The Senate has just agreed, by unanimous consent, to send HB 95 to the 14th Order for amendments. That bill, sponsored by Sen. Jim Rice, R-Caldwell, is the House-passed measure that's long been hanging on the Senate calendar, to exempt road materials for public roads from the sales tax. The idea behind the bill is that the tax exemption would result in indirect savings on road work for the state, if construction companies lower their bids for road jobs to reflect the lack of a need to pay sales tax on materials. Word is the Senate just wants to push the effective date of the measure out a year into the future.

The House passed HB 95 on a 43-26 vote on Feb. 19. If the assumption about the indirect savings held true, the state general fund - where sales taxes go - would lose up to $20 million a year, and state and local transportation agencies would save a similar amount.