California officials are already testing a system that would track how many miles you drive and charge you for every one, and the state’s own governor candidates are now arguing about it on camera.
Story Snapshot
- California ran a Road Charge Collection Pilot from August 2024 to January 2025 testing per-mile fees as a gas tax replacement.
- Assembly Bill 1421 would extend the state’s road-usage-charge research and require a report to lawmakers by January 1, 2027.
- Governor candidate Xavier Becerra said “everything should be on the table” on a mileage tax, while his campaign denies he proposed one.
- No statewide per-mile rate, collection rule, or mandatory payment system has been enacted — this remains a research and reporting program.
California Already Tested Charging Drivers By The Mile
The California Department of Transportation, known as Caltrans, ran a real-world test called the Road Charge Collection Pilot from August 2024 through January 2025. The goal was to check whether charging drivers per mile could fairly replace the state gas tax. The program came from Senate Bill 339, and a final report is due to the Legislature by December 2026.
A California Transportation Commission presentation dated September 25, 2026, shows the pilot did not test one simple flat rate. One group of drivers paid a flat fee for every mile driven. A second group paid a different fee based on the state’s per-gallon gas tax divided by their vehicle’s fuel economy rating. That means heavier, less efficient vehicles could face different charges than fuel-sippers under one version of the plan.
Caltrans describes a road charge plainly: drivers pay based on how many miles they drive, not how much gas they buy. That sounds simple, but it requires some way to track mileage, whether through odometer readings, a plug-in device, or GPS. The pilot tested collection methods, but the cited state materials do not spell out final rules for how long location data would be kept or who could access it.
A New Bill Keeps The Research Going, Not A Tax
Assembly Member Lori Wilson introduced Assembly Bill 1421 on February 21, 2025. The bill would require the state to pull together research and recommendations on a road-usage charge system and report back to legislative committees by January 1, 2027. It builds on an existing Road Usage Charge Technical Advisory Committee that has already been studying this idea for years.
Nothing in the bill text sets a statewide per-mile rate. Nothing in it creates a mandatory payment schedule or collection system drivers must join. The legislation is a study-and-report bill, not a tax bill. That distinction matters, because political ads and social media posts have already started describing the idea as a locked-in six-cents-per-mile tax rather than a research program still awaiting its final report.
Caltrans’ own program page confirms the broader purpose: lawmakers want to know if a per-mile system is viable before replacing the gas tax with one. California first studied this idea back in 2017 under an earlier pilot, showing this is a years-long process, not a sudden policy shift.
Governor’s Race Turns Research Into A Campaign Fight
The mileage tax question became a flashpoint in California’s governor’s race. Fox 11 Los Angeles reported that candidate Xavier Becerra said “everything should be on the table” when asked about a mileage tax to fund road repairs. His campaign later stated he has not actually proposed one, drawing a line between being open to studying the idea and committing to it. Rival candidate Steve Hilton has pushed back against the concept.
🚨 California gubernatorial candidate Xavier Becerra said “everything should be on the table” when asked whether he would consider charging drivers based on miles traveled. He supported retaining the gas tax and said electric-vehicle drivers should also help fund road repairs,… pic.twitter.com/wppvAMWeVN
— California Courier (@cacourier) October 30, 2026
California drivers already pay some of the highest gas taxes and vehicle registration fees in the country, a point raised repeatedly in the governor’s-race coverage. That history helps explain why any new per-mile charge, even one framed as a replacement rather than an addition, faces instant public suspicion. Conservatives have long warned that Sacramento rarely retires one tax before adding another.
Why States Are Even Looking At This
This isn’t just a California problem. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has found that as electric vehicles make up a bigger share of cars on the road, fuel tax revenue keeps shrinking because EV drivers pay little or nothing in gas taxes. The federal Highway Trust Fund faces the same funding squeeze, with projections showing it may not cover obligations to states starting as early as fiscal year 2027.
A Reason Foundation study of mileage-fee programs in other states found that none of the four permanent programs reviewed have matched the fuel tax’s low administrative cost. That’s a real concern: if a new tracking-and-billing system costs nearly as much to run as it collects, drivers end up footing the bill for both the roads and the bureaucracy built to charge them for driving on those roads.
California’s pilot results and the AB 1421 report, both expected around late 2026 and January 2027, will show whether the state found an answer to that cost problem, or whether this remains another expensive study with no finish line.
Sources:
nypost.com, leginfo.legislature.ca.gov, caroadcharge.com, ww2.arb.ca.gov, foxla.com, dot.ca.gov, kfiam640.iheart.com, congress.gov, cbo.gov
