The Louisiana House transportation panel narrowly rejected a bid to alter the state’s constitution to set aside 6 cents of the state fuel tax for 26 road and bridge projects. The bill would have given voters the final say.

Lawmakers voted 9-8, with committee chairman Roy Quezaire, D-Donaldsonville, casting the deciding vote, to defer the amendment. The vote effectively kills the effort.

In testimony prior to the panel’s vote, Quezaire suggested that the bill – HB620 – would only invite lawmakers to try to add their pet projects, The Times-Picayune reported.

Currently, 4 cents of Louisiana’s 20-cent-a-gallon fuel tax goes for major four-lane highways and bridges.

Rep. Gary Beard, R-Baton Rouge, the bill’s sponsor, told the newspaper if he could dedicate 6 cents per gallon sold, the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development would have 10 cents of the tax to go for highway work.

Each penny of the tax generates about $28 million. Beard said the $168 million his bill would have generated could have been used to finance bonds for specific projects, such as the extension of Interstate 49 to the Arkansas line.

For Beard, all may not be lost. He told the newspaper he has a companion measure – HB661 – that would do the same as the constitutional amendment.