12/15/04-A coalition is preparing to submit its petition for a statewide vote to raise fuel taxes to fix Oklahoma’s roads and bridges.
Oklahomans for Safe Bridges and Roads has collected more than 230,000 signatures on a petition that only needs 219,000 valid signatures by Dec. 20 to get the measure on the ballot.
The group wants the state’s diesel fuel and gasoline taxes raised to 22 cents a gallon. Currently, the diesel tax is 14 cents per gallon and the gasoline tax is 17 cents per gallon.
The revenue, estimated at $150 million annually, would be earmarked to improve state roads and bridges. A provision would lock in the amount the state Transportation Department now receives from fuel taxes so that lawmakers couldn’t reduce appropriations in response to additional funds the agency would get from the tax hike.
Former Oklahoma Transportation Secretary Neal McCaleb is among those taking the lead on trying to send the proposal to a vote of the people.
“We have 135 bridges in the state highway system that are over 80 years old,” McCaleb told The Oklahoman.
Of the 6,728 bridges on the state’s highway system, 481 need to be replaced and 1,116 are in dire need of repair, McCaleb said. More than 25 percent of the state’s 12,266 state highways and interstate highways are rated inadequate or critical.
Gary Ridley, state transportation director, told the Muskogee Phoenix the department doesn’t have the funds available to keep up with the aging infrastructure. He said ODOT had more state funding in 1985 than it does today.
If the secretary of state certifies the signature count, the proposal would go before the Oklahoma Supreme Court for approval. It would then head to Gov. Brad Henry who would schedule an election as early as next spring.
Ridley said if the proposed tax increase were to bring in the estimated amount, about $9 million would be split among cities and about $9 million would be divided among counties.
The rest would go to ODOT, Ridley said.

9/20/04-A coalition launched a petition drive Sept. 15 for a statewide vote to raise fuel taxes to fix Oklahoma’s roads and bridges.
Neal McCaleb, chairman of Oklahomans for Safer Bridges and Roads, said the petition will propose raising the state’s diesel fuel and gasoline taxes to 22 cents a gallon over four years.
Currently, the diesel tax is 14 cents per gallon and the gasoline tax is 17 cents per gallon.
If adopted by voters, the proposal also would create a trust fund or “lock box” for fuel tax revenue to restrict its use to highways and bridges.
“We have 135 bridges in the state highway system that are over 80 years old,” McCaleb, former state secretary for transportation, told The Oklahoman.
Of the 6,728 bridges on the state’s highway system, 481 need to be replaced and 1,116 are in dire need of repair, McCaleb said. More than 25 percent of the state’s 12,266 state highways and interstate highways are rated inadequate or critical.
The increase in the fuel taxes would raise an estimated $150 million a year, he said.
Cities and counties would get 10 percent each of the increased revenue for roads and bridges.
The rest would go to the Oklahoma Department of Transportation.
The coalition has until Dec. 15 to collect 155,000 signatures of registered voters to get the proposal on an election ballot.

1/7/04-Sen. Robert Milacek plans to draft a bill that would allow Oklahoma voters to decide whether to raise the state’s fuel tax to help fund road repairs.
Milacek, R-Enid, said his proposal would be slightly different from the bill that stalled in a House-Senate conference committee last session.
The new version would include a gradual increase in diesel fuel and gasoline taxes, just like the earlier bill.
Drivers pay 14 cents a gallon in tax on diesel and 17 cents a gallon on gasoline.
Milacek’s proposal would phase in the tax increases, with diesel hitting its highest level July 1, 2007, and gasoline reaching its top level July 1, 2006.
When fully implemented, the higher fuel taxes would generate $145 million a year, Milacek said.
Unlike last session’s measure, the new legislation would require all revenue to go to the state’s roads and bridges.
The previous version would have given some of the tax money to railroads, airports and waterways.
State lawmakers will reconvene at the Capitol Feb. 2.