ROAD BILL: DESERVED INCREASE FOR STATE

A substantial increase in the amount of federal gasoline tax revenue that would come back to Missouri the next six years is included in a transportation spending measure that passed the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee last week.

Under the proposal, which is being debated in the Senate, Missouri would get $600.5 million for road and bridge construction in each of the next six years, a total of more than $3.6 billion. That would amount to $200 million more than the state received each year under the highway funding law that expired in 1997.

Before the compromise in committee, Missouri's share of the funding would have been $525 million annually for a six-year total of $3.15 billion.

The measure passed the committee after Senate leaders from both parties agreed to boost overall transportation spending by $26 billion over the next six years. That is the portion of the gasoline tax -- 4.3 cents -- that previously had been earmarked for deficit reduction.

The federal gasoline tax is 18.3 cents per gallon. Missourians have been getting back 80 cents of every dollar they pay in federal gasoline taxes. That return would rise to 92 cents per dollar under the new Senate bill.

In the House, the bill will face lawmakers from states which, like Missouri, have always paid more in gasoline taxes than the federal government has returned in transportation aid. House Speaker Newt Gingrich has said he supports a 95 percent return for states.

U.S. Sen. Christopher Bond helped push for the greater return to Missouri. The Missouri Republican said the additional funding is desperately needed and will be well used.

Few states need the additional money more than Missouri, which holds the dubious distinction of having the oldest bridges in the country and ranks sixth from the bottom in regard to the conditions of its bridges.

The $1.2 billion total increase over the last transportation funding measure would go a long way to help correct that situation.