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When lawmakers adjourned their main session this summer, Rep. John Blust of Greensboro was the lone “no” vote.

“I don’t think we should have gone home without capping the gas tax,” Blust told me at the time (link).

As lawmakers compile their to-do list for the … what shall we call it … Sweet Potato Session that convenes the Sunday after Thanksgiving, the gas tax is once again on some lawmaker’s minds. It doesn't seem to be firmly on their agenda, but there definitely seems to be sentiment by some to get it on there.

North Carolina’s motor fuels tax (link) fluctuates every six months (link). It is comprised of a base rate of 17.5 cents per gallon plus 7 percent of the average wholesale price. It is currently 35-cents per gallon, up from 32.5 cents per gallon in the first six months of the year. It will next reset on January 1.

“Capping” the tax would prevent that 7 percent factor from driving the wholesale price above a certain point.

The federal gas tax is 18.4 cents per gallon (link).

From what I’ve been able to gather, there’s some difference of opinion over what, if anything, to do between the House and Senate. (No shock there).

When I asked House Speaker Thom Tillis about this Wednesday night, Tillis said that anything they do would have to fit within the parameters of a three day session that opens for bill filing on Sunday, Nov. 27, and closes on Tuesday, Nov. 29.

That’s not a lot of time, and would not allow lawmakers to do anything that would be considered raising taxes. (Such measures need two separate votes on two separate days in each chamber.) And as Tillis pointed out, doing a cap has consequences for other parts of the state budget:

“There’s something to be said for trying to stabilize that environment. If you think about it, the gas tax has gone up and down once every six months, that’s very destabilizing. So we’re trying to take a look at other ways where we can still make sure we have enough funding for roads but provide a little more certainty other than what we’re having right now. (It) went up in July, possibly go up again in January and then go down again in January. We just think there’s got to be a better way to manage it and still maintain baseline funding for roads.”

A two-day session doesn’t allow for any of those “other ways” to involve raising revenue to offset the loss of gas tax funding. That means lawmakers may have to decide whether it’s a more painful discussion to tell constituents the gas tax is going up or that their local roads aren’t going to be repaved.