Ohio House OKs license fee increase

The Ohio COLUMBUS — House voted 83-13 in favor of a plan to spend $7.82 billion on transportation over the next two years.

The bill also includes a $5 permissive fee that counties can apply when people apply for driver’s licenses and a $1.75 increase in service fees to $5.25 paid to deputy registrars who run about 200 Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles offices.

The state transportation budget bill calls for spending $5.6 billion on highway construction and maintenance, $1.17 billion on traffic enforcement and other items, and $124.6 million on local transportation improvement projects. The revenue comes from fees, federal highway money and the state gas tax, which has stood at 28 cents per gallon since July 2005.

“This is a declining revenue source. Ohioans are paying less in gas tax now,” said state Rep. Robert McColley, R-Napoleon.

Beyond the spending, the bill calls for allowing the state Department of Transportation director to apply variable speed limits based on conditions such as weather or congestion. Ohio will try out the variable speeds on a limited number of highways as a pilot project to see if it should be rolled out statewide.

The legislation also updates state law to reflect the use of remote starting technology in cars. Currently, Ohioans can be ticketed for leaving a running car unattended. The bill would allow owners to leave cars unattended if they’re locked or in their driveways.