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California State Senator Brian W. Jones (R-Santee) forced two votes in both the Senate and Assembly during the last 24 hours in an effort to suspend the state gas tax and fund a gas tax holiday.
“Many of us have been fighting for several months to get the 54 cents per gallon state gas tax suspended,” stated Senator Brian W. Jones. “Last night on the Senate Floor I offered amendments to suspend the gas tax for one year and replace any loss of transportation project funding by tapping into the $100 billion state budget surplus. This morning we attempted to amend my Senate Bill 1403 on the Assembly Floor with new language to suspend the planned gas tax hike scheduled to go into effect July 1st. Both our efforts unfortunately were defeated by Democrat legislators who employed partisan parliamentary tricks to keep the state gas tax intact, and in fact increasing.”
Jones, other Republican legislators, a few Democrat legislators, and even President Biden recently, have all voiced support for suspending the state’s 54 cents per gallon gasoline tax, which is the highest in the nation. Governor Newsom and Democrat legislative leaders have instead offered a “tax rebate” program that may get some checks mailed out to Californians by Halloween or Thanksgiving.
Click here to watch Senator Jones’s attempt on the Senate Floor to use the $100 billion state surplus to suspend the state’s gas tax while still funding transportation projects.