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Since the start of the 116th Congress in January, the gas tax has been having a moment. At congressional hearings, keynote addresses and panel discussions inside the Beltway and around the country, a significant number of infrastructure proponents have called on transportation policymakers to raise the federal fuel tax.

Alabama’s roads and bridges have deteriorated to such an extent that it costs each resident $5.3 billion a year, according to a report by a nonprofit transportation research organization.

Caltrans will consider hiring nearly anyone for 333 maintenance jobs it is trying to fill. The transportation department is on a spree to hire enough workers to improve road upkeep as called for in a 2017 gas tax bill that in November survived an initiative that would have repealed it.

WASHINGTON — A vehicle-miles-traveled tax would present a good long-term solution for funding the nation’s infrastructure, while higher fuel taxes could address more near-term needs, representatives from the Association of American Railroads said.

After two meetings, a committee formed by Gov. Mike DeWine to study options for fixing a shortfall in money for road construction and maintenance has come to a consensus that the state gasoline tax needs to increase.

California voters on Nov. 6 rejected Proposition 6, a measure to repeal a recent increase in the state’s gas tax and one that, in many ways, determines the fate of California’s roads, bridges and transit.

It’s not often the California Chamber of Commerce endorses a tax increase. You are more likely to see such legislative proposals — on high-income earners, on services, on corporations — make the “job killers” list that the state’s largest business advocacy organization puts out each year to beat back bills it doesn’t like.

A November ballot measure to repeal California’s recent gas tax increase threatens road improvement and maintenance projects that receive funding through the tax.

The sharpest statewide political battle this November will be fought over California’s still-new gas tax, with billions of dollars for road and transit upgrades at stake in a repeal measure that has now earned a place on the ballot.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — A state legislator from southwest Missouri has filed a lawsuit in an effort to stop a proposed gasoline tax increase from appearing on the state’s November ballot.