Oklahoma Passes Two Alternative Fuel Bills
The State of Oklahoma has passed two alternative fuel bills that will help Oklahomans take advantage of the state’s local alternative energy assets with natural gas for transportation. House Bill 1949 extends an existing tax credit on the purchase of a qualified clean-burning motor vehicle for five years for compressed and liquefied natural gas and electric cars. House Bill 1952 seeks to help further expand the number of vehicles in the state running on alternative fuels like compressed natural gas. The legislation will also help expand the number of publicly available fueling stations across the state.
House Bill 1949
The credit is equal to 50 percent of the cost of a conversion of vehicles to operate on a qualified fuel, as well as those originally equipped to do so.
The legislation also includes a tax credit for businesses seeking to build infrastructure to fuel such vehicles, along with a $2,500 tax credit for consumers installing home-fueling stations.
House Bill 1952
The bill would allow the Department of Central Services to provide fleet services to schools, county and municipal governments and provide public access to alternative fueling infrastructure in underserved areas unless a private provider locates within five miles.
The “State Fleet Management Fund” will also be amended to allow money from the fund to be used to build alternative fueling infrastructure or to acquire alternative fuel vehicles for use by state agencies or to lease to political subdivisions. The bill states that money from lease payments would be deposited into the fund.
The allowable loan amount out of the fund for a fill station will increase to $300,000, and a current cap of $10,000 per vehicle conversion will remain intact.
The bill would also repeal cost-prohibitive California Air Resources Board emission limits, and instead defer to emissions standards put in place by the federal Environmental Protection Agency. This change will make conversions easier and less cost-prohibitive but would still keep federal standards in place on all conversion kits.