An Act to Create Equity in Maine's Highway Funding by Imposing a Road Use Fee for Electric Vehicles

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132nd MAINE LEGISLATURE
FIRST SPECIAL SESSION-2025
Legislative Document No. 1875
H.P. 1246 House of Representatives, May 5, 2025
An Act to Create Equity in Maine's Highway Funding by Imposing
a Road Use Fee for Electric Vehicles
Received by the Clerk of the House on May 1, 2025. Referred to the Committee on
Taxation pursuant to Joint Rule 308.2 and ordered printed pursuant to Joint Rule 401.
ROBERT B. HUNT
Clerk
Presented by Representative ARDELL of Monticello.

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1Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
2Sec. 1. 36 MRSA c. 456 is enacted to read:
3CHAPTER 456
4ELECTRIC VEHICLE ROAD USE FEES
5§3051. Road use fee for electric vehicles
6 In addition to the annual fee for registration of motor vehicles pursuant to Title 29-A,
7 section 501, registration of electric vehicles is subject to this section.
81. Definitions. As used in this chapter, unless the context otherwise indicates, the
9 following terms have the following meanings.
10 A. "Battery electric vehicle" has the same meaning as in Title 35-A, section 10126,
11 subsection 1, paragraph A.
12 B. "Electric vehicle" means a battery electric vehicle and a plug-in hybrid electric
13 vehicle.
14 C. "Fund" means the Electric Vehicle Road Use Fee Fund established in subsection 5.
15 D. "Gasoline tax" means the excise tax imposed on internal combustion engine fuel
16 used or sold in this State pursuant to section 2903.
17 E. "Mileage registration form" means the form completed by a person registering an
18 electric vehicle pursuant to subsection 2.
19 F. "Plug-in hybrid electric vehicle" has the same meaning as in Title 35-A, section
20 10126, subsection 1, paragraph D.
212. Mileage registration form. Beginning January 1, 2026, a person registering an
22 electric vehicle pursuant to Title 29-A, section 501 shall complete, at the same time, a
23 mileage registration form provided by the bureau stating the mileage of the electric vehicle
24 at the time of registration. A person who knowingly misrepresents the actual mileage of
25 the electric vehicle at the time of registration on the mileage registration form commits
26 forgery and is in violation of Title 17-A, section 703. The assessor shall make the mileage
27 registration form available to municipalities and on the bureau's publicly accessible
28 website.
293. Return of forms to bureau. A municipality that receives a completed mileage
30 registration form shall forward that form to the bureau within 30 days of receipt of the
31 mileage registration form.
324. Calculation and levy of fee. The bureau, based on the mileage stated on a mileage
33 registration form, shall calculate the fee due from each registrant of an electric vehicle
34 pursuant to this subsection.
35 A. The bureau shall subtract from the mileage stated on the most recently received
36 mileage reimbursement form the mileage stated on the mileage reimbursement form
37 filed for that electric vehicle for the immediately prior year. This is the net mileage.
38 B. The bureau shall multiple the net mileage under paragraph A by:
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1 (1) For battery electric vehicles, 1.0¢; and
2 (2) For plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, 0.5¢.
3 This amount is the electric vehicle road use fee.
4 C. The bureau shall notify the registrant of the electric vehicle of the amount of the
5 electric vehicle road use fee under paragraph B, that the registrant has 45 days to pay
6 the electric vehicle road use fee and that failure to pay will result in the suspension of
7 the registration of the electric vehicle for which the fee is due.
8 D. A registrant shall pay the electric vehicle road use fee within 45 days of receipt of
9 notice provided pursuant to paragraph C. Payment must be made to the bureau.
10 E. Notwithstanding paragraph B, if the amount of the gasoline tax changes from 30.0¢
11 per gallon, the assessor shall adjust the multipliers specified in paragraph B,
12 subparagraphs (1) and (2) to obtain an equivalent increase or decrease in the electric
13 vehicle road use fee.
14 F. All fees collected pursuant to this chapter must be deposited into the fund.
155. Electric Vehicle Road Use Fee Fund. The Electric Vehicle Road Use Fee Fund is
16 established as a nonlapsing fund within the bureau.
176. Use of fees for gasoline tax suspension; determination of dates; proclamation.
18 Fees collected pursuant to this chapter must be used to establish a suspension from the
19 gasoline tax as provided in this subsection.
20 A. Beginning January 15, 2027 and annually thereafter, the assessor shall determine
21 the amount of funds in the fund as of the end of the immediately preceding calendar
22 year and the amount of revenue collected from the gasoline tax imposed for that same
23 time period.
24 B. Using the amounts determined pursuant to paragraph A, the assessor shall divide
25 the amount of funds in the fund by the amount of revenue received from the gasoline
26 tax. The result must be multiplied by the number of days in the calendar year.
27 C. The result of the calculation performed pursuant to paragraph B, rounded to the
28 nearest whole number, is the number of days that the gasoline tax must be suspended
29 in the calendar year in which the calculation is performed.
30 D. The assessor shall inform the Governor and the joint standing committees of the
31 Legislature having jurisdiction over transportation matters and taxation matters of the
32 number of days of suspension of the gasoline tax required pursuant to paragraph C.
33 E. The Governor shall determine the date or dates on which the gasoline tax is
34 suspended, which must occur in the same calendar year in which the assessor informs
35 the Governor pursuant to paragraph D, and by proclamation shall announce the date or
36 dates of the suspension, notwithstanding section 2903.
377. Rules. The assessor shall adopt routine technical rules in accordance with Title 5,
38 chapter 375, subchapter 2-A to implement this chapter.
39SUMMARY
40 This bill imposes a road use fee on battery electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid electric
41 vehicles based on the number of miles the vehicle is driven in a year. A person registering
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42 an electric vehicle is required to complete at the same time a form stating the mileage of
43 the electric vehicle and submit the form to the municipality in which the electric vehicle is
44 registered. The Department of Administrative and Financial Services, Bureau of Revenue
45 Services is required, based on the mileage accumulated by that electric vehicle during the
46 prior registration period, to assess the person registering that electric vehicle a fee, which
47 for battery electric vehicles is 1.0¢ per mile and for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles is 0.5¢
48 per mile. The per mile rate is tied to the gasoline tax rate imposed on internal combustion
49 engine fuel of 30.0¢ per gallon; if that rate changes, the per mile electric vehicle rate also
50 changes.
10 Revenue collected from the electric vehicle road use fee is used to temporarily suspend
11 the gasoline tax for the number of days equivalent to a ratio of fees to total gasoline tax
12 revenue. The Governor is required to determine and announce the dates of the suspension.
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