RALEIGH, N.C. — North Carolina drivers stopped paying the state gas tax this weekend after Gov. Josh Stein signed House Bill 3 on Friday, suspending the 41-cents-per-gallon tax on gasoline and diesel through Nov. 30.
Lawmakers passed the bill Wednesday in a nearly unanimous vote during a special session that Republican legislative leaders called on Oct. 3 to respond to high fuel prices. Stein, a Democrat, signed it at a farm near Asheville and called the pause a step toward lowering everyday costs, while urging legislators to keep working on affordability after the election.
The pause is expected to cost around $360 million in transportation money. The law backfills that from state reserves so the Department of Transportation budget stays whole, and lawmakers said road maintenance and construction should not be disrupted.
Drivers may not see the full savings right away. Fuel retailers pay the tax when they buy gas and diesel, so stations already have taxed fuel in their tanks, and it could be days or weeks before cheaper supply reaches the pump. The bill directs fuel companies to pass the savings along, but lawmakers rejected an amendment that would have let the attorney general act on complaints about retailers who do not.
According to AAA, the average gas price in North Carolina as of Friday morning was $4.09, below the national average of $4.37. The law also lets farmers use red-dyed diesel on highways, matching an order Stein issued last week.
Republican leaders said they will look at prices again when the legislature returns in mid-November and could extend the pause through the end of the year. Democrats argued the timing of the special session, about a month before the midterm election, was political.
