SB6586 – Imposes a per mile fee on electric and hybrid vehicles.
Prime Sponsor – Senator Saldaña (D; 37th District; Seattle) (Co-Sponsors Hobbs, Liias, and Conway)
Current status – Had a hearing in the Senate Committee on Transportation January 29th. Substitute by the prime sponsor passed out of committee February 10; referred to Rules.
Next step would be – Action by the Rules Committee.
Legislative tracking page for the bill.

Comments –
The proposal would charge an plug in car owner driving an average amount, say 11,000 miles, $385 a year if they only drove on electricity, plus the gas tax on any fuel they used when they weren’t relying on the battery. It would charge a hybrid owner $220 a year plus the regular gas tax.

The substitute leaves the fees to be specified in future legislation, or according to the recommendations in the plan if the Legislature doesn’t do that. It adds options for variable rates to the items the plan’s to cover, and extends the fee to State light vehicles. The plan would no longer have the Transportation Commission serve in a policy role that ensures independent oversight, reporting to the Legislature, and appropriate public input;  it leaves the Department of Transportation as the lead agency in charge of administering and operating the system. (It’s not clear from the language whether this is only during a transition plan, while the bill leaves the ultimate long term role of the Commission open, or if this is to be ongoing…)

Transportation Choices has a flyer about road use charges.

Summary –
Starting January 1st 2024, the bill would charge plug-in vehicles that can go thirty miles or more on the battery three and a half cents per mile, and other hybrids two cents a mile, in addition to other fees and taxes. The proceeds would have to be used for road preservation and maintenance.

By December 1, 2021, the Department of Transportation and the Transportation Commission would develop a plan for imposing the fee, incorporating the ongoing work of the Commission evaluating road usage charges. It would have to include:
(a) Different mileage reporting options;
(b) Recommended methods and rates for achieving cost efficiency, fairness, minimal administrative cost, payment compliance, consumer choice, and preserving individual privacy;
(c) Alternatives to allow for monthly or quarterly payment;
(d) Any recommended statutory changes, including suggested offsets or rebates to recognize other taxes and fees paid by electric and hybrid vehicle owners;
(e) Recommendations to align the system better with other vehicle charges and to establish a potential framework for broader implementation of a per mile funding system, including analysis of the preferred method for addressing Eighteenth Amendment considerations; and
(f) A recommended implementation and governance structure under which the Department would operate the system, but the Commission would ensure independent oversight, appropriate public input, and report to the Legislature.