ST. PAUL, Minn In an era when some states are reducing fuel taxes or not increasing them, the Minnesota legislature has decided to boost that states fuel taxes by a nickel a gallon this year.

Effective April 1, the state tax on both gasoline and diesel fuel rises to 22 cents a gallon, up from 20 cents. Another 3 cents a gallon will be tacked on in the fall. The last fuel tax increase in Minnesota was 20 years ago.

The increase came after a contentious fight over a $6.6 billion transportation finance bill that legislators adopted over the veto of Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty.

The new law increases funding for highway maintenance, authorizes the sale and issuance of bonds, establishes a bridge improvement program, and boosts the fuel tax this year and for the next four years.

The tax will gradually increase through 2012, culminating in an additional 3.5 cents per gallon for diesel and gasoline. Other aspects of the bill include:

An increase in the length of time new vehicle owners will pay higher registration fees

An increase in state car rental fees from 3 to 5 percent

A one-quarter of a percent sales tax hike in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area dedicated to mass transit projects

Supporters of the bill named the I-35W bridge collapse in Minneapolis, the

poor condition of Minnesota roadways, bottlenecks and gridlock in urban areas, and the opportunity for job creation as reasons why the bill was adopted.

Gov. Pawlenty had successfully vetoed the legislation twice before he was finally overridden by lawmakers. Trimming $2 billion from the bills total also is credited with securing the 91-41 vote in the House and 47-20 margin in the state Senate.

The override was uncharacteristic of the Minnesota legislature, which has not overridden a veto in the past six years and has only 14 veto overrides to its credit since 1939. The legislature had not increased state fuel taxes since 1988.

Fuel taxes down, up

Fuel taxes decreased in four states during the last nine months of 2007, new figures show.

At the same time, taxes on gasoline and diesel fuel went up in seven states, but all of the increases appear to have resulted from escalators in state laws that set fuel taxes.

The states posting tax decreases, which were generally confined to gasoline and not diesel fuel, were Florida, Georgia, Nebraska and Virginia.

The increases came in those states that typically have the highest fuel taxes in the U.S. -- California, Connecticut, Illinois, Michigan, New York, North Carolina and West Virginia.