Tesla Owners Club of Austin Engage Site
| 5.13.21

Texas House and Senate: "Voting no on SB 1728, is voting FOR thriving jobs and clean trucks and cars made in Texas!"

Quick update on EV fee legislation in Texas & call to action

UPDATE (5/25/21) on SB 1728: This bill was killed on May 24, 2021 on a technicality. Thanks to over 7000 constituents who contacted their Texas legislators.

A similar bill, HB 3531, was amended on May 22, 2021 by the Texas Senate to INCLUDE the $200 fee. Other bills could also be amended.

Phone calls registering your opposition are a quick way to make your voice heard.

Find your representative's phone number here.

As a Texas resident, you can always share your opinion with Governor Abbot here.

BREAKING NEWS: The Texas House Transportation Committee just voted on a committee substitute for SB 1728. It is not any better than the original. In short, the bill includes:

  • $190-$240 annual EV flat fee
  • A scaled fee VMT (vehicle miles traveled tax) option (but if you travel more than 9k miles/year, the fee is $150+)Note: this option is an alternative to the flat fee, not in addition to it. 
  • $10 annual surcharge that funds a new charging infrastructure advisory council

Tesla owners did a great job of reaching out to members of the house committee along with the other OEMs, TXETRA, and other allies also opposed, but unfortunately this is a tough group. Depending on how long it takes the Calendars committee to set it, this bill could move ahead early next week.

SB 1728 is being pushed by the Association of General Contractors- the false claim is that EV drivers should be taxed so that people will benefit from jobs created by the highway fund projects. 

I have used the picture from today, May 13, 2021 of the progress of the construction of Giga Texas in this article in order to show how large the Tesla gigafactory complex is (the factory you see is 1 km long with it being just a part of the 2,400 acre development). Currently at least 10,000 jobs are predicted, with ongoing hiring. Texans can take pride in producing some of the best cars and trucks ever made right here in the USA. Why target these vehicles in an unfair tax that penalizes people who purchase them?

This is a great time to contact your Texas legislators (again), and members of the House Transportation Committee, asking them to vote against SB 1728. Let them know:

"Voting no on SB 1728, is voting FOR thriving jobs and clean trucks and cars made in Texas!"

EV drivers should not have to pay unreasonable taxes. EV owners already contribute to state revenues today through registration fees, tolls, and taxes on the electricity that they use. That’s right — they already pay an electricity tax. SB 1728 proposes much higher fees for EV drivers than what an efficient ICE vehicle owner would pay at the gas pump in taxes. A much fairer alternative would be to assess a carbon tax.

links:

SB 1728

Texas House Transportation Committee Members

Find your Texas Legislator

Article on SB 1728 by Johnna Crider

Link to hundreds of jobs in Texas (Tesla Careers)

photo credit for this article: Jeff Roberts edited by Gail Alfar on 5/13/2021 (updated on 5/14/2021)

Link to article from May 14 on SB 1728 changes and what they mean.

  • Brian
    05/25/2021

    I don't mind paying my fair share but this bill looks like punishment for driving an ev. 

  • Sam
    05/22/2021

    The pull quote in this article is from a tweet I made on 5/15/2021.  

    https://twitter.com/puffman81252248/status/1393618791414870021?s=21

    Woulda been nice to get attribution.


    Sam Griffith

     

  • Gabriela
    05/20/2021

    This so unfair  and difficult, whata are this people  thinking. Why should we pay for taxes on gas that we don't  use. I already pay for my electricity bill. No body else pays for it but ME no body helps  me. Why should I pay for something  I dont use. Even a kid from 3rd grade would  know that that's  no the right thing.

  • Kobus
    05/14/2021

    Bernie you are wrong. Texans drive an average of 16K miles per year at 22 mpg for a total of 727 gallons.  The highway fund collects 15c per gallon for a total of $109 per gasoline vehicle. And then to make it totally fair gasoline cars should have a new tax added for their health and environmental costs.

  • Gary
    05/14/2021

    Kobus, I was about to make a similar point. Could you pass on a reference to your statistics?

    Also, I couldn't verify that we pay 15 cents/gallon in Texas motor fuels tax. The most recent reference I found said it's 20 cents/gallon (https://comptroller.texas.gov/economy/fiscal-notes/2019/jul/motor-fuels-taxes.php, 2019 article).

    Even so, using your average yearly mileage and MPG I calculate an average yearly tax of $145, still substantially below what the bill proposes.

    The bill does offer a scaled VMT option, but it's not clear how it would be computed or collected. If you travel more than 9k miles/year, you pay $150 plus (I assume) a VMT-scaled additional amount. If your stats and my calculation are right, that could only be fair (comparable to what the average ICE drivers pays) if the $150 flat fee kicked in at 16k miles, not 9k.

  • Charlie
    05/14/2021

    please provide a list of those that voter "for" 

    it would be appropriate to donate campaign funds to their opponents 

  • DavidCall
    05/14/2021

    Texas drivers pay roughly $100 annually in gas taxes. As such, this can go up to 2.4x that rate, not including the taxes on electricity we're already paying. This is too much and for not a good enough reason.

  • Bernie
    05/14/2021

    The fée is much less than the gas tax drivers of ice cars pay. I think it is a fair share.

  • John
    05/14/2021

    Thanks for your post. I wonder how the bill to allow Tesla to sell directly to Texans is coming along.

  • Marge
    05/14/2021

    10K+ jobs! Go Tesla! 

  • lqdchkn
    05/14/2021

    I cannot find any of the text of the Substitute online anywhere. I just called the TX Transportation Committee to see where I could find the text mentioned above and they confirmed that there is NO approved substitute at this time. Meaning anything posted above is not finalized. Additionally they were unable to confirm anything discussed so if what's posted above correct, where's this info coming from?  SUS

  • lqdchkn
    05/14/2021

    In TX we pay roughly 20¢/gal to the state and 20¢/gal to the Fed. (technically 18.4 cents per gallon on gasoline and 24.4 cents for diesel) The State collects both.  So ~ 40¢/gal in total.  So this bill as written from the Senate is factoring $100 for State and $100 for Fed.  nothing else mentioned above about the recent Substitution is confirmed