FILE PHOTO: Senator Shay Shelnutt (right) and Representative Allen Treadaway (left) present a generous check to Anne Jolly for the Regional Library and Arts Center. The funds will go toward funding an energy-efficient HVAC system for the Center. 

UPDATE: Reports from Montgomery indicate the gas tax increase has been approved by a large margin (83-20) in the House of Representatives. Representative Allen Treadaway voted against the increase. The Senate is expected to take the bill up next week. 

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The state legislature remains in a special session to consider a proposed 10-cent gas tax increase. The increase, which proponents say is needed for the state’s infrastructure would raise an estimated $320 million in additional funds each year once it is fully implemented.

According to The Montgomery Advertiser, the bill would “raise the current 18-cent gas tax by 6 cents on Sept. 1. It would then go up 2 cents on Oct. 1, 2020, and then 2 cents more on Oct. 1, 2021. Starting in 2023, the tax would be indexed to a national index of construction costs, which could increase the tax by up to a cent a year.”

Representative Allen Treadaway and Senator Shay Shelnutt both said they would vote against the tax increase.

Both Treadaway and Shelnutt said they would prefer to remove the earmarking on other funds to allow those funds to be used for the state’s most urgent needs before considering a tax increase.

“We earmark 93 percent of our funds. There’s no room for us in a year like this when it’s been reported we have a half a billion additional dollars in revenue. There’s really no ability for us to fix some of the issues and problems.”

Treadaway also said he would have liked to have more time that the special session will allow to study the bill and ensure it best serves the people he represents.

A vote on the measure is expected in the House of Representatives at any point. The senate will likely take the matter up next week, if it passes through the House.