Senate Joint Resolution
No. 9
CHAPTER 69
Relative to fuel taxes.
[
Filed with
Secretary of State
August 02, 1995.
]
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SJR 9, Kopp.
Fuel taxes.
This measure would memorialize the President and the Congress of the United States to enact appropriate legislation to eliminate all federal fuel taxes, except as specified, and that states be given the discretion of levying their own fuel taxes, as provided.
Digest Key
WHEREAS, The objective of the Federal Highway Program has been to facilitate the construction of a modern freeway system that connects all states for an efficient interstate commerce; and
WHEREAS, That objective has been reached and the Interstate System connecting all states is near completion; and
WHEREAS, The states have the responsibility of providing an efficient transportation network for their residents; and
WHEREAS, The states have the means to build and operate a network of transportation systems, including highways, that best serves their needs; and
WHEREAS, The states are best capable of determining their needs and acting on them; and
WHEREAS, The federal role in highway transportation has, over time, usurped the role of the states by taxing fuels used in the states and then distributing the proceeds to the states based on the federal government’s perceptions of what is best for the states; and
WHEREAS, The federal government has used the federal gasoline tax revenues to force all states to take actions that are not necessarily appropriate for individual states; and
WHEREAS, The federal distribution, review, and enforcement process wastes billions of dollars on nonproductive activities; and
WHEREAS, Federal mandates that apply uniformly to all 50 states, regardless of their different circumstances, cause the states to waste billions of hard-earned tax dollars on projects, programs, and activities that otherwise the states would not undertake; and
WHEREAS, The new Congress expressed a strong interest in reducing the role of the federal government by allowing the states to manage their own affairs; now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the Senate and Assembly of the State of California, jointly, That the California Legislature respectfully memorializes the President and the Congress of the United States to enact appropriate legislation that would eliminate all federal fuel taxes except for those needed to complete the remaining portions of the Interstate System, and that the states be given the discretion of levying their own fuel taxes to meet their own individual needs and to spend their money without obtaining approval by the federal bureaucracy; and be it further
Resolved, That the California Legislature is committed to continuing the fuel tax at a level equal to the sum of state and federal fuel tax rates in effect on January 1, 1995, and to continuing the use of the revenues to improve the state’s transportation facilities; and be it further
Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate transmit copies of this resolution to the President and Vice President of the United States, to the President pro tempore of the United States Senate, to the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, and to each Senator and Representative from California in the Congress of the United States.