the Finance and Taxation Committee gave it a 5-1 Do Not Pass recommendation.

It had long been speculated that this proposal would hit the floor of the 2019 North Dakota Legislature. We first published an article about it way back in October of 2017. You can see everything we’ve written on it here. As originally drafted, the bill proposed raising the tax from $0.23/gallon to $0.30. But it was amended in committee to $0.27 instead.

Two interesting facts worth noting were made by one of the Senate’s best, Jordan Kannianen (R – District 4) as he acted as bill carrier. Kannianen is not only Vice Chairman of the committee that heard the bill, but he was on the interim committee that studied the issue as well. He pointed out that in the end not even the Department of Transportation commented on the bill. And furthermore, over the course of the last 10 years, North Dakota’s roads have gone from 22% being rated poor or very poor to just 10% being rated as such.

As you can see here in the floor debate, efforts were made in advocating for passage of the increase. But in the end, it was all for naught. By a vote of 18 to 26, the Senate put a kibosh to Senate Bill 2288.

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Sources:

  1. https://www.legis.nd.gov/assembly/66-2019/bill-actions/ba2288.html
  2. https://theminutemanblog.com/tag/motor-fuel-tax/
  3. http://video.legis.nd.gov/en/PowerBrowser/PowerBrowserV2/20190205/-1/11064?startposition=20190204131643
  4. https://www.legis.nd.gov/assembly/66-2019/bill-video/bv2288.html
  5. https://www.legis.nd.gov/assembly/66-2019/bill-index/bi2288.html
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About T. Arthur Mason 883 Articles
T. Arthur Mason is a native North Dakotan who has spent nearly all of his life in the Peace Garden State. As the third of four children in Western North Dakota, Mason grew to appreciate family and the outdoors. Some of his fondest memories are annual deer hunts with family and friends. In his early teenage years, faith became a central part of T. Arthur Mason's life. He and the majority of his family attend church together on a weekly basis and find this a fulfilling aspect of their lives. Through the influence of his father, T. Arthur Mason became intrigued with politics. As a boy, he attended political events with his father and enjoyed the friendships that resulted as a byproduct of those political associations. As Mason grew older, he became convinced that the quote often attributed to Thomas Jefferson was true, "That government is best which governs least." Today, T. Arthur Mason enjoys time with his wife and children, an occasional hunt, and an increasingly active life on the political scene. This blog is the fulfillment of a dream to design a web site in the realm of politics and to advocate for the principles of Liberty and constitutionally limited government. On behalf of all those that contribute to The Minuteman, we hope you enjoy your time on the site and will share the message with others.

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