MADISON - Sixteen lawmakers on their own could impose fees of any amount to help pay for roads under a plan Republican legislators advanced late Thursday.

The proposal would allow the Joint Finance Committee to establish new fees based on how many miles vehicles drove, starting in 2023. The rest of the Legislature wouldn't get a say in the matter under the plan.

Republicans on the committee included the provision in a massive transportation package they added to the state budget Thursday.

The GOP-controlled Legislature is scheduled to vote on the budget this month. If the measure survives and Democratic Gov. Tony Evers signs it, the committee would be free to put the new fees in place.

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The provision was included in an overall transportation plan that would also more than double title fees drivers pay when they buy cars and raise the annual registration fee by $10. Those provisions would provide the first significant increase in money for roads in more than a decade.

The plan passed 11-5, with GOP Sen. Duey Stroebel of Saukville joining all Democrats to oppose the measure.

At first blush, the measure granting the committee new powers appears innocuous. It authorizes a $2.5 million study to look into mileage-based fees to pay for roads.

Once completed, Evers' Department of Transportation would be required to file a recommendation with the committee in January 2023 on whether such fees should be assessed. The committee could approve that plan — or write one of its own, including one with any level of fees.

“Not a big fan,” Democratic Sen. Jon Erpenbach of West Point said of the measure.

“I don’t think the Legislature understands the significance of what this study could propose and rather than have 16 people in the Legislature say, ‘That’s fine,’ I think the entire Legislature should take a look at it and have a vote on it.”

Erpenbach, who sits on the finance committee, said he opposes establishing mileage-based fees because the system the state sets up could allow it to track Wisconsin drivers’ movements.

GOP leaders, including Assembly Speaker Robin Vos of Rochester and Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald of Juneau, didn't say Friday why they believed a small contingent of the Legislature should be able to set new fees.

Evers would have a chance to veto the committee's plans, but the committee — not the Legislature — could override the veto with a two-thirds vote.

The committee consists of 12 Republicans and four Democrats, but the makeup could change between now and 2023. Nine votes would be needed to approve the new fees and 11 to override a veto.

The budget provision does not define what mileage-based fees are. GOP lawmakers said it could include tolling, self-reporting the number of miles driven or using devices that would track mileage.

"There is no protection for the taxpayers" because only a handful of lawmakers could approve the new fees, said Mike Mikalsen, an aide to GOP Sen. Steve Nass of Whitewater.

Nass has said he may vote against the state budget because of the transportation plan and spending levels GOP lawmakers are setting. Republicans control the Senate 19-14.

The transportation plan comes after years of infighting among Republicans over road funding. The proposal would give legislative leaders a chance to increase fees to pay for highways without facing opposition from rank-and-file legislators.

Transportation Secretary Craig Thompson said he thought it was worthwhile to study mileage-based fees. But he called it unusual to give the committee the ability to put the plan in place without the input of 116 of the state's 132 legislators.

"It makes it easier (to approve)," Thompson said. "It's just a matter of whether everybody's represented."

Republican Rep. Amy Loudenbeck of Clinton said at Thursday's committee meeting that setting a mileage fee may be the best of unpopular options for finding more money for roads.

"Technology can give us better answers maybe than these old-school solutions that we’ve been looking at," she said.

Some states have moved toward mileage-based fees to pay for roads because gas consumption is expected to drop as people buy more fuel-efficient and electric vehicles.

In Oregon, voters can choose whether to pay a gas tax or a mileage-based fee. Those who use the mileage-based system can install a device that tracks how many miles they put on their vehicles or use pen and paper to log their travel.

The electronic system tracks mileage but not where drivers go, said Bruce Starr, a former Oregon state senator who sponsored legislation to get the system in place. Many people remain skeptical of the idea, he said.

"It's hard to get away from this idea that the government isn't tracking your movement," said the former Republican lawmaker.

Democrats, GOP set similar spending levels

Separate from the new mileage-based fees, the GOP plan would raise the title fee paid when vehicles are bought and sold by $95, from $69.50 to $164.50. It would also bump up the annual registration fee for cars by $10, from $75 to $85, and for many light trucks by $25, from $75 to $100.

Evers recommended raising money for roads by hiking heavy truck fees 27% and boosting the gas tax by nearly a dime a gallon over two years.

Thompson said he would have preferred to see Republicans include a gas tax increase in their plan because it would have ensured that drivers from other states paid for Wisconsin's roads when they visit. But he saw benefits to the GOP plan.

"There is actual ongoing revenue being proposed for the first time probably in 15 years," he said. "That is positive and I don’t think that we would have gotten to this point without Gov. Evers leading on this, making this an issue that had to be dealt with."

Evers’ plan and the GOP plan would put about the same amount of money toward transportation projects over the next two years.

The Republican proposal would add a project Evers didn’t include in his budget — expanding I-41 between Highways 96 and F in Brown and Outagamie counties. That project would ultimately cost hundreds of millions of dollars, though just $6 million would be spent on it over the next two years.

Their plans are similar in other regards.

Under both plans, the expansion of Interstate 94 south of Milwaukee and the rebuilding of the Zoo Interchange would be completed before the end of 2021.

Both plans would also initiate plans to widen I-43 from Silver Spring Drive in Glendale to Highway 60 in Grafton.

In addition, under both plans Highway 441 in the Fox Valley would be completed by 2020, Highway 15 in Outagamie County would be completed in 2021, Highway 23 in Sheboygan and Fond du Lac counties would be completed in 2023 and Highway 50 in Kenosha County would be completed in 2023.

And most of the expansion of I-39 between the Illinois state line and Madison would be completed by 2021.

Both plans would spend about $1.9 billion over two years to reconstruct and resurface other highways. That’s an increase of more than $250 million.

You can find out who your legislators are and how to contact them here: https://maps.legis.wisconsin.gov/

Molly Beck of the Journal Sentinel staff contributed to this report.

Contact Patrick Marley at patrick.marley@jrn.com. Follow him on Twitter at @patrickdmarley.