INDReporter

Limit on alternative fuel credit heads to Jindal

by Walter Pierce

Lawmakers have revamped the state's alternative fuel vehicle tax credit program, after concerns the law was too broadly written and could be too expensive.

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) - Lawmakers have revamped the state's alternative fuel vehicle tax credit program, after concerns the law was too broadly written and could be too expensive.

The House gave unanimous final passage to the proposal by Baton Rouge Sen. Dan Claitor on Thursday, sending it to Gov. Bobby Jindal.

The bill would definitively eliminate "flex-fuel" cars and trucks - which can burn ethanol but also use gasoline - from qualifying for the credit. The Jindal administration already wrote regulations to prohibit flex-fuel vehicles from being eligible for the tax break.

The program gives a credit of 10 percent of the cost of vehicle or $3,000, whichever is less. Including flex-fuel vehicles could have cost the state an estimated $240 million a year.