House approves bill to distribute motor vehicle sales tax to state's highway fund

GILLETTE (WNE)  — Two bills with the purpose of increasing funding for the state’s highway fund have gone in opposite paths during the Legislative Session.

One of the bills, House Bill 33, proposes taking the sales tax from motor vehicles and trailers that currently goes to the general fund and distributing it instead to the highway fund.

This bill made it out of the House Transportation Committee on a 9-0 vote, then was referred to the House Appropriations Committee, which voted 7-0 in favor of it.

It’s estimated that, based on the state’s 4% sales tax collected on motor vehicles and trailers, this bill, if it becomes law, would bring in about $70 million or more in each of the next three years.

Now, this would mean that there would be $70 million each year that would not be going into the state’s general fund.

Last Monday, the bill passed the third reading in the House on a 48-13 vote. All of Campbell County’s representatives supported the bill.

Another bill, House Bill 29, was not so lucky. This bill proposed changing the distribution of severance tax so that the money goes toward the highway fund.

Right now, severance tax is deposited equally to the permanent Wyoming mineral trust fund and to the common school account within the permanent land fund.

The bill proposed that starting July 1, severance tax would be deposited to the highway fund.

This bill failed on a 2-7 vote in the House Transportation Committee. Rep. Reuben Tarver, R-Gillette, was one of the two votes for this bill.

It was estimated that this bill, if passed, would bring $300 million to the highway fund over the next three years. On the flip side, that’s $300 million that would not be going to the permanent mineral trust fund or the common school permanent land fund.

This story was published on February 4, 2025.