Subcommittee approves four transportation bills including creation of revolving fund for lake and industrial access grants

The Transportation Subcommittee on Appropriations and Budget on Feb. 10 approved four bills that the panel’s leaders said will clarify tax credit eligibility, create a new revolving fund for lake and industrial access grants and increase roads funding.

Representative Cantrell presented House Bill 3882 and a committee substitute (PCS) that, if enacted, would create a revolving fund in the treasurer’s office to house the Department of Transportation’s lake access and industrial access grant program. Cantrell said the change is intended to make “more transparent on where that money is and where it gets expended.” He told the panel the revolving fund would replace the prior practice of treating the program as a line item inside ODOT’s budget and stood for questions and passage. When asked whether dollars were currently in the bill, Cantrell said the original filing requested funding but that amounts would likely be set through the broader budget process; he said, “I would like 10,000,000, but I'm willing to settle.” The subcommittee recorded a vote of 8 ayes and 0 nays and declared HB 3882 passed.

Vice Chair Blair presented House Bill 4273 as a clarification to the state’s existing aerospace tax credit, which was reauthorized last year. Blair said the intent is to ensure recent engineering graduates working in research and development for certain research, education and innovation institutes are eligible. Representative Cross White Hater asked whether the measure would effectively treat higher-education institutions as businesses for the credit’s purposes; Blair replied that only a small number of special entities under university umbrellas participate and the change was not intended to broadly reclassify universities. The subcommittee passed HB 4273 by a vote of 7 ayes and 2 nays.

Representative Miller presented House Bill 4280, a proposal to raise annual roads funding to $60,000,000 (described in the hearing as moving the rate from $6.10 to $6.70), retain weigh-station construction and O&M funding from the previous year and add reporting requirements tied to the eight-year plan and asset preservation. Representative Dempsey asked that the committee consider ways to explain the changes to constituents in parts of the state that don’t frequently receive Oklahoma news; Miller agreed to consider outreach. The subcommittee voted 9 ayes, 0 nays to approve HB 4280.

Representative Miller then presented House Bill 4281, an alternative funding approach that would increase roads funding by $30,000,000 (from $6.10 to $6.40 as presented), remove last year’s weigh-station funding from the roads line and place $20,000,000 into a way stations and ports entry revolving fund to support weigh-station construction and operations, funded from sales tax. The bill includes reporting requirements in the eight-year plan and asset preservation plan. The subcommittee approved HB 4281 by a recorded vote of 9 ayes, 0 nays.

Next steps: committee leaders said they will meet next week to hear additional bills and immediately afterward will convene to discuss fiscal year 2027 transportation funding. The subcommittee adjourned following those announcements.

Votes at a glance

• HB 3882 — Create revolving fund for lake access and industrial access grants; PCS adopted and bill passed (vote reported as 8–0). (Presented by Representative Cantrell.)

• HB 4273 — Clarification to aerospace tax credit to include certain R&D positions at research/education/innovation entities; passed 7–2. (Presented by Vice Chair Blair.)

• HB 4280 — Raise roads fund to $60,000,000; retain weigh-station funding and add reporting requirements; passed 9–0. (Presented by Representative Miller.)

• HB 4281 — Alternative roads funding: +$30,000,000, move $20,000,000 into way stations and ports entry revolving fund funded from sales tax; passed 9–0. (Presented by Representative Miller.)

Sources and attributions in the hearing: quotes and details in this article are taken from committee discussion as recorded in the subcommittee transcript. The subcommittee said funding amounts will be finalized through the broader budgetary and JCAP processes.