BATON ROUGE, La. — Louisiana school boards that operate school buses would get a tax break under a newly introduced bill.

Louisiana law imposes a state tax on the sale, use or consumption of gasoline and other fuels. Under the new legislation, prefiled by Rep. Sherman Mack for the state Legislature's upcoming session, fuel used for school buses operated by municipal and parish school boards would be exempt from the fuel tax.

Currently, contractor-operated school buses transporting Louisiana students qualify for a refund of three-fourths of the fuel tax.

Money raised by the state fuel tax goes into a transportation trust fund (TTF), which is used for costs associated with roads and bridges, flood control, ports, airports and other transportation-related purposes.

Legislative Fiscal Office economist Greg Albrecht told The Times Picayune that his office hasn't yet estimated how much the new legislation would reduce revenue to the TTF, but he said that the bill might meet with some resistance in the Legislature because it is typically "tougher to give a tax break that would take money from the TTF."