ATLANTA – Gov. Brian Kemp signed legislation Friday temporarily suspending Georgia’s sales tax on gasoline.
The state House and Senate passed House Bill 304 unanimously during the last week.
Gasoline prices have skyrocketed since the Russian invasion of Ukraine more than three weeks ago and the subsequent ban on U.S. imports of Russian oil President Joe Biden imposed last week.
The state has suspended the gasoline tax in the past when fuel supplies were disrupted, most recently when the Colonial Pipeline shut down last May following a ransomware attack.
The governor is legally allowed to suspend the tax by executive order when the General Assembly is not meeting. In this case, with lawmakers in session, Kemp waited until the bill he proposed made its way through the House and Senate.
The suspension is due to expire May 31 unless the governor decides pump prices are still high enough to warrant continuing it.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.