The Nevada Legislature Building in Carson City on Tuesday, July 14, 2020.
Photo: David Calvert / The Nevada Independent
Senate Minority Leader James Settelmeyer has asked Gov. Steve Sisolak to call a special legislative session because he says even if the U.S. government temporarily suspends the federal gas tax, Nevada law will block drivers from seeing any relief.
“Unfortunately, that proposal is a temporary measure as it expires after the midterm elections,” he said in a letter to the governor, “and Nevada has a law that establishes an excise tax in the event of a reduction in the federal fuel tax.”
He said that law instructs the state to “backfill any reduction in the federal tax with an equal increase in the state’s excise tax.”
Settelmeyer, R-Douglas County, said that requires legislative action so a tax holiday from the federal fuel tax isn’t just offset by a state fuel tax increase. In that situation, he said, Nevada drivers would get absolutely no benefit from the federal tax holiday.
He also urged an amendment to state law that automatically creates a state fuel tax holiday after the price of regular gasoline reaches $4 a gallon.
Any funding shortages, he said, could be made up through the Rainy Day Fund or any surpluses in the budget to protect the funding needed for state and county road construction, repairs and bond payments.
Settelmeyer offered to work with Sisolak and his administration to ensure that if there is a federal gas tax holiday, Nevadans receive the benefit of it.
