With just a week to go in the current legislative session, Warren County’s two Missouri House representatives say there are still major issues to be resolved before May 14.

Reps. Jeff Porter, Dist. 42, and Richard West, Dist. 63, said one of the biggest discussions taking up a lot of time in the House is a proposed increase to Missouri’s gas tax. The proposal would gradually increase the gas tax by a total of 12.5 cents per gallon over the next five years. It would be the first upward adjustment of Missouri’s gas tax (currently 17 cents) since 1996. No statewide vote would be required for the increase.

The gas tax helps fund public road infrastructure. A gas tax increase already passed through the Missouri Senate in March.

Porter, who is vice-chair of the House Transportation Committee, is backing the tax to provide much-needed funding for Missouri’s roads, while offering a compromise to anti-tax opponents.

“For those that do not want to participate in the (increased tax), there’s an option for a rebate,” Porter explained. “If an individual wants to pay the (additional) tax to have better roads, that’s great. If you don’t, that’s great too, you can do the rebate.”

There are still a few hurdles for the gas tax to get over, but Porter said if it comes to a vote of the full House, he’s confident it will pass.

“It would help a lot. The deficiency of (transportation costs) we have to take care of is about $800 million a year,” Porter said. “We need to be doing something. We can’t keep pushing this down the road.”

Rep. West said he won’t be one of the supporters of the tax. Voting no on a new gas tax is one of the commitments West made when campaigning for office in 2020.

“They haven’t done anything to change my mind on it, so I’m going to stick to what I said,” West commented. “I told them the only way they were going to change my mind is if they put a member of the House and Senate on MoDOT’s board, just as oversight.”

West said he isn’t convinced that MoDOT spends the money it has wisely, and commented that the gas tax issue has been a “log jam” in the House that has delayed discussion of other bills.

Other issues

Beside the gas tax, there are a few other major issues awaiting action in the House. Both West and Porter said they believe strongly in the Second Amendment Preservation Act, which would make it illegal for state and local police to help enforce federal gun control rules that violate the Missouri Constitution.

“I’m going to do whatever it takes to get that through. It’s a group effort” West said. “I expect that to break loose on the last day of session. The Senate is kind of holding that up to get what they want.”

Porter commented that he and other House members will continue putting pressure on their counterparts in the Senate on the issue, but expect that it will become a “bargaining chip” in other Senate negotiations.

West said remaining legislative issues he’s keeping an eye on include COVID-19 liability protections and school choice, both of which he has supported. West and other representatives are also pushing Gov. Mike Parson to lift remaining COVID-19 emergency provisions that are allowing certain cities to continue enforcing mask mandates.

One of Porter’s personal priorities is also seeing movement in the last weeks of session. The Caller ID Anti-Spoofing Act would make it illegal to transmit false caller ID information with the intent to deceive or defraud someone over the phone. That bill was passed overwhelmingly in the House in April, and now joins the other bills waiting for Senate action.

“It’s going to be exciting to see what happens. The House and the Senate have different priorities,” Porter commented.