OKLAHOMA CITY — Senators approved a resolution Tuesday for a statewide vote to increase the gasoline tax by a penny a gallon to continue passenger rail service in Oklahoma, reports the Oklahoman.
House Joint Resolution 1045 by Sen. Dave Herbert, D-Midwest City, would increase Oklahoma’s 17-cent per gallon gasoline tax to 18 cents per gallon for 10 years. The extra penny would raise $18 million a year.
Similar legislation passed by Herbert this session was killed in the House of Representatives.
This session, Rep. Clay Pope, D-Loyal, said the earlier legislation was unconstitutional because it was a Senate resolution.
The Oklahoma Constitution requires all revenue-raising measures to begin in the House of Representatives.
Pope is the resolution’s House author. However, the resolution didn’t involve a vote on a gasoline tax increase when the resolution left the House.
Herbert rewrote it in the Senate. He said that raising the gasoline tax provides the best chance for saving the Heartland Flyer passenger train, which runs between Oklahoma City and Fort Worth, Texas.