DFL: Both Gas Tax Increase, New Delivery Fee Moving Forward

ST. PAUL (WJON News) -- The top Democratic leaders of the Minnesota House and Senate indicate that a new fee for deliveries plus some sort of gasoline tax increase are *both* moving forward in these final days of the legislative session.

House Speaker Melissa Hortman:

The (conference committee negotiations) chairs have intimated that those will be pieces of the package.

Dziedzic:

First of all, I would call it a road maintenance fee -- so we'll just clarify that: it is to help improve road maintenance.

....Senate Democratic Majority Leader Kari Dziedzic.

The Democrat-controlled House passed a 75-cent statewide fee on deliveries but it appears Senate Democrats were unwilling to go that far -- so the longstanding idea of a gas tax increase indexed to inflation has resurfaced at the legislature.