Mon., April 20, 2009

Senate approves transportation amendments

Senate Assistant Majority Leader Joe Stegner, R-Lewiston, presides over the Senate's amending order on Monday, in which a divided Senate agreed to tack a gas tax increase onto HB 96, the bill to eliminate the gas tax exemption for ethanol. The Senate, by a wider margin, also agreed to incorporate into the bill increases in DMV fees that previously were in a separate Senate bill. (Betsy Russell / The Spokesman-Review)

The first amendment, adding DMV fees into HB 96, has passed, with just the Senate's Democrats and Sen. Monty Pearce, R-New Plymouth, objecting. The second amendment, the gas tax hike, also passed, this time with the six Democrats present joined in their opposition by eight Republicans.

Posted April 20, 2009, 4:21 p.m.