OOIDA Call to Action – Florida members
April 29, 2009

Florida truckers: Urgent action is needed to oppose a ridiculous effort to double motor vehicle registration fees. Call your lawmakers NOW. There are plans to include the fee hike in the state’s budget. FYI: it’s ALREADY $1,000 for an 80,000-pound truck. You need to weigh in on this, and time is short.

Florida House and Senate lawmakers are working out their differences on the state’s $65 billion budget. One item of contention is the House effort to increase the base fee and renewal of motor vehicle registration by 100 percent. Not only does this effort attempt to sink deep into the already shallow pocketbooks of truckers, but it also calls for routing the extra revenue into the general revenue fund. They don’t even plan to use the money on roads!

The Senate has not conceded to their House counterparts on this 100 percent fee increase, but only because they have their own plan. Senators want to increase vehicle registrations by 10 percent. However, they also want to send all new income to the general revenue fund.

According to state figures, the House plan would result in nearly $100 million being directed away from transportation for other uses. The Senate plan would see about $10 million put to other uses.

Take time NOW to contact your House and Senate lawmakers. With the existing fee amount for an 80,000-pound truck being nearly $1,000, they need to be informed about the effect that doubling the motor vehicle registration fees will have on your cost of doing business. Also, there is no excuse for taking money away from transportation.

For contact information for your House lawmaker, click here. For your Senator, click here. You can also call the OOIDA Membership Department at 800-444-5791, and they will look up the information for you.