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RALEIGH — The state Senate slammed the door tonight on efforts by House lawmakers to prevent North Carolina’s gas tax from rising on Jan. 1.

North Carolina’s gas tax, which changes every six months based on the wholesale price of fuel, is due to rise from 35 cents per gallon to about 39 cents per gallon on Jan. 1.

House lawmakers tentatively voted today 96-23 to cap the tax at 35 cents until July 1. A second vote is scheduled for Tuesday.

But about 9 p.m., Senate leaders said they would not take up any further business and would officially adjourn their work for the week at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday.

“The House has had since January to deal with this issue,” said Sen. Phil Berger, an Eden Republican and the president pro tempore of the Senate. “We just don’t think it’s an appropriate time to deal with that, to reopen the budget.”

Berger said the House bill would let the Department of Transportation adjust the budget without legislative oversight, making changes to a budget that lawmakers passed in June. If changes need to be made, he said, lawmakers could handle them when they return for business in May.

The Senate’s response angered House Republicans who had pushed to cap the tax.

“It will be up to them to explain to the public why the gas tax increase happened,” said Rep. John Blust, a Greensboro Republican who has been a leading proponent of the cap for the past six months.

North Carolinians pay two gas taxes when they go to the pump. The federal gas tax is 18.4 cents per gallon. Under current law, the state gas tax is 17.5 cents per gallon plus 7 percent of the average wholesale price per gallon. It resets every Jan. 1 and July 1.

According to budget projections in the bill, capping the tax for six months would lead to $95.8 million in cuts to one highway fund and $31.7 million in a related highway trust fund. Proponents of the bill said the actual effects would be less than those projections indicate.

But the bill lays out how a number of projects will be scaled back, decreasing funding for urban loops — such as one under construction around Greensboro — as well as secondary road repair.

That sparked concerns from some lawmakers, who worried projects in their districts could be affected. Others questioned whether reducing road funding would lead to more unemployment in an already struggling economy.

“We would estimate 2,800 jobs would be affected by this,” said Christie Barbee, executive director at the Carolina Asphalt Pavement Association. Those jobs would include road crews as well as equipment and material suppliers, she said.

While the legislature is scheduled to return periodically between now and May, the rules structuring those sessions don’t allow for them to consider the gas tax cap during those short periods.

Contact Mark Binker at (919) 832-5549 or mark.binker@news-record.com