Two new fees for funding the Highway Trust Fund, including a $250 registration fee for electric vehicles, have just passed a House of Representatives vote through President Donald Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill Act.”
The bill, which now heads to the Senate, would enact a $250 annual registration fee on electric cars and light trucks, and a $100 fee for hybrid cars and light trucks. These fees were originally introduced by House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee Chairman Sam Graves (R-MO) and were approved by the Committee on May 1.
While testifying before the House Committee on Rules on May 21, Representative Graves said the fees would be the first time the fund had been meaningfully addressed in 30 years.
“The Congressional Budget Office projects a $142 billion cumulative shortfall in the Highway Trust Fund over the five-year period following the expiration of the current authorization,” said Graves. “Put simply, the system for funding our federal surface transportation programs is broken.
“…For too long, EVs have operated on our nation’s roads without paying into the system, which is primarily funded by federal taxes on gasoline and diesel.”
Representative Sam Graves speaking before the House Committee on Rules on May 21.Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure
Both the fees are indexed for inflation. An earlier version of the proposal included a $20 fee on all other cars and trucks, which was removed prior to its inclusion in the Big, Beautiful Bill.
If signed into law, these fees would be the first new, user-based revenue streams dedicated to surface transportation improvements in over 20 years.
The American Road & Transportation Builders Association said in an April 29 press release that the new fees were “not expected to bridge the gap needed to grow surface transportation investment levels.”
