A South Carolina bill that would impose a 5-cent-a-gallon fuel tax hike and an annual increase in motor carrier user fees is likely dead for the year.

Revenue would be deposited into the state’s highway fund.

S176, sponsored by Sen. Scott Richardson, R-Hilton Head Island, also would allow the fuel tax to be adjusted each year for inflation.

The bill has been in the Senate Finance Committee since it was introduced in January.

In South Carolina, most bills that haven’t received approval by either the House or Senate by May 1 stand little chance of passage in the current legislative term, although a committee recommendation and a two-thirds majority can put a bill back on track at any point, The Beaufort Gazette reported.

Because this is the first in a two-year legislative cycle, all bills remaining in committee and those yet to be voted on will carry to next year.