House panel favors Florida bill to weigh EV impacts on revenue, redirecting charger revenue

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – The Florida House Ways and Means Committee unanimously passed a bill unanimously on Wednesday shifting sales tax revenue on commercial electric vehicle charging stations from general revenue into the transportation trust fund.

Rep. Tiffany Esposito, R-Fort Myers, filed HB 107.

“This bill moves the sales tax revenue from the commercial charging stations for EVs [Electric Vehicles] from general revenue into the transportation trust fund,” Esposito said to the committee. “It also conducts a study on the long term impacts of adoption of electric vehicles on state revenues in the state trust fund.”

Esposito included an amendment to the bill that moves the study completion date to 2026.

Rep. Rick Roth, R-West Palm Beach, while being in support, argued for a tax for home EV charging.

“Can we figure out a way to charge a 5% tax on that electricity that you’re using to charge your vehicles that would go into the state fund for our roads,” Roth asked.

Due to its climate, Roth said Florida has advantages for electric vehicles.

“We already have advantages in the state of Florida to have electric vehicles, its called -20 degrees in Minnesota,” Roth said. “People are figuring that out EVs don’t work real well, don’t charge real well, don’t have a lot of energy in the batteries if it’s 20 degrees below zero.”

“We are going to have electric vehicles in Florida and that’s a great thing,” he said. “My position is I don’t think we should be subsidizing to promote electric vehicles.”

Sen. Ed Hooper, R-Palm Harbor, filed a comparable bill to HB 107.

HB 107 now moves to the Infrastructure Strategies Committee for approval. If will fully take effect if passed upon becoming a law.