Listen • 4:36 / Utah Transit Authority officials are reminding passengers to continue to follow federal guidelines for safe travel. This story and more in the Tuesday morning news brief. Tuesday morning, February 2, 2021 State Electric Vehicle Fees A Utah House committee approved a bill Monday that would dramatically increase annual fees for electric and hybrid vehicles starting next year. The idea is to bring those fees closer to what the average driver of a gas-powered vehicle pays in taxes at the pump, which go toward paying for road maintenance. According to the Utah State Tax Commission, the fees would still be less than that average tax payment, but Rep. Suzanne Harrison, D-Draper, said lawmakers shouldn’t use data from mostly gas-powered cars to make policy decisions about electric vehicles. Harrison and other critics of the bill are also concerned about the environmental impacts of making electric vehicles more expensive to own than they are now. Read the full story. —