Sponsors (6)
The bill lowers a petroleum tax and creates a predictable quarterly repayment process, but does so at the risk of reducing dedicated cleanup funding, weakening spill‑response reserves, and introducing repayment‑timing ambiguity.
Taxpayers and drivers will pay lower per‑unit taxes on petroleum products because the Hazardous Substance Superfund financing rate is eliminated after Dec 31, 2025.
Government contractors and financial institutions will see a more predictable repayment schedule because advances to the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund will be repaid quarterly from unobligated Fund balances.
Taxpayers and utilities/energy companies may face reduced hazardous‑substance cleanup funding because eliminating the financing rate lowers dedicated revenue, potentially shifting cleanup costs to general revenues or reducing remediation activity.
Taxpayers and utilities/energy companies could bear greater future liability or reduced spill‑response capacity because quarterly repayments drawn from unobligated Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund balances may deplete reserves needed for future responses.
Treasury and taxpayers may face legal ambiguity over repayment timing because removing a clear statutory repayment deadline (replaced by the Act title) can create uncertainty about congressional intent and repayment obligations.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Ends the Hazardous Substance Superfund financing rate after Dec 31, 2025 and changes Superfund repayment rules to allow quarterly repayments from unobligated fund amounts until repaid in full.
Official title: To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to terminate the Hazardous Substance Superfund financing rate.
Introduced February 12, 2026 by Mike Carey · Last progress February 12, 2026
Terminates the Hazardous Substance Superfund financing rate after December 31, 2025, removing that statutory fee from January 1, 2026 onward, and changes how amounts in the Superfund Trust Fund are repaid by requiring quarterly repayments from unobligated fund balances until full repayment. One amendment to the tax code takes effect January 1, 2026; the change to repayment language takes effect on enactment.