Federal highway dollars shift from rural to wealthy states under new tax-based formula
H.R. 7776 — Highway Formula Fairness Act · Filed by Chip Roy (R-TX) · 2 cosponsors · Introduced Mar 3, 2026 · Referred to committee
Your members of Congress
Enter a ZIP to see where your representative and both senators stood on this bill.
Looked up on this device — your ZIP is never stored on our servers.
What it does
This bill changes how federal highway funding is divided among states. Instead of using a formula based on each state's 2012 apportionment share, it shifts to a formula based on how much highway tax money (fuel taxes, vehicle taxes) each state's residents actually paid into the federal Highway Trust Fund. Each state is guaranteed to receive at least 95% of what its residents contributed in highway taxes.
Why we flagged it
The bill's sole operative mechanism is a technical amendment to the federal highway apportionment formula, shifting from a historical baseline (2012 shares) to a tax-contribution-based allocation. This is a straightforward policy choice with no hidden riders or self-dealing provisions.
What the text implies
- States with lower highway tax contributions (often rural, lower-income, or less-developed states) will see federal highway funding decline relative to current law, potentially widening infrastructure investment gaps between wealthy and less-wealthy regions.
- The formula locks in a 95% floor based on tax contribution, meaning no state can fall below 95% of its proportional tax share — this protects high-tax states but may reduce flexibility for Congress to direct funds to areas of greatest need.
- The shift from historical apportionment to tax-contribution basis may incentivize states to increase fuel taxes or vehicle registration fees to boost their federal allocation share, creating a feedback loop that could burden lower-income drivers.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
Citizens in high-tax-paying states (typically wealthier, more urbanized states with higher vehicle ownership and fuel consumption) gain larger federal highway allocations; citizens in lower-tax-paying states (often rural, lower-income states) receive reduced federal highway funding. The shift is mathematically neutral at the national level but redistributes resources based on tax contribution rather than need, population, or infrastructure condition.
Who stands to gain
- states with high highway user tax bases (typically high-income, urbanized states)
- construction and engineering firms operating in high-tax states (indirect benefit from larger alloca
Named in the bill
U.S. Department of Transportation (Secretary), Highway Trust Fund, States (all 50), 23 U.S.C. § 104, sections 119, 133, 148, 149, 167, 175, 176(c), 134 (federal highway programs)
Where it stands
2 cosponsors: 1 Democrats, 1 Republicans.
- Mar 3, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Mar 3, 2026 — Referred to House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
5 lobbying clients named this bill on 5 disclosure filings across 1 quarter, Jun 2026 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $127,600 in lobbying spend. A filing names 3 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.
More lobbying clients named this bill than 78% of bills with at least one filing.
Chip Roy, the sponsor, reported $68,100 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- Wssc Water — $40,000 on 1 filing
- Valley Water — $33,000 on 1 filing
- Marin Water — $24,600 on 1 filing
- Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments — $20,000 on 1 filing
- American Concrete Pipe Association — $10,000 on 1 filing
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 20, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (2,131 characters) on Apr 16, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Jun 2026 to Jun 2026. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jul 20, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-20.
“Federal highway dollars shift from rural to wealthy states under new tax-based formula” QuorumCivic. https://share.quorumcivic.app/bill/119/hr7776 Report an error
The week in bills
One email, Sunday: what Congress passed, what it changed, and who paid.
One link arrives to confirm the address. It is used for this email and nothing else, and every issue carries an unsubscribe link.