Add Montana to the growing list of states with lawmakers floating the possibility of giving truckers and other drivers a little relief at the fuel pump.

With the price for gasoline and diesel fuel averaging more than $3 per gallon in the state as of Sept. 30, a leading Republican lawmaker is calling for the Montana Legislature to consider temporarily suspending the state’s 27-cent-per-gallon tax on motor fuels. Lawmakers are expected to meet for a special session in December to address other issues.

“The state is getting a huge windfall from oil- and gas-tax revenue, yet they’re not passing any of that on to the consumer,” Rep. Roy Brown of Billings , the House Republican leader, told the Missoulian newspaper.

The proposed fuel tax holiday doesn’t address the status of the International Fuel Tax Agreement requirements for miles driven in Montana .

However, Democratic Gov. Brian Schweitzer and other leading Democrats in the state denounced the idea. They say the proposal has numerous holes, including the adverse affects to Montana ’s multimillion-dollar highway construction program.

Montana isn’t alone in its pursuit of combating higher prices seen in the weeks following Hurricane Katrina.

Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue issued a month-long moratorium on the state’s 7.5-cent-per-gallon tax on gasoline and diesel fuel. It includes a suspension of Georgia ’s 4 percent sales tax on fuel. The moratorium expired Sept. 30. The tax breaks will cost the state about $75 million in tax revenue.

Perdue and state legislators also took action to temporarily remove the IFTA obligation for Georgia miles driven by truckers. Truckers driving through Georgia during the tax holiday will still have to report their IFTA miles, but they won’t owe any tax on miles driver during that period.

Other states considering fuel cost relief actions include:

• Republicans in Wisconsin are pushing a plan to give residents a fuel tax holiday for the rest of the year. Instead, Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle wants to repeal the state’s minimum markup requirement for diesel and gasoline.
• A New Jersey lawmaker is considering legislation that would limit the wholesale price of diesel fuel and gasoline.
• Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell said he may ask state lawmakers to temporarily lift the state’s per-gallon fuel tax.
• Democrats in the Missouri House want a two-week fuel tax holiday that would cut the state’s 17-cent-a-gallon tax on diesel and gasoline to 7 cents a gallon.
• An Oklahoma lawmaker is calling for the suspension of motor fuel taxes in the state for the final three months of the year.
• New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson has rejected calls from some Republicans in the state to offer a fuel tax holiday. Instead, the Democratic governor is pushing a price gouging law.
• Gov. Joe Manchin has vowed to freeze fuel taxes for one year in West Virginia . Manchin announced plans to sign an executive order to stop the scheduled increase, which was expected to take effect on Jan. 1.
• Some Republican lawmakers in Tennessee are urging Democratic Gov. Phil Bredesen to temporarily suspend the state’s per gallon tax on gasoline and diesel fuel. Bredesen said he thinks it’s a bad idea.
• North Carolina Gov. Mike Easley said he has no plans to roll back the state’s motor fuel taxes. Easley said the state relies too heavily on the dollars generate for road and bridgework to temporarily suspend the state’s 27.1-cent-per-gallon tax on gasoline and diesel fuel. Instead, the governor is calling for the federal government to solve the problem of higher fuel prices.

– By Keith Goble, state legislative editor
keith_goble@landlinemag.com